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Antonio Forcione Quartet - In Concert |
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| | Available from: www.guitarcds.net
The AFQ is a highly talented team of musicians who love what they do, and there’s much evidence of that on these two releases. Recorded in June 2006 in front of an appreciative audience at the cosy Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells, their live performances match the high technical standard of their studio work and radiate the warmth which comes from being on stage.
Forcione is as passionate as ever and maintains his percussive playing style, but he’s toned down the clowning which gained him some early notoriety. With a cosmopolitan backing band on cello, double bass and percussion, his music is a rich casserole of flavours, grounded in jazz with strong hints of flamenco, classical and Brazilian.
The varied set list draws evenly on pieces which date back to at least 1993, and the weird and wonderful instruments on offer include exotic flutes, a set of plastic drainpipes played with a pair of flip-flops, and a fretless 14-string guitar used to emulate a sitar on ‘Indian Cafe’. There’s no sense that Forcione is resorting to gimmickry, and he remains a master of painting pictures with his music - so if you can’t manage a safari this year, just listen to ‘African Dawn’ for exactly the same effect.
The DVD is imaginatively filmed and edited, with countless interesting camera angles and plenty of close-up shots showing the music actually being made. There are no fancy extra features except for the three tracks which don’t appear on the CD, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s brilliant.
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