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I saw them recently live at the Bournemouth Jazz Club and they were excellent. As a ‘continuation’ of the Orient album, Mr. Meier again shows us his command of acoustic fretless, fretted, steel, synth guitars and the Turkish saz with Gilad Atzmon (saxes and clarinets), Asaf Sirkis (drums) and Tom Mason (acoustic bass).

The best of these tracks happens when they blend Turkish/Middle Eastern influences with jazz-rock. I know Nicolas is not keen on the term jazz-rock and although there’s no direct comparisons with, say the Mahavishnu Orchestra or Weather Report, you’re not going to tell me McLaughlin or Zawinul wouldn’t be blown away by ‘Vatan’.

‘Emerald’ is a downtempo piece that you might hear on Radio 3 and you’d think the title track is going the same way from the intro, until it breaks very quickly into something quite brilliant. Gilad on a Turkish clarinet (what a performance!), Tom getting his bow out on the bass and Asaf at his rockin’ best it’s just great interplay between all the group members with Meier taking the lead towards the end. This was the highlight of the live show for me.

‘Horizon’ show’s off Meier’s Paco De Lucía influences as Gilad gets stuck into his solo; when Mr. Atzmon plays like this, you don’t want him to stop.

Somewhere between ‘Horizon’ and ‘Emerald’ is a track called ‘Yemin (Pledge)’ which slips into an indo-jazz-durge at times. Pat Methenyesque but better? I’d say so. Especially with the last three tracks, although the EFX peddle needlessly gets a little busy on ‘Neden?’.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Yüz’, ‘Bazaar/Vatan’. ‘Yemin (Pledge)’, ‘Caravan of Anatolia’

Reviewed: Nicolas Meier — Yüz (Naim Records) Cat. No. naimcd103 Release date: 19 March 2007
Tracklistings
1. Bazaar (0.34)
2. Vatan / Homeland (5.22)
3. Esmeralda / Emerald (8.22)
4. Yüz / Face (8.34)
5. Horizon (8.09)
6. Yemin / Pledge (7.22)
7. Neden? / Why? (6.46)
8. Anadolu Kervani / Caravan of Anatolia (9.44)
9. Scottish Heart (dedicated to Gregor Carle) (9.06)

Links:
www.meiergroup.com
www.thenaimlabel.co.uk Southampton Road, Salisbury SP1 2LN
www.gilad.co.uk
frontpagmag.com
The Meier Group Ribon In The Wind / Orient
www.jazzcafe.co.uk 19-21 March 2007 Joe Zawinul and The Zawinul Syndicate.