Aksham by Elina Duni

Aksham by Elina Duni

I purchased this record on a whim, thinking jazz quartet + singer, what can go wrong? Actually, my past experience should have told me that many things can go wrong, but thankfully in this case, they did not. The quartet is stellar, with a magnificent Ehnco on trumpet and a solid and inventive rhythm section. I find Duni (an Albanian born singer) more convincing in French than she is in English, but songs in both languages are both easy to get into, intimate and inventive. The approach reminded me a little of Avishai Cohen's Seven Seas and Aurora, although probably a bit more jazz and little less world. Worth checking out.