Sylvain Luc
Trio Sud
Dreyfus Jazz
Having played since the age of five, and having played with such jazz luminaries as John McLaughlin, Elvin Jones, Michel Legrand, and Dee Dee Bridgewater, I would be an ass if I said Sylvain Luc can’t play guitar. I would also be dead wrong. Luc is simply wonderful. Just trying to picture his fingering at times will leave you absolutely dumbfounded (he twists, turns, and bends your mind on songs like “Xarmegaria”). I mean, check out his version of Miriam Makebe’s “Pata Pata.” The man’s digits dance with the fury and grace of a Savion Glover performance.
With André Ceccarelli on skins and Jean-Marc Jafet on double bass, Luc mixes his Basque heritage with a dash of tropical flavors in a straight-ahead, “cool” bowl. The sound is lush and breezy. It glides along the airwaves in a dreamy-milk haze, and Luc’s guitar rides the wave to the utmost affect. At times the sound can be far too smooth for anything other than the latest of nights (and why the hell did he have to put Barry Manilow’s “Could It Be Magic” back in my head?). And, even though Luc has been blessed with talent, you also get the sneaking suspicions that megalomania may also exist within his frame: he, more often than not, crowds the CD with his sound, very rarely letting his trio mates out from under his melody (but this is their second CD together; I guess they knew what they were getting into). However, this is a fine disc for those nights one needs calm injected into the arteries or that sophisticated love tryst onto the … well, wherever.
Dreyfus Jazz: http://www.dreyfusrecords.com
