AnouAr BrAhem

Blue Maqams (ECM 2580)

It’s two decades since the great Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem last collaborated with jazz musicians. That was with John Surman and Dave Holland on Thimar. Now Holland returns, with drummer Jack DeJohnette and British pianist Django Bates. Although Brahem’s compositions remain rooted in Arabic classical music, the nine pieces ultimately transcend idiom, offering the jazz players harmonic, rhythmic and textural flexibility. Holland and DeJohnette still share an elasticity that’s perfect for the project. Bates, meanwhile, understood that the piano could easily smother Brahem’s instrument, and therefore, when not soloing with panache, often restricts himself to casting the merest auras of harmony around the oud. Brahem’s playing is as shrouded in mystery as ever, drawing you into worlds of twilight beauty and muted sadness.