Live In Berlin
Dreyer Gaido, 2025
9/10
The Arab-jazz quartet Kinan Azmeh CityBand flesh out a live album that’s dedicated to the people of Syria, where the wind, guitars and drums interact with a worldly and energetic version of fusion.
“The Queen Commanded” opens with Azmeh’s soothing clarinet amid soft guitar from Kyle Sanna in the warm and intimate climate, and “The Translator” follows with John Hadfield’s playful drumming and strong attention to mood across the nearly 6 minutes of melodic gestures.
“Jisreen” and “Dance” land in the middle. The former highlights the dreamy guitar alongside the poetic wind and much ambience, while the latter will indeed get your body moving to the frisky dynamics that benefit much from Josh Myer’s skilled bass lines. The last track, “Wedding”, is also intriguing, where a stylish execution builds into rhythmic patterns from the bass and drums, hypnotic bouts from the guitar and unpredictable clarinet.
The emotions of anger, frustration, sadness and hope are all represented here, as the quartet mesh classical, jazz and world music with a profound attention to detail.
Travels well with: Ruckus & Keir Gogwilt- The Edinburgh Rollick; ETHEL- Persist