Antonio Forcione Quartet
(Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, May 15th 2010, review by Rod Fogg)

Antonio Forcione is on tour over the coming months with solo, duo and quartet gigs in the UK and Europe. When playing solo gigs his style is “contemporary acoustic”, with two hands on the neck, percussion on the body and a melody that leaves you wondering how he manages it all. So if you find he’s playing solo down your way go and seek him out – he’s one of those guitarists who really seems to play the whole instrument, and there’s plenty of laugh out loud humour too.

The quartet presents Forcione in a different light, however. While he still occasionally picks up the steel string acoustic for a duet with one his colleagues, he mostly plays nylon string guitar with a pick, accompanying Jenny Adejayan ‘s cello with chords or harmonising the melody. The cello reciprocates by riffing gently while the guitar solos. Adriano Adewale (on percussion) sits drummer-style surrounded by the widest range of hittable objects you’ve ever seen in one place, none of them resembling anything like a conventional drum kit. He produces an intriguing, absorbing mix of sounds; thuds, rattles, clicks, drones and squeaks – and some conventional drum and cymbal sounds – all grooving nicely with Jonny Gee‘s broad-toned string bass.

They make a wholesome acoustic sound, this band. It’s uplifting. The beguiling sound of plucked strings from the guitar, the complex colours of the hand percussion, the rich sonority of the cello and the deep grooves of the bass take you all around the world – Spain, Italy, Africa, Brazil… jazz meets world music at its very finest. The packed Riverside Studios produced a crystalline acoustic and the lighting was sensitively judged. If over the coming months you have the chance to hear this wonderful sound, give your ears and your soul a treat.

Details of Antonio Forcione’s forthcoming concerts are on his WEBSITE