Mulo Francel & Rami Attallah Group: Global Players

For most professional jazz musicians the jazz life is a labor of love—endless gigs over countless miles, early morning starts and early morning finishes. It is not all glamour, and the bills have to be paid, after all. Still, the lure of the road persists, and in this age of globalization the average jazz musician can travel as never before.

Pianist Ramih Attallah and saxophonist Mulo Francel fit the bill. Attallah studied jazz and classical piano in Cairo before further studies at Trinity College London and Le CIM jazz school in Paris. Dubai-based, he has played widely throughout the Gulf, the Middle East and Europe, and thought nothing of traveling to Belfast for the opening of Dock Street Jazz Club (see review here).

Munich-born Francel has recorded on the peaks of European and Asian mountains, including Iran's Shir Kur. Greece's Mount Olympus, The Great Wall of China, and the Norwegian Arctic Circle are among many of the far-flung locations the multi-reedist has ventured to for musical inspiration. Global players indeed.

Melody, both in the compositional lines and the soloing, is central here. Attallah and Francel are both mellifluous players who value a swinging tune and a lyrical narrative over complex meters, abstraction and genre-fluidity. So, old school traditionalists? To a degree, perhaps, Latin influences course through Attallah's fluid, eloquent solos—flashes of salsa vamps and kernels of Latin-jazz motifs. Arabic ornamentation is also subtly felt, notably on Miles Davis' "Nardis," where maqams—Arabic melodic modes—color both the pianist's and the saxophonist's phrasing. Egyptian percussionist Amir Ezzat further enhances the transformation of this jazz standard into something totally fresh.

For Francel this is no mere stylistic flirtation. Since traveling the Nile upon leaving school, he has been drawn to Egyptian music. A trip to the Sinai Peninsula circa 2020 inspired a three-part suite heard on Mountain Melody (Fine Music, 2021) where oud, doumbek, riq and ckánóon provided a canvas for Francel's Oriental-leaning clarinet lines. Francel wields the clarinet to similar enchanting effect on "El Mahrousa"—one of five Attallah compositions—where Afro-Cuban and Egyptian flavors entwine in a lilting rumba. Three tunes stem from Francel's own pen, the pick among them being the ballad "Personal Hero," whose beguiling melody lingers in the memory. To danceable rhythms and balladry alike, pianist and saxophonist solo with gently aching lyricism.

Drummer Robert Kainar, who plays on six tracks (Stephan Emig on the other three), contributes "Frederic," a beautiful, brushes-steered waltz that could have come from Earl Zindars' songbook—not for nothing, perhaps, does Attallah's luminescent solo call to mind the rapture of Bill Evans. Bassist Didi Lowka, band mate of Francel in the long-running Quadro Nuevo, plays with judicious economy—his warm, earthy tone an important building block in the group's chemistry. His solo on the Latin-tinged "Olive di Guardistallo," and another on Attallah's most handsome "Open Questions" is quietly joyful.

Attallah's and Francel's music breathes with a refreshingly unhurried sincerity. The quality of both the compositions and playing serve as reminders that eloquence and restraint are not incompatible with excellent jazz. But the main ingredient here, which Attallah and Francel demonstrate in spades, is soulfulness. And that is a global language.