DIDIER MALHERBE & LOY EHRLICH: HADOUK

Didier Malherbe came to my attention a long time ago as the excellent sax player of Gong. Apart from my preference of jazzy approaches, I must admit that the Daevid Allen era of Gong is not among my fave releases, hence Malherbe stood out and received my sole attention there. Later he completely disappeared from my radar, but never really forgotten,

Only in recent times (and thanks to his listing on PA!) I realized that he has released numerous solo projects, often under the name of HADOUK TRIO. I choose to listen to this album as to date, it has no rating/review.

My first impression is that Malherbe and Co. display a definite interest towards Arabic music without attempting to imitate such. The choice of instruments further enhances that atmosphere. There are no spirited blowing on saxes, no jamming here as Malherbe plays flutes almost exclusively and the percussive instruments are traditional, tribal drums. All this is complemented by a double-bass that adds the jazzy feel.

This band achieves a fine balance of styles, jazzy, ethnic feel with ease. The delivery is laid back and the compositions are pleasant, relatively simple without being minimalist. Anyone familiar with the German ECM label would relate to an album like this. The odd, lighthearted, funny piece thrown in wouldn't be missed, but equally not disturbing, either.

Very far from Jazz-Rock, the term "fusion" would be more appropriate, but not as a genre. Pleasant music that one could listen to all day, every day. Short of essential, part of a Desert Island" collection, nevertheless it's mature work.