• 2007 REVIEWS
  • Berman Music Foundation Review: Charlie Haden and Antonio Forcione Heartplay
  • Charlie Haden and Antonio Forcione, Heartplay
  • Tears of Joy Concert - Antonio Forcione Quartet
• 2006 REVIEWS
  • Bridge Guitar Reviews Harmonics
  • Live! on the Park, SW1
  • Heartplay - The Scotsman
  • Heartplay - hifi.nl
  • Heartplay - The Guardian
  • Virtuosi can be dull - Amazon.com
• EDINBURGH FESTIVAL 2005 REVIEWS
  • THE SCOTSMAN *****: Four for mellow Latin mix
  • HAIRLINE
  • The British Theatre guide: *****
  • Music 2005 ****
• 2004 REVIEWS
  • Roots Review - Minerva Theatre, Chichester
  • The Guardian
• EDINBURGH FESTIVAL REVIEWS (August 2004)
  • The Scotsman
  • The List
• TOUCH WOOD REVIEWS
  • Da Chitarre: Acoustic
  • Evening Standard
  • The Metro
  • Songlines: Stunning guitar playing taking in Spanish, Italian and South American influences
• 2003 REVIEWS
  • 23 Ottobre 2003 a La Palma Club di Roma
• EDINBURGH FESTIVAL REVIEWS (August 2003)
  • The Scotsman
  • Celtic Connections
  • one4review
• INTERVIEWS
  • Jazzwise: "Inner Mounting Flame"
  • Ouest-France: Antonio Forcione a envoûté les amateurs de guitare; Un virtuose des cordes et de l'humour
  • Chitarre magazine: Il Talento del Chitarrista
  • The List Magazine: Take your preconceptions about acoustic guitars and chuck 'em out the window.
  • The Herald: Antonio Forcione Assembly Rooms
  • Bath Chronicle: Antonio Provides the Personal Touch
  • New Insight: May the Forcione be with You
  • The Times: Thrilling voyage around the world

Berman Music Foundation Review: Charlie Haden and Antonio Forcione, Heartplay

Charlie Haden's penchant in recent years for moody ballads performed in duo collaborations, usually with pianists or guitarists, has drawn undeserved criticism from some quarters. On the contrary, his recordings with pianist Hank Jones ("Steal Away"), pianist Kenny Barron ("Night and the City"), guitarist Pat Metheny ("Beyond the Missouri Sky"), pianist Chris Anderson ("None But the Lonely Heart") and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba ("Nocturne") are some of the most finely crafted and eminently listenable projects of the bassist's 50-year career.

Add 2006's "Heartplay" to the list. The sensitivity that Haden and Italian guitarist and composer Antonio Forcione bring to their playing and writing makes them a perfect pair. Haden contributed three originals while Forcione wrote four tunes, beginning with the opener, "Anna" and continuing with "If…," a lovely melody that Forcione has recorded before. Haden's Spanish-tinged "La Pasionaria" dates from 1982's "The Ballad of the Fallen," by the bassist's Liberation Music Orchestra. With his dazzling fretwork, Forcione gives it an aptly impassioned flair.

Throughout this evocative recording, emotion is the key. Forcione's "Snow" is perfectly suited for fireside listening this winter, and Haden's haunting "Silence" (also from "The Ballad of the Fallen") is paced with stately grace. The only cover is Fred Hersch's "Child's Song," a playful tune reminiscent of Haden-penned folk melodies and especially well suited to Forcione's lyricism.

The brief "Nocturne" was written by the guitarist, but is equally appealing to Haden's romantic sense. From the most distant past comes Haden's "For Turiya," first recorded by the bassist in the 1970s. Here, it is given a searching, 11-minute treatment that is dominated by the composer's resonant, and uniquely plangent bass lines. Haden drops out long enough to allow Forcione a heartfelt solo statement, before bringing the tune and the recording to a satisfying close.

Tom Ineck (2007-09-01) - Berman Music Foundation - Jazz Review

Charlie Haden and Antonio Forcione, Heartplay

Veteran bassist Charlie Haden's long had an affection for the duo format and has recorded with partners as diverse as Ornette Coleman, John Taylor, Egberto Gismonti and Alice Coltrane. Here he's paired with Antonio Forcione, an Italian acoustic guitarist who's made his name on the British jazz circuit through appearances with Andy Shepperd, Trilok Gurtu and others.

Forcione's flamboyant, sometimes flamenco tinged expressionism is a good match for Haden's stately, resonant bass lines. The material is mainly geared towards the introspective, with a particularly beautiful take on Fred Hersch's sprightly "Child Song" being one of the few exceptions. But even then, it's hardly rocking out. Comparisons are bound to be drawn with Haden's collaboration with Pat Metheny, but there's more of an edge to this pairing. That's partly due to Forcione's slightly grittier approach and the unfussy, warm live recording (no ECM style reverb here).

Forcione provides four of the eight pieces, with the remaining three coming from the usual stable of Haden tunes that the bassist seems to bring to every session he does: "Las Pasionaria" and "Silence" and "For Turiya". Haden's solos are models of economy, completely devoid of pyrotechnics but stuffed with melody. His tone here is particularly sumptuous here as he weaves his way through Forcione's plangent chords.

Intimate, emotive music from an eminently well suited duo. More please...

Peter Marsh (2007-06-21) - BBC Jazz Reviews

Tears of Joy Concert - Antonio Forcione Quartet

Bridge Guitar Reviews Harmonics - Charlie Haden & Antonio Forcione - Heartplay

Double bass legend Charlie Haden cooperates with guitar virtuoso Antonio Forcione on acoustic guitar on the Naim label. Both players have an unique approach to music and that surely is a great event for any listener. From the first second on both players interact as if they always played together. As well as musicians as composers both players excel in wonderful duets with a jazzy approach. Charlie Haden's double bass just plays smooth and gentle in the background, but always sets up new combinations for Antonio Forcione on his acoustic Yamaha Grand Concert GCX-31C guitar. The atmosphere on the CD presents us a feeling of a laid back night in a quiet jazz bar where two musicians confront and share all of their musical secrets and where two skilled musicians meet in a setting with a melancholic touch. Antonio Forcione excels in intelligent moody melody lines where all notes drop on its place. Any music lover who takes the effort to listen to this original CD will be rewarded with a heart-warming and breathtaking feeling.

Henk te Veldhuis - Bridge Guitar Reviews

The Times - Clive Davis at Live! on the Park, SW1

After Herbie Hancock's dire bout of gee-wizzery at the Roundhouse in November, we needed somebody to remind us that fusion can amount to more than turning up the amplifier and indulging in crowd-pleasing gestures.

Antonio Forcione may have a worrying weakness for the sort of New Age pastel compositions favoured by Pat Metheny, but there is still a lot to be said for an acoustic guitarist who can draw quite so much energy from his instrument.

Forcione's name will be familiar to comedy fans as a result of all the touring he has done as a musical accomplice to that genial stand-up Boothby Graffoe. There was also a long-running partnership with another guitar virtuoso, Eduardo Niebla. His latest recording, Heartplay, is a low-key collaboration with that much-travelled bass-player Charlie Haden, a musician who knows all about the need to balance technique with emotional expressiveness.

Forcione's regular band is a clever blend of unusual ingredients. The percussionist Adriano Adewale boasts an imposing collection of firepower yet deploys it with rare restraint. Nathan Thomson's double-bass supplies broad, unfussy figures, while the addition of Jenny Adejayan's cello is an inspired touch, evoking some of the more stylish ensembles to come out of Brazil. Add Forcione's occasional flamenco flourishes, and you have a quartet that crosses frontiers with exceptional flair.

A pity that some tunes merely to simmer politely, hinting at hidden depths without really delivering. Still, Forcione's solo set piece always delivers sparkling, percussive runs, his hands flashing against the neck of the guitar while rapping a beat against the instrument's body. Guitar heroics, yes, but with a touch of class. And he celebrated his jazz roots in style on Waltz for Django, a piece that generated echoes of the Hot Club era without resorting to pastiche.

Clive Davis

The Scotsman - Heartplay

This follow-up to Haden's earlier duo recording for this audio-oriented label with pianist John Taylor is an exquisite meeting of two highly compatible musical minds. The recording process has produced a ravishingly beautiful sound in which both Forcione's guitar and Haden's double bass shimmer gloriously in a rich, real-life acoustic representation. Fred Hersch's lively Child's Song aside, the music is original with either player, and mostly gently reflective, but always with purpose and direction. Elegant and intelligent, although it might exasperate those who like their music a little more visceral.

Fiona Shepherd

hifi.nl - Heartplay

[Translated from Dutch - the original text can be found here]

Charlie Haden is still one of the best bass players in the world. The list of Jazz musicians he has performed with is very long: Art Pepper, Hampton Hawes, Dexter Gordon, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Pat Metheney and Keith Jarret to name but a few of them.

From his work with the 'Liberation Music Orchestra' - founded by him and Carla Bley - in which he combined bigband jazz with folk music from the period of the Spanish civil war, proves that he is not 'wrapped' in a typical Jazz Jacket. For the Naim label he made more recordings of which the LP 'Nightfall' - with pianist John Taylor - lies close at my heart.

This time he cooperates with the much younger Italian guitar player Antonio Forcione, also not an unknown artiste on the audiophile English record label. Meanwhile Forcione, before moving to London in 1983, had in the country of his birth already performed with his own band at the age of thirteen. In his style, Forcione belongs to the absolute world top. He is known as one of the most passionate, inventive, non-conventional guitar players.

You would not say this if you listen to 'Heartplay'. Here is his subtle virtuoso performance rather conventional, and the passion is modest. Thereby the contrast between his clear sounding Grand Concert GCX-31C is splendid with that of the warm, deep and round tone of Haden's bass on this in excess of forty-nine minutes lasting CD. Of the eight numbers four were written by Forcione and three by Haden. For me, the most sparkling melody is 'Child Play', written by pianist/composer Fred Hersch, closely followed by Haden's 'Pasionaria' and his `For Turiya'.

Charlie's third composition, the still 'Silence', is the most 'modest' track of the CD and reminds me strongly, qua sphere, of the work of Ralph Towner and Gary Peacock on ECM. This brings me to the sound of this CD, which was recorded in the `Californian Institute of Arts' from the 26th through to the 28th of June 2006. Ken Christianson recorded these two sublimely blending musicians live on a two-track recorder and the untouched analogue recording brings out beautifully, the ambiance of the location and the natural sound of the instruments. A splendid CD, which is full of 'feeling' and which I, during the coming winter, will play frequently whilst sitting in front of the warm, crackling fireplace.

Jan de Jeu

THE GUARDIAN - Heartplay

Charlie Haden/ Antonio Forcione

Admirers of unplugged world-guitarists such as Ralph Towner and Egberto Gismonti are natural recruits for the remarkable Antonio Forcione. Born in Italy but living in the UK, Forcione plays delicate jazzy love songs, stamping flamenco, Astor Piazzolla tangos, the blues, and a lot more. He has an untamed aspect that sets him apart from most guitar virtuosos, though; it's expressed in slewing, unresolved runs, gunshot single notes and feverish hammerings on the soundbox (he used to be a percussionist). These duets with the great American jazz bassist Charlie Haden feature reflective but restlessly mobile originals by both players, plus pianist Fred Hersch's lovely Child Song.

Haden's flamenco-influenced La Pasionaria has increasingly impulsive diversions from the theme by Forcione, and a typical Haden solo of slow, humming sounds and stately ascents punctured by dramatic, explosively plucked accents. Forcione's tone-poem Snow is Frisell-like, and Haden's solo on his own Silence confirms how much he's always been able to express without hurrying. It's well up with the leaders in Haden's illustrious collection of duo encounters.

John Fordham

Virtuosi can be dull - Amazon.com

...but this virtuoso certainly isn't. AF takes a thousand influences and makes something new and fresh out of them. AF has a sublime technical gift but it is allied to imagination and a deep musicality.

Will Moss

THE SCOTSMAN *****: Four for mellow Latin mix - TEARS OF JOY *****

Antonio Forcione Quartet

ANTONIO FORCIONE is, without doubt, one of the most satisfying acoustic guitarists around. This year's set, featuring music from his new album, Tears of Joy, starts mellow, heralding a gorgeous sequence of pieces that slowly builds, via guitar-accordion conversations with Russian accordionist Igor Outkine and percussion exchanges with Brazil's Adriano Adewale, to an intense solo stand-up version of Touch Wood, Forcione's defining composition. Over the past few years, Nigerian cellist Jenny Adejayan has become indispensable, as much for her unfussy clarity as her gentle approach. Amplifying the quartet to a quintet with guest bassist Nathan Thompson leaves Adejayan free to support both Forcione and Adewale's freewheeling imaginations. Magical images of birds singing after the rains, insects buzzing around slow flowing rivers and shimmering heat are all conjured up by Adewale. He adds subtle dimensions to innumerable pieces, inspired as much by the sounds of the rainforest as by urban Brazil, whether beating sensual rhythms on an upturned calabash or patting the botija jar. Forcione's compositions, from his tribute Waltz for Django to the bittersweet Sahara Rain and the mischief of his southern Italian Tarantella, never fail to persuade. His work is driven more by mellow nostalgia than angst, and avoids marshmallow moments by exploring surprising dimensions of timbre and texture with delicate emotional shifts in pace. The secret of Forcione's quartet is that they never sit on their laurels. Each appearance is different. Like good wine, Forcione's music doesn't so much improve with the years, as allow hidden flavours to emerge. And while Forcione no longer juggles ping-pong balls while playing, the group's playful sense of humour remains firmly intact.

JAN FAIRLEY

HAIRLINE

Antonio Forcione Quartet

If, like me, you're looking to take those first tentative steps into world music you couldnít find a better place to start than this. In front of an expectant audience, Forcione delivers with the ease and style that he's become world renowned for. Drawing on a number of styles and genres, Forcione and his associates play a series of amazing arrangements by himself and other noted artists. Forcione himself plays the guitar at an eye-watering pace with absolute conviction and passion, whilst accompanied by a Russian accordionist, Nigerian cellist and Brazilian percussionist. The overall effect of this is ensemble is more than a little breathtaking and an absolute delight to listen to. Forcione is a truly great musician and is not to be missed. Take a break from the comedy circuit and catch this show while you can.

Steve Sinclair

The British Theatre guide: *****

Antonio Forcione Quartet

Antonio Forcione, like his friend Boothby Graffoe, is becoming something of a fixture at the Fringe, which is good news for anyone in Edinburgh who likes guitar-based jazz. His style is unique, his skill on the guitar is amazing to watch and his music is wonderful to listen to.

The quartet is the same as last year, with Forcione on guitars, British (via Grenada and Nigeria) cellist Jenny Adejayan, Russian Igor Outkine on accordion and Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale, with the addition of special guest Nathan Thompson on double bass. The show mixes tracks from the latest album, Tears of Joy, with older favourites, including the solo guitar piece Touch Wood, which always gets a roar from the audience as Forcione gets an amazing range of sounds out of the same instrument simultaneously.

Of course this is a quartet (a quintet, in fact, in this show) and the other musicians are pretty impressive too. At one point, Forcione affectionately mocked his percussionist for bringing in all sorts of new toys to get sounds out of including a dried pumpkin - Adewale then began the next track by hitting pieces of water pipe with flip-flops, and got a really good sound out of them (it sounds very much like a synthesised slap bass, in case you were wondering).

This is a great show with some wonderful music from musicians with great humour and personality on stage as well as musical ability. Technically, the sound is great and there is some very effective lighting that adds atmosphere without distracting from the musicians. At the end of the set on this particular night, the room shook as the audience stamped its feet and shouted for more. I'm sure this will happen at many performances.

David Chadderton

Music 2005 ****

Antonio Forcione Quartet

The title of this years Antonio Forcione show 'Tears of Joy' is quite apt in that, that was exactly how I felt at seeing the concert.

The previous 24 hours had been hell and I wasn1t really up for reviewing a show I'd have to concentrate too much for. Having been to one of his solo concerts before I knew roughly what to expect.

Antonio is joined on stage by four other musicians a cellist, an accordion player, a double-bassist and a percussionist. The resulting variety of music was an absolute pleasure to listen to. If the mood took you the show would have been as enjoyable listening to the pictures painted by the sounds.

However Adriano the percussionist was also fascinating to watch, it is amazing the items he uses to make interesting sounds. He also did a short choral piece using the audience.

An excellent, exciting, exhilarating, musical experience.

Roots Review: MINERVA THEATRE, CHICHESTER (November 2004)

Have you heard the one about the man who can make his acoustic guitar sound like an old-fashioned typewriter, complete with the "ding" of the carriage return?

No? Then you haven't seen Italian music maestro Antonio Forcione who deservedly brought a Minerva Theatre audience to its feet.

Part of the Novarts Festival - a new collaboration between Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester Festivities and Chichester Open Art Exhibition - the Antonio Forcione Quartet were mesmeric from the start.

Nigerian-born cellist Jenny Adejayan, Russian accordionist Igor Otkine and Brazilian percussionist Adriano Pinto played many of Forcione's instrumentals when they weren't busy improvising with panache - quizzical question and answer "conversations" and mimicry between guitar and other instruments, including a humble tambourine.

Cogent and humorous, with a brilliant sense of comic timing, Forcione is spellbinding. With his trademark black cap and mischievous grin, the former Covent Garden busker can take his guitar to unfathomable places with his distinctive "knock on wood" techniques.

In a dazzling display of magician meets musicianship he can tap, pluck, strum, slap and tickle the guitar, turn it turtle and still twist it back in time to play the next note. Trying to take your eyes off him was virtually impossible unless it was to watch outstandingly inventive percussionist Pinto who coaxed a whole film score of atmospheric sounds - from birdsong to pitter-patter rain - from his unusual array of organic instruments, including upturned gourds and nutshell necklaces.

Forcione is to the acoustic guitar what Tom Cruise was to the cocktail shaker (in the film Cocktail ). There's no telling what inimitable concoctions will spill out - a new take on a tango, a curacao of blues?

Starting with the upbeat Gigolo, a nod to those great Cuban musicians, Buena Vista Social Club, Forcione advanced through a subtle take on Marvin Gaye's classic I Heard It Through the Grapevine. There were beautifully executed and passionate tunes inspired by Spain's mighty Moorish palace, the Alhambra; the energised gypsy rhythm of Tarantella, triggered by a folk dance from his native southern Italy; the sublime journey Night Passage, written one sleepless, starry night back in la bella Italia, plus a wonderful finale Acoustic Revenge, which unexpectedly lurched into a riff from Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water and saw Igor, the previously reserved accordionist, literally letting his hair down and head banging like a man possessed!

But highlights for me, with the quartet in full rapport, were the evocative African Dawn, where, as more chords and instruments emerged, you could almost feel the sun coming up over the savannah, and Forcione's stand alone showstopper Touch Wood , in which his frenetic fretwork defied the eye.

This musical juggler of the Adriatic has been dubbed "one of the world's greatest living guitarists" and "the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar". For once it's no hype - this is a dangerous genius at work. But his free style and range make him difficult to pigeonhole. Singing his praises in the interval one perplexed lady admirer asked " But what type of music is it?" Don't fret. Forcione can live without genres. He is whatever he wants to be.

Jane Brace

The Guardian: LANCASTER JAZZ FESTIVAL REVIEW **** (September 2004)

Antonio Forcione Quartet

Italian guitar maestro Antonio Forcione originally came to England in pursuit of an errant sweetheart. He set up stall as a street entertainer, and inadvertently acquired a career as a top-flight international concert virtuoso.

There is something fitting about this story, given that Forcione's music still simmers with a sense of bohemian romance, laced with an "ain't life sweet" feel-good factor. In Lancaster, he and his quartet delivered an astonishingly accomplished set, taking in jazz, Spanish classical, African and Latin music, with an occasional nod towards the blues.

Forcione is quite capable of sounding like a one-man band, conjuring bubbling cascades behind his own melody lines and using the body of the guitar as an improvised drum. With the help of Igor Outkine's wistful accordion, Jenny Adejayan's stately cello lines and Adriano Pinto's subtle barrage or percussion, the tunes acquired a deeper luster.

Unlike some accomplished technicians, Forcione is seldom gratuitously flashy in his explorations of various musical forms. A piece dedicated to the Buena Vista Social Club sounded uncannily authentic, while a suite inspired by Astor Piazzolla - one of the great Argentinian tango composers - combined aching soulfulness with a thrusting physicality. Forcione's own self-styled pieces seemed to be as closely linked to the rock canon as to jazz; glassy chordal work evoked Steve Hackett, passages of spidery dissonance Robert Fripp.

The most appealing aspects of Forcione's show are its rampant eclecticism and good humour. Right until the end he was pulling rabbits out of the hat, beginning the encore with a rush of Chuck Berry's Johnny Be Good and ending with a burst of Smoke on the Water - during which Outkine unexpectedly leapt from his chair and became the world's first head-banging accordionist. The audience stamped and cheered for more, but in all honesty, the band couldn't have followed that.

James Griffiths

The Scotsman: EDINBURGH FESTIVAL REVIEW (August 2004)

Antonio Forcione Quartet: World music with global appeal *****

TAKE a world-class Italian composer-guitarist, add a Nigerian-born cellist, a Brazilian percussionist and a Russian accordionist, and you have a quartet whose interaction is blissful. From the moment they kick off with a meditative arrangement of Astor Piazzolla's Libertango and Tango Suite, with the nostalgic Vuelvo al Sur tucked inside, they set the tone for a concert saturated in amazing levels of musicality and embedded in the sheer pleasure of creating music drawing on many influences.

As the years have passed, Forcione (who also plays guitar in a show with comedian Boothby Graffoe) has gradually revealed the deeper wellsprings of his music. While he retains his undoubted sense of wit, most obvious in his sparring exchanges with Igor Outkine on accordion, his more reflective, serious side is most apparent in his new, but as yet unrecorded, Spanish-inspired Tears of Joy. Here, his improvisation with Adriano Pinto, who treats each of his seed percussion instruments as if they are sharing souls, is one of complete rapport. This year, Pinto is beating out supple rhythms on an upturned gourd as well as his usual extraordinary array of drums and found objects, including a grater, knife and fork used as a guïro.

The set moves from Egberto Gismont's Karate to a dazzling stand-up solo of Forcione's own Touch Wood, when his percussive playing makes his guitar seem a natural extension of his body. His Night Passage, evoking a sleepless night, is emblematic of the way he lets a gentle theme develop, not so much as a meandering journey but as if recalling the memory of an elusively precious time.

While both For Vic and the hot-club tinged Chorinho bring out brilliant ensemble playing, the fiery Tarantella rightly has the audience shouting for more, its scintillating balance of virtuosity and playfulness just perfect. Too often music is overlooked on the Fringe - come here and find sustenance for the soul.

JAN FAIRLEY

The List: EDINBURGH FESTIVAL REVIEW (August 2004)

Antonio Forcione Quartet: Guitarists foursome amaze ****

In a truly international quartet, the ever spectacular acoustic talents of Antonio Forcione are embellished this year with Nigerian cello, Russian accordion and Brazilian percussion. All are bedazzling musicians with personality, expressing the same gentle humour and joy in performance as the tender Italian centrepeice.

Delicate, dynamic and controlled, the compositions and arrangements are inspired, showcasing a mind-boggling variety of styles and form. The innovative guitarist exercises flowing precision, his hands drifting deftly around his instrument as he duels with his ensemble.

He's an all plucking, all strumming, all clicking, tapping, slapping virtuoso of world jazz - and comes highly recommended.

Mark Edmundson

Da Chitarre: Acoustic - TOUCH WOOD REVIEW

Lo chiamano il "Jimi Hendrix" della chitarra acustica perché oltre a suonarla in maniera aggressiva e trascinante, a volte le da' proprio fuoco…mentre continua a suonare. E' considerato uno dei musicisti più creativi della scena europea, con ben tredici dischi al suo attivo. Purtroppo, per ottenere tutti questi riconoscimenti, Antonio si è dovuto trasferire a Londra nell'83, sulla scia di tanti altri "immigrati della musica"- basti citare su tutti Peppino D'Agostino - che qui da noi non riescono ad ottenere attenzione.

Nato in un piccolo paese della costa adriatica, Forcione è diplomato in arte e scultura, oltre che al conservatorio, e svolge attività di direttore artistico di opere teatrali. Quest'approccio globale si riflette sulla musica che suona molto mediterranea, ma si arricchisce anche di influenze spagnole, africane e brasiliane. Ne scaturisce, cosi', un melange etnico e multiculturale quanto mai coinvolgente e accattivante.

Il cd si apre e si chiude con due episodi a solo, interamente strumentali, la title-track e "Mirror", che da sole valgono la spesa. Negli altri brani il chitarrista italiano è accompagnato dal suo quartetto: Jenny Adejayan al violoncello, Adriano Pinto percussioni, Giorgio Serci chitarra, più una quantità impressionante di ospiti tra cui vale la pena di citare Sabina Sciubba, Enzo Zirilli, Pac helder, Josue Ferreira, Mattheus Nova e Bob Stuckley. Un crogiolo di razze e radici, di mondi musicali che Antonio dirige con mano sicura, mantenendo forte e presente la sua impronta creativa su tutta l'opera.

Su "Alhambra" (che è anche traccia multimediale) compare la Udan Guitar Fretless, ed è uno dei momenti migliori del disco. Ma anche "Tarantella", "Gigolo" e "Nostalgia" ci regalano un Forcione particolarmente istrionico e ispirato.

Mario Giovannini

Evening Standard: TOUCH WOOD REVIEW

Antonio Forcione is Italian born, but resident in London, and has absorbed so many influences that it is better not to list them. He is a musician's musician in the best sense, with superlative technique that is fluent, natural and truly virtuoso without being flashy. (He headlines the London Guitar Festival at the Union Chapel, Islington, next month).

There is a soft, expressive touch and an acoustic warmth to this album. After a solo introduction in which Forcione.s guitar provides both treble, bass and accompanying percussion, Tarantella is a stand-out composition, based on the Italian folk dance, with a skittish melody played by Nigerian cellist Jenny Adejayan and light, almost mandolin-like playing from Forcione. There is a great rapport with second guitarist Giorgio Serci, with some furious duetting in Scrambled Eggs, and a haunting song, Mirror, Mirror reprised like a memory on solo guitar at the end.

Simon Broughton

The Metro: TOUCH WOOD REVIEW

Guitarist Antonio Forcione's lovely album has a strong Mediterranean theme, with an elegant tango suite, a gorgeous folky ronde entitled Tarantella, and an Alhambra rich with dramatic variations and consoling cadences. Forcione plays as part of a quartet, but its form - two guitarists, a cellist and a percussionist - makes for a sound that's simple but rich, the musical equivalent of expensively minimalist decor. This allows for the delicate fretwork of Vic and the soothing ripples of the aptly named Nostalgia. This isn't great innovation, but it is lovely nonetheless.

Nina Caplan

Songlines: REVIEW

Stunning guitar playing taking in Spanish, Italian and South American influences

The opening bars of this album conjure the image of a Ganesh-like musician. If there's only one guitar then surely Antonio Forcione has been blessed with more than his fair share of arms. One hand hammers notes on the fret board, another punctuates it with crisp harmonics, a third taps out syncopated rhythms on the guitar body while a fourth pulls it all together with a clean melodic line. 'Touch Wood' is a blistering opener to this album of the same name.

Forcione is one of a generation of guitar players whose virtuoso technique allows them to dip into any style at will. And he fills this album like a child at a pick'n'mix counter, with world- and jazz-tinged tracks. There's Flamenco on 'Alhambra', featuring a Gypsy singer, Diego el Cigala, a whistle-stop tour of South America with the Brazilian-style 'Mirror Mirror' and Astor Piazzolla's classic 'Libertango'. 'Tarantella', based on an Italian folk dance, showcases the cello playing of Jenny Adejayan. At once both playful and brooding, the combination of the two instruments is sublime. And co-guitarist, Giorgi Serci proves his credentials with writing credits for the beautiful 'Watercolour'.

You've whisked back to Rio for the penultimate and highly infectious track, 'Scrambled Eggs', but left feeling a little jetlagged, if you're a fan of jazz and world guitar, then buy this immmediately - it is superb. But if you prefer albums firmly rooted in one style or region, you won't find this wholly satisfying.

Matthew Swaine

23 Ottobre 2003 a La Palma Club di Roma

The Antonio Forcione Quartet

Può capitare talvolta che la formazione stessa, a guardarla così, prima ancora che cominci a suonare, lasci trasparire la cifra della propria identità musicale, di un' "idea" di musica.

Così, a vedere Antonio Forcione (ormai londinese d'adozione, in Italia dopo molti anni) che presenta il suo quartetto a La Palma Club, si intuisce subito quale spirito animerà la serata; il suo virtuosismo chitarristico, spontaneamente non convenzionale, esplorativo, sarà lo strumento del viaggio tra le musiche del mondo, e lì sul palco ci sono i suoi attuali compagni di viaggio: Giorgio Serci, anche lui alla chitarra, la violoncellista Jenny Adejayan e il percussionista brasiliano Adriano Pinto.

Si parte, e l'aria comincia a vibrare in un duetto tra la chitarra classica di Forcione e le percussioni di Pinto: proprio la connotazione ritmica quasi percussiva del fraseggio di Forcione costituisce il nucleo attorno al quale si aggregano gli arrangiamenti delle composizioni proposte, tratte dal suo ultimo lavoro, Touch Wood. Pinto asseconda il dialogo, raccogliendo gli accenti e riflettendoli con un'improvvisazione in cui si respira il calore etnico della sua cultura musicale. Si inserisce l'altra chitarra classica di Serci: il suo approccio allo strumento è forse più canonico, ma proprio per questo è distinguibile ed efficacemente complementare allo stile di Forcione; quindi si innesta la suggestione del violoncello della Adejayan, ora pizzicato su una linea di basso, ora ad amalgamare il sound nelle note lunghe.

Ne risulta un caleidoscopio di sonorità acustiche in grado di evocare le atmosfere più diverse: misteriosa e arabeggiante in Ahlambra (), solare dell'ispirazione cubana in Gigolo, avvincente nella Tango suite di Piazzolla e ancora ossessiva e festosa nel folk trascinante di Tarantella.

Il progetto proposto da Forcione si muove nel solco dell'esperienza, più o meno recente, di grandi chitarristi (su tutti John McLaughlin ad Al Di Meola) dei quali sembra aver assimilato anche l'attitudine alla performance: ed è infatti il gioco teatrale del "contendersi" gli spazi nei duetti con Pinto o Serci che conquista il pubblico.

Ma non abbiamo ancora visto ed ascoltato tutto.

Forcione prende la chitarra acustica e rimane da solo sul palco. Il vortice di suoni del quartetto sembra esser stato risucchiato nel foro della sua chitarra, e riemerge orchestrato magicamente solo dalle sue mani per Touch Wood: armonici, reef sui bassi, la cassa usata come percussione, glissati usando le chiavi… insomma tutto (o quasi) quello che si può tirare fuori da una chitarra, in un silenzio sospeso di stupore.

Lo spirito che avrebbe animato la serata si intuiva, ma sorprende comunque l'ironia della chitarra di Forcione, il feeling con i suoi tre compagni di viaggio, il piacere di riscoprire nella loro musica la levità di un gioco che per un'ora e mezza ci accompagna così lontano… e mentre si abbracciano per raccogliere la nostra gratitudine, ci ritroviamo di nuovo qui, in un club di Roma.

Articoli correlati:
04/05/2005: Steve Kuhn Trio, a La Palma: "...Piuttosto che una estetica musicale preconfezionata, il trio ha cercato soprattutto il divertimento dell'improvvisazione cogliendo il genio del momento..." (Dario Gentili)
27/03/2005: Susie Ibarra Trio a La Palma: "...La proposta musicale del trio è senza dubbio originale; ulteriore prova, semmai ce ne fosse ancora bisogno, di come l'improvvisazione jazzistica sia capace di accogliere le suggestioni provenienti dalle più diverse tradizioni musicali..." (Dario Gentili)
28/11/2004: Gianluca Renzi Sextet presenta il suo ultimo lavoro a La Palma: "Gianluca Renzi, con questa formazione, ha realmente trovato la "quadratura del cerchio". Esistono quelle affinità che rendono certi incontri determinanti, e questo lo è." (Franco Giustino)

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COMMENTI
Inserito il 28/11/2003 alle 13.32.09 da andreabernardini_NOSPAM_@hotmail.com - 80.117.236.142
mi sembra che, oltre alla pulizia lessicale e alla leggerezza semantica, la recensione sia contemporaneamente accessibile anche ai più digiuni di jazz (e l'approccio dialogico prima che musicale può sortire effetti positivi e stimolanti) e comunque fedele ad uno stile irrinunciabile per dare un senso rotondo e pertinente al commento. Si intuisce facilmente che l'autore unisce ad una spiccata sensibilità musicale un'esperienza corposa nell'ascolto. grazie.
Inserito il 2/12/2003 alle 16.58.00 da goodwitch_NOSPAM_@tiscali.it - 62.101.126.233
davvero eccezionale..ho visto il concerto a Roma ...non conoscevo Antonio Forcione e devo dire che mi e' piaciuto molto..concerto bello e divertente..bravo tutto il gruppo
Inserito il 9/6/2004 alle 1.05.30 da kristinat_NOSPAM_@libero.it - 151.30.8.76
HO ASSISTITO AD UN CONCERTO DI FORCIONE IN PROVINCIA DI VERONA E DEVO DIRE CHE MI HA CONQUISTATO! NON SONO ASSOLUTAMENTE UN'ESPERTA DI MUSICA, MA HO APPREZZATO IL CONCERTO NON SOLO X LE CAPACITà DELL'ARTISTA, MA ANCHE X LA SUA IRONIA, SIMPATIA...HO ADDIRITTURA RISO! PENSATE CHE DURANTE IL CONCERTO E' SUONATO UN CELLULARE..E LUI, DIVERTITO, HA RIPRODOTTO CON LA CHITARRA LA SUONERIA!! UN GRANDE.

Francesco Lombardo