Programme
Coming soon
Directions
About The Vortex
News
FAQs
Gig reviews
CD reviews
Book reviewsHire
Agency
Features
Membership
Support The Vortex
Links
Contact
Gig requests
Music
Videos
CD reviews
Browse CD reviews
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Join the Vortex
email list
To receive monthly gig details, news and ticket offers.
RSS feeds
For news, gig and CD reviews and information about the club.
Click on the link below to get the subscribe address
Vortex
news 
For more informaton about RSS see the
RSS help pages
Ron Affif Trio
Ron Affif Trio
Hevhetia HV 0013-2-331
Being
the son of a middleweight boxer, Charlie Affif, who was also a big jazz
fan (one of his acquaintances was Miles Davis) has left guitarist Ron not
only with a love of jazz (and, liner-note writers say, a combative spirit)
but also a great selection of metaphors through which to describe his art:
'I think of tempos as my father used to think of his punch combinations.
Sticking to the same old tempo routine gets predictable after a while and
can get you into trouble. Why not take advantage of the whole spectrum?'
On this album, recorded in 2005 in Slovakia with bassist Juraj Griglák and drummer Martin Valihora, Affif takes his own advice by ringing the changes between snappy but powerful originals, standards (Cole Porter's 'You'd be so Nice to Come Home to') and the odd modern jazz piece (Chick Corea's 'Windows' a particular highlight), his brisk, muscular yet attractively breezy (a word inevitably associated with one of his greatest influences, George Benson) style skilfully complemented by a rhythm section clearly equally at home with fusion and the fleeter needs of jazz proper.
The resulting album is both infectiously informal (the trio's clear musical rapport built courtesy of several gigs and a couple of tours by Affif of Slovakia from 2000 onwards) and tight, and will appeal to admirers of the likes of Pat Martino and even Joe Pass, as well as the aforementioned Benson.
