SEKOU BEMBEYA DIABATE
GUITAR FÖ

Hot on the heels of last summer's succesful reunion with Bembeya Jazz, Sekou Diabaté, also known as "Diamond Fingers" has a new solo album out. Recorded between his European and American tours (He'll be appearing with Bembeya at Ashkenaz, Berkeley, at 9 p.m. on July 21 AND 22!), it's basically Bembeya Jazz without horns and vocals, and since I was complaining bitterly about their trumpeter being flat, this is a bonus. Also the singing on here is not particularly good so the instrumental approach is welcome. Diabaté stands out, as always with his guitar pyrotechnics. I played it back to back with Mama Sissoko's solo album SOLEIL DE MINUIT and I have to say Sissoko (formerly guitar star of Super Biton de Segou) came out ahead. But while Diabaté has lost a touch of the speed and flash that made him so outstanding in the heyday of Bembeya Jazz (in the sixties and seventies), this is still an A-One album. For one thing it is better recorded than the old Bembeya albums. There are a few weak points: it's too long and drifts off into a noodly piece at the end that could have been omitted. The Duchess cracked up at the Hawaiian guitar because the singer sounds Hawaiian too and we imagined the grass skirts and undulating hand gestures that go with the sound. Sekou reprises a few Bembeya tunes again: "Ndianomo" from DIX ANS DE SUCCES, and his signature tune "Diamond Fingers" that is a cross between Franco's "Liwa ya wech" (slowed down) and Jeff Beck's speed workout "Beck's Bolero" -- an odd blend that curiously works well. The first track shows again his debt to African Fiesta as the mi-solo plays a classic Mwamba Déchaud progression giving him the centre stage for some Nico-esque pyromania. The instrumental approach makes this a great disc to play in the background while reading or cooking.