Nawfel
Biographie

Excellent guitarists now run to large numbers in France, whatever the genre they choose to play in, electric blues from Chicago or Texas, classical, rock, jazz, fusion... France can even lay claim to a new, entirely original tradition, thanks to Django and his numerous heirs. One has to admit that the record companies have recorded and re-mastered the great masters, and that specialist magazines have published the tablatures and scores, not to mention all the videocassettes, lessons and master-classes that exist. All of which does little to explain the arrival from another planet of a UFO by the name of Nawfel, who landed in Soissons (north of Paris), and then went on to K.O. the public at the Printemps de Bourges Festival. He went to Chicago 2 years ago, just to see what was happening locally, and today he’s just back from Los Angeles, with the most amazing record heard for a long time. Nawfel has been touched by Grace. His virtuosity is overwhelming, but so is his mastery in the construction of a solo, the way he twists it to extract the last drops of emotion. In a word, his approach to the guitar is something else. A brand-new language.

The Sunset Sound Factory studio in Hollywood was the setting for this jewel of a record, but chance had nothing to do with it : the place is simply a Mecca for the best musicians, who gather there in devotion. Judge for yourself : Barry Goldberg officiates on keyboards (and produces with Philippe Le Bras); Mario Caldato Jr (the Beastie Boys co-producer and sound engineer) proves here that he’s one of the best mixers of the next Millenium; his sidekick Money Mark (from the same Beastie Boys) is also there, trafficking the keyboards to his heart’s content; Ivan Neville - son of Aaron Neville - who stood alongside Keith Richards in the X-pensive Wino’s, lends his voice to five of the seven songs on the record. The other singer is Melanie Herrold, who picks up AI Wanna Take You Higher@ (by Sly Stone), and whose voice is reminiscent of Betty Davis (who was married to Miles); Reggie McBride (ex-Stevie Wonder, Ry Cooder, etc), an undisputed master of groove, plays bass; on percussion, there’s Luis Conte (Madonna, David Lindley); Jack Sherman plays rhythm guitar (George Clinton, Red Hot Chilli Peppers), and behind the drums you can find Rayford Griffin (Isley Brothers), Don Heffington (Lone Justice, Taj Mahal), Gary Mallaber (Van Morrison, Steve Miller, Bruce Springsteen) and Jim Keltner (who needs no introduction, having played with John Lennon, Ry Cooder and Phil Spector). Add the Johnson Sisters, Rocky Roberts, Neil Young’s Aguitar tech@ B he deserves a koubba for his work on the sound from the guitars and amplifiers - and you can hear Nawfel taking off, with disconcerting ease and feeling... for the first time, a soul guitar is now a soloist, reaching the summits on his first outing with themes by Hendrix, Sly Stone, Donald and Woody Kinsey, Aretha Franklin, Los Lobos, and Booker T. Jones (the ABig Bird@ that Steve Cropper, Pops Staples and Albert King played together for Stax).

It’s true that Nawfel’s grandfather played the mezoued - a kind of goatskin bagpipes - with the National Orchestra of Tunisia, and that his father used a mahogany-skinned electric guitar in trying to rival with Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery and Jimi Hendrix, but again, the truth lies elsewhere. Santana, Clapton, Phil Upchurch, Shuggie Otis (son of Johnny Otis) can be discerned in his influences, in the doses customary to natural medecine, and perfectly diluted. After the session, the Texicali Horns, who’d accompanied Stevie Ray Vaughan, reckoned they’d met a reincarnation of their former leader. But they discovered Nawfel was born six months before the virtuoso died... which means Nawfel is only thirteen years old. But that makes absolutely no difference when you listen to the record, because the sheer maturity of his phrasing carries everything before it...

Back in Soissons, where he was born, in his Ali Baba’s cave packed with a hundred guitars, pedals, amplifiers, and racks of effects, Nawfel declared : AMy dream’s come true.

But in fact, when he recorded this album, it was an entire world of our own inner dreams that he turned

into reality.

Bod Pascal
20 rue des Fossés St Jacques
75 0855 Paris
tel: 33 1 44 41 93 70
fax: 33 1 44 41 93 01