Dhafer Youssef – Street of Minarets (2023)

320 | FLAC

 

Tunisian-born oud virtuoso Dhaffer Youssef, a fixture on the international jazz scene since the 1990s, treats listeners to his tenth album, Streets of Minarets, and one that is noteworthy for its impressive team of jazz musicians he assembled for this recording: Herbie Hancock (piano), Marcus Miller (bass), Nguyen Lee (guitar), Rakesh Chaurasia (flute), Adriano Dos Santos Tenori (percussion), Dave Holland (double bass), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), and Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet). Unlike Youssef’s previous albums, he selected his musical colleagues before he wrote the music specifically for each one. What is remarkable about this new release is that it was a product of the pandemic during which Dhafer overcame challenges presented by the understandable anxiety that many artists faced and undergoing vocal cord surgery.