On Sylvain Luc"s fifth recording titled "Joko," the critically acclaimed French guitarist makes a bold departure from his previous solo and trio recordings to perform with a dynamic new group featuring French avant-garde legend Michel Portal on clarinet and young French piano favorite Jacky Terrasson. Rounding out this unique ensemble are Pascal Rey on drums and percussion, Eric Longsworth on cello, Olivier Ker-Ourio on harmonica, and Iranian brothers Keyvan and Bijan Chenirani on daf, zarb, bendir and udu. "Joko" gives fans a taste of Luc"s elegant chord voicings on 15 great songs. Listeners are treated to his lyrical acoustic guitar lines, effortless grooves and the ethereal chord textures of Joe Jackson"s "Steppin" Out," the clean, round sounds of Keith Jarrett"s "Coral," the mesmerizing nuance of Paul McCartney"s "This Never Happened Before" (from his recent hit Chaos and Creation in the Backyard), and the eclecticism of "Fandanguito," a Luc original. The guitar tuning Luc uses is an outgrowth of his traditional Basque decent. Much like his good friend Bireli Lagrene, Sylvain Luc was a child prodigy from a family of traditional gypsy musicians and has grown into an amazing technician, combining a total command of the jazz guitar tradition with a deep love and understanding of world music, including that of his own Basque heritage. When you talk about crossing his sound over into jazz, he is really relentless and is making that happen beautifully through the use of multiple guitars, overdubbed bass lines, and percussive taps on the guitar body. The diversity of the recording will hold your interest from start to finish with its stirring combination of standards and original material.