Elina Duni And Rob Luft @ Jazz Co-op Livestream May 17

Elina Duni (voice); Rob Luft (guitars, electronic effects)

A homely scene greeted us, Elina and Rob on the sofa with a few fairy lights behind, yet this was also an international gig, as shown by the names in the chat box and the greetings that Elina gave later, to people from France,  Albania, Kosovo, the USA. Excellent sound through my headphones and passable even without them.

 About 35 people listed as listening, enough to fill the jazz bar at the Globe – Alas! But this is a different sort of gig, which may continue in some form in the future, who knows?

First up was Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman which blended later into a folk song from Elina's native Albania, When You Appear at My Doorstep. Flowing guitar comments to the vocal lines with a very Eastern feel and the second song is sung beautifully, in Albanian, slowly reflective, a passionate repetitive chorus, ascending scales and jubilant guitar sounds. This outline doesn't do the performance much justice, but you can listen for yourself on YouTube.

Next came a love song from the mountains of Kosovo, the words were foreign but the sentiment came across. A complex song with many sections yet not difficult listening, repeated passionate phrases, singing the tune with the guitar but a few notes higher, very different from jazz variations, ending with the guitar sounding like a double bass. Flying Kites, an original, composed on the very sofa that we were looking at, (not an observation we could appreciate at an actual gig), drawn from Elina's childhood memories, and the guitar playing fast twisting riffs to imitate the kites.

Then came a typical folk song theme, the girl fancies a man she meets when getting water from the well, before remembering that she must return home to her mother. A fast skilled guitar over a slow song, with brilliant very high guitar notes to end.  

Another original (One Day In?); followed by a Charlie Haden/Abbey Lincoln number with echoing guitar. The duo showed their versatility with an out and out jazz standard,  I'm Glad There Is You. 

A final folk song, a love song about the moon, and the well-deserved encore, which was demanded in the chat box, Serge Gainsbourg's Couleur Cafe, done samba style, with Rob singing in harmony in the chorus, and an abundance of  guitar effects which sounded like quite a few guitars at once.

If you want more of these two musicians, and I bet you do, Rob's album, Life Is The Dancer, was out in April 2020, on Edition Records.  See www.robluft.bandcamp.com

Elina's last album, Partir, April 2018, is on ECM Records. See www.amazon.co.uk/elina-duni.

Ann Alex