Following a 15-year long hiatus, Schema Records’ co-founder and musician Luciano Cantone, in collaboration with Gianluca Petrella (ECM, Blue Note, Schema) and a new group of musicians that make up the group The Invisible Sessions have returned to release their highly-anticipated second album Echoes Of Africa Cantone’s newly-launched Milan-based Space Echo label.

Where the group’s 2006 breakthrough debut explored Latin jazz and Brazilian grooves, their latest recording is heavily influenced by the sounds of Afrobeat and Ethio-jazz, paying homage to pioneering African legends Tony Allen and Mulatu Astatke. Building off these foundation, the music also incorporates psychedelia, Italian library music, and jazz-funk.

Throughout the eleven-track album, Cantone holds it down on vibes, while Petrella plays a number of instruments, including trombone, keyboards, piano Fender and Wurlitzer. This session also features trumpeter Mirco Rubegni, Giuseppe “Beppe” Scardino on baritone saxophone and flute, guitarist Riccardo Onori , electric bassist Jukka ”Jukkis” Kiviniemi, Ethiopian drummer and percussionist Abdissa “Mamba” Assefa, Gambian kora player Aruna “Jalimansa” Kuyateh, backing vocalist Joyce Elaine Yuille, and Benjamin “Bentality” Paavilainen providing additional vocals on on “Hearing The Call” and “Mother Forgive Us”.

Even though this new full-length is a departure from the group’s debut, Cantone and company have put together a brilliant recording that truly captures the spirit of both Afrobeat and Ethio-jazz, while keeping the sound fresh and foward-thinking. It’s good to see the return of The Invisible Sessions!

The Invisible Session — ‘Echoes Of Africa’
(Space Echo)

1. From Lagos To Addis Ababa (Intro)
2. West Island
3. Ideas Can Make The World
4. Hearing The Call
5. Pull The Handbrake
6. Journey To The East
7. People All Around The World, Can Make It
8. Mother Forgive Us
9. Breathe The Rhythm
10. Entoto
11. From Lagos To Addis Ababa (Extended)

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• African
• Ethio-jazz
• Jazz Funk
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