The Hour of Separation

Joe Tawadros’ last CD The Prophet was a delightful surprise, full of promise. In February 2010 the young Egyptian-Australian oud player travelled to New York to make what he hoped would be ‘the album of a lifetime.’ On paper, everything seemed to bode so well for him: backing from the prestigious Enja label, a stellar line-up of collaborators drawn from the city’s finest jazz players and his own prodigious talent. If only success in such things were so predictable.

The final outcome has moments of true virtuosity but lacks coherency. More simple tracks like ‘Midnight Prayer’ – an achingly measured duet between Tawadros’ oud and John Abercrombie’s double bass – display some sense of shared purpose, but once the drums, Eastern percussion and guitar kick in, any real sense of identity is lost. The most puzzling piece of the jigsaw is guitar legend Abercrombie’s playing, which often seems at odds with the oud’s delicate sound and consequently never really finds a comfortable place in the mix. There is no doubting that Tawadros is a rising star of the oud world, and we should applaud his sense of adventure in making this album. For one so young and so gifted, it’s probably alright to get it a bit wrong, sometimes.