Antonio Forcione @ The Jazz Cafe

FINALLY!! After missing every London gig Antonio Forcione has played for the last two years I caught a brilliant set last night at London's Famous Jazz Venue - The Jazz Café

Antonio's music is breathtaking and the show he puts on is nothing less than sheer performance art. The man effortlessly plays faster than Django, casually builds complex melodies using harmonics and shows off his knowledge of the tensile strength of each of his guitars by pulling both their neck and strings further than I would care to try with any of mine.

After a brief glance at the set list he announced - to the crowd's delight - that he would now play Touch Wood, the title track from his 2003 album. This song is almost entirely played with harmonics and tapping. His bizarre, trebly, tremolo-ridden signature sound emphasises his percussive, crazy string-bending technique.

This quartet are a truly an awesome foursome. The double bassist also accompanied with staccato flute licks and a strange African wind instrument which was nothing more than an orange bamboo stick, but somehow produced a huge range of smoky tones.

The percussionist broke away from his drum kit at every chance to play a wooden, dome-like bass drum with bare hands and a set of tuned plastic tubes, with a pair of flip-flops.

The cellist, although only playing her cello, weaved the most beautiful counter-melodies inside every number. Especially the pair of duets with guitar.

It would be easy to mistake Antonio's solo compositions with two or three guitarists playing simultaneously. Turning towards the stage mid-tune, Lou & Leon could hardly keep their eyes in their sockets...