Hommage à Franco Luambo – Ray Lema, 2019

🎹🎶🎺🌡️💃 In June 2019, Congolese pianist Ray Lema brilliantly revisited the repertoire of rumba master Franco Luambo at the Jazz Kiff festival in Kinshasa, surrounded by his musical accomplices (Michel Alibo, Irving Acao, Dharil Esso, Rodriguez Vangama….), to offer a rereading of the standards that rocked his youth. An instant favorite! Memories in bulk. The muggy heat of the bars that made Kin or Brazza famous in the 70s and 80s is there, in the half-light of which we dance until the end of the night. Rumba is Congolese, but Ray Lema mixes it with a warm jazz touch, giving it sometimes Latin accents thanks to a millimeter-perfect brass section that also honors the legendary Bantous de la Capitale, on the other side of the river.