Eric Bibb: E Bibb & Friends (1981)

A mellow, all-acoustic, early world-music album from the American blues musician.

For this project Bibb gathered several befriended musicians of international origin, from Turkish saz player Nyofu to Gambian kora virtuoso Momodou Suso. They function as true partners here, as most have their own feature tunes.

Highlights to me are the two features for kora player Momodou Suso, a member of one of Gambia's best-loved groups, Ifang Bondi. The complex music of the West African harp hardly needs any accompanying instruments and it's indeed hard to figure out if Bibb plays here at all. Another harp, this time from South America, is heard on the beautiful "Concierto En La Llanura".

Apart from the string instruments, the flutes play an important role in adding an idylic mood, a childlike simplicity, to several tunes.

The fact that most participants also sing, raises the impression to listen to an informal session among friends. Bibb has three vocal features, and while his voice is really pleasant, the well-meant sentiments expressed on "The Way You Sing" come off as a little naive.

Eric Bibb spend most of the 1970s in Europe, recording several albums for the Swedish audiophile label "Opus 3". You'll find none of them on the AMG as they never received distribution in the USA. It seems that he's now a well-established name in contemporary blues, (i admit, i had never heard of him before i picked this up...).

A pleasant album, even if it could have used a little more fire every now and then.


Eric Bibb: E Bibb & Friends
Opus 3 Records 8102
Sweden, 1981

A1 Mercadal En Menorca 2:42
A2 Sama Koli (M. Suso) 3:26
A3 The Way You Sing 3:20
A4 Bursa Güvendesi (trad.) 3:17
A5 A Prayer For Peace In Palestine 3:03
A6 Concierto En La Llanura (trad.) 4:00

B1 Forgiving You 4:18
B2 Friendship Song From Gambia (trad., arr.: M. Suso) 4:00
B3 Taj In Timbuktu 3:27
B4 Prayer For Peace 1:35
B5 Everywhere Is A Home (Anneli Bjorklund / E. Bibb) 1:23
B6 Bird Music 2:50
B7 Mercadal 2:10

All tracks written by Eric Bibb, except as noted

The Players:
Eric Bibb — guitar, cümbüs, vocals, 12-string guitar
Felix Pereyra — arpa tropical, vocals (on B3)
Helena Skog — flute
Patrick Vendel — flute, alto flute, piccolo
Momodou Suso — kora, vocals
Nyofu — bass, saz
Asa Holmberg — vocals (on A5, B3, B5, B6)
Erik Hausler — soprano sax (on A5 and B6), alto sax' and vocals (on B3)
Bert Deivert — mandolin (on A3)