Free Fall

1	Switchback 4:07
2	Air 3:28
3	Virtue 4:08
4	Free Fall 4:20
5	La Paloma 4:08
6	Incantation 4:52
7	All That Remains 3:16
8	On Walks the Night 6:38
9	Querido Amigo 3:32
10	Viva 4:24
11	Fall at Your Feet 12:45

Barnes & Noble

Guitarist Jesse Cook cross-pollinates like a honey-crazed insect on Free Fall, leaving a sense that its Gypsy, flamenco, Middle Eastern and Latin flavors share the same musical DNA. Cook's percussionists handle the complex array of rhythms like they were born to them, while bass player Eric Lyons offers a steady yet sensuous sonic backbone. The opener, "Switchback," hurtles along like a Latin locomotive, chugging mightily and untiringly uphill. "Querido Amigo," featuring Cook with only spare rhythmic accompaniment, showcases the guitarist's intricate flamenco fingerwork and some sensitive drumming in the spirit of live palmas clapping. "Viva" contrasts Cook's lyrical, romantic guitar with copious layers of deep surdo drumming, while violinist Steven Greenman brings a soulful, gypsy flair to "All That Remains." "Incantation" is a proud and mystically charged piece; Cook's picking conjures images of broad Moorish plains, later segueing to the mournful cries of Djivan Gasparian's Armenian duduk. The set ends with a sizzling hidden live track featuring Rick Shadrach and his Samba Squad -- expect to find yourself dancing in the street. Pulsing with raw power, Free Fall is a thrill through and through. Carol Wright

All Music Guide

Free Fall, Jesse Cook's fourth album, is squarely in the nuevo flamenco guitarist's established pattern: a willfully eclectic blend of flamenco, new age instrumental sensibilities, a touch of pop, and whatever worldbeat influences cross his path: jazz, rumba, pan-African. Still, Cook throws in a few new wrinkles to keep things from becoming predictable, and the result is another fine album that will please his fans. Steve Huey