You Never Know is the Club d'Elf studio album that captures the whirling, overlapping orbits of acoustic, electric and exotic sounds of the floating improvisational collective, which has recorded and performed together for more than two decades, with crisp studio clarity.
But more importantly, You Never Know celebrates light born from darkness. Bassist and bandleader Mike Rivard, the sole constant in the collective's 24-year run, suffered a near-death experience from a pulmonary embolism which struck him while he was exploring remote jungles near the Peruvian Amazon. Seeking peace and comfort, and to assist his physical, emotional and spiritual recovery, Rivard returned to the composers and musical styles of his roots: North African trance music known as gnawa, which Rivard began exploring on sintir (a three-stinged bass lute) decades ago, plus the music of Miles Davis, the Moroccan band Nass el-Ghiwane, Frank Zappa and Joe Zawinul. more here...