Dhafer Youssef & Wolfgang Muthspiel

About

Also known as: ظافر يوسف

Tunisian oud player and vocalist Dhafer Youssef and Austrian jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel make for a quietly unlikely pairing, but their 2007 album Glow showed just how naturally their sensibilities align. Youssef brings a deeply spiritual edge to his playing and singing, blending vocal and instrumental improvisation rooted in the Islamic world with jazz and avant garde music. Muthspiel, long a fixture in European and American jazz circles, has worked with everyone from Gary Burton to Brian Blade and brings a refined, searching guitar voice to the mix. Together on Glow, the two carved out a space that sits somewhere between meditative world music and open ended jazz improvisation, a combination that reflects the broader ambitions both artists carry into their solo work.