French guitarist Philippe Caillat is one of the great guitar treasures of European jazz fusion. Since the mid 1980s, the now German-based guitarist has released a series of instrumental albums that have set him apart from many other jazz-rock guitarist-composers. After a number of critically acclaimed solo albums in the 1980s, the ‘90s and early 2000’s Philippe returned after many years with two great solo albums, Twist For Horse Riding Heroes (2013) and Secret Agent (2017). Both albums were kind of tributes to the guitarist’s early fretboard influences such as instrumental Shadows style surf-rock and spy-surf soundtrack instrumentals, both imparted with a harder-edged jazz fusion dynamic.

One album Philippe released during the pandemic era was the late 2021 release of Acoustic Travel, issued on CD by DMG, the German label responsible for issuing his other albums mentioned above. Even though it was overlooked at the time, the 11-track, 38-minute Acoustic Travel is very much worth looking into. True, the Euro-tinged Acoustic Travel is somewhat more acoustic-based then his earlier albums, yet it also features a full band that completely explores Caillat’s broad expansive approach to guitar instrumental music.

“Papillons” sets the tone with its reflective acoustic tone yet it swiftly gives rise to "Stream Of Time”, when the full band kicks in. Even though the acoustic guitar takes the lead in a group setting it is completely convincing and is as inventive as the music on his earlier albums. Assisting Philippe’s guitars on Acoustic Travel are top players including Tim Barnett and Gerard Carbonell (contrabass / electric bass), Gereon Homann (drums / percussion), Serge Manier (accordion), Ray Silbermann (piano), Alla Boichenko (cello) and Frank Almann (baritone sax). Acoustic Travel is a most welcome addition to the guitar-centric repertoire of guitar maestro Philippe Caillat.