My Content
Membership has its privileges! Sign up or sign in to gain full access to both All About Jazz and Jazz Near You. Learn more.
Anouar Brahem: Le Pas du Chat Noir
Anouar Brahem knows perfectly the formula to condense in the air the fragrance of incense, the visual impression of an orange-colored sky over the adobe terraces in Tunis, and a sea of reminiscences shaken up by his melodies. His music seems to be languid, but its lassitude takes you in, absorbs you, and softly converts any emotion that could seem instantaneous and banal unless the notes of his oud didn't float in the air.
On his seventh album recorded for ECM, Brahem blendes the sounds of Khomsa (ECM, 1995) and Thimar (ECM, 1998)—in which he experimented with the approach between the traditional Arabian and Islamic music and jazz—with the maturity of the sound and the personal style reached in his last work, Astrakan Café (ECM, 2000). The phrases of Francois Couturier at the piano mislead us and makes us think we are listening to classical music—maybe Albaniz, maybe Satie—and just in a measured moment, the oud of Brahem fascinates us and immerses us in the roots of Arabian music. Suddenly, in the fourth phrase, we become aware that we have fallen into a trap we cannot get away from.
A meditation, an emotional dialog between two cultures that Jean-Louis Matinier embellishes with accordion melodies.
Tags
Shop for Music
Start your music shopping from All About Jazz and you'll support us in the process. Learn how.
Related Articles
Album Reviews
Pamela Polland / Have You Heard The One About The Gas Station Attendant?
By Jakob BaekgaardMay 24, 2019
Interviews
André Ménard: 40 Years at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
By Mark SullivanMay 23, 2019
The Jazz Life
To Dream the Impossible Dream: the quest for a music education
By Peter RubieMay 22, 2019
Poll Results
All About Jazz would like to thank the 4,000 members who participated in our poll to help us identify the world's top jazz venues. For a recap, click here.
Shop Amazon
Jazz Story
By Bobby Rodriguez Orchestra
Member since: 2012
I was first exposed to jazz in NYC. Even though, as a musician, I was playing & singing mostly R&B, after someone took me to see the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, followed by a concert with Ella Fitzgerald
Read more
