By explicitly titling his new album “An Indian's Life”, double bassist and composer Henri Texier beautifully closes a sort of informal phonographic triptych — begun in 1993 with “An Indian's Week” and continued in 2016 with “Sky Dancers” — making the Native American cause and, beyond that, the quasi-mythological figure of the “Indian”, both the imaginary matrix and the poetic driving force of his artistic gesture. Because if in the end Henri Texier can claim in this new record to have managed once again to resonate with the Native American psyche, it is undoubtedly in this living relationship to memory, to ancestors, to tradition, that his music ( re)comes into play each time in such a sensitive way. Henri Texier will never be an Indian, he knows it, just as he will never be Charles Mingus - but both meet in his music and it is all his genius to make his most intimate voice heard through this imaginary dialogue.

Finnish star trumpeter Verneri Pohjola guest stars on world-class saxophonist Sylvain Rifflet's new album Cake Walk from a Spaceship. The album brings together Rifflet's unique tenor timbre and Pohjola's distinctive, expressive sound into a seamlessly elegant production that captivates listeners with the sheer mastery of both performers.

This album explores the experience of foreigners in France. I see myself as belonging to a long genealogy of American artists who moved to Paris to escape the USA, a country that does not support its creators. Unlike my illustrious predecessors, I arrived in France during a pandemic that paralyzed the Parisian artistic scene. Paradoxically, the cancellation of live performances made it easier for me to collaborate with Parisian musicians and focus on composing. Rooted in the values and approaches of jazz, this album offers a musical view of Paris in the Covid-19 era. The ensemble’s direction, concept, and instrumentation is electronic and contemporary, using musical languages outside of the jazz tradition. Notably it mobilizes concepts from South Indian Carnatic music and North Africa. If French jazz musicians tend to mystify the New York and American music scene, having made the reverse journey, my music celebrates the mixing of culture that makes Paris a musical center.