Ballake Sissoko / Segal,Vincent - Chamber Music [CD]

Chamber Music is an album that might have remained a mere sound-document that testified to a brief encounter within a mixed-breed cultural context. Fortunately, it's much more than that. The idea of working together on an album germinated in Ballaké Sissoko's mind a few years ago; Sissoko had been present at a concert given by Bumcello at the Amiens Jazz Festival, where Vincent Segal had been playing with Cyril Atef, the other half of the explosive Bumcello duo. But there was no need for either to precipitate matters. As the Malian musician says, "It was important to get to know each other musically. For quite some time we got together at Vincent's home whenever I was in Paris, and we also played a few concerts. We built our complicity step by step. Today, when we play, we understand each other without saying a word: one look is enough. Our hearts are together."