Fourteen years ago, I was in France on a high school trip. I was AT A CD STORE (because it was the early 2000s), and I asked this retail associate in my fractured high school French for a recommendation for a new album by a French artist. He told me to buy St. Germain’s 2000 album Tourist, so I did. Instantly, I was the coolest kid in my shitty town, all bumpin’ acid jazz and knowing what Blue Note was.
And now, after 15 years away, this guy’s back! St. Germain made a new album with some serious Malian influences, as you can hear below. It’s out October 9 via Nonesuch, but you can pre-order it on iTunes to download the new track “Real Blues.” The album features a sample of Lightnin’ Hopkins’s “You Caused My Heart to Weep” plus appearances from Brazilian percussionist Jorge Bezerra, Martinique native and frequent collaborator Didier Davidas, plus Malian artists kora player Mamadou Cherif Soumano and guitarist/n’goni player Guimba Kouyate. Dude has a European fall tour in the bag, with a spring North American jaunt in the planning stages.
Tour dates:
11.02.15 - Belgrade, Serbia - Belgrade Jazz Fest
11.03.15 - Budapest, Hungary - TBA
11.05.15 - Warsaw, Poland - TBA
11.10.15 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli Oudegracht
11.11.15 - Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
11.12.15 - Paris, FR - Bataclan
11.13.15 - Zurich, Switzerland - Volkshaus
11.14.15 - Lausanne, Switzerland - Les Docks
11.17.15 - London, UK - Roundhouse
11.18.15 - Lyon, FR - Transbordeur
11.19.15 - Milan, IT - Alcatraz
11.20.15 - Vienna, Austria - Museumsquartier
12.01.15 - Madrid, Spain - La Riviera
12.02.15 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
• Nonesuch: http://www.nonesuch.com