Manu Katche Unstatic

At 80, bassist, composer, and bandleader Henri Texier, a historical figure in European jazz, continues to take on project after project and has never seemed so creative and happy to share his music on stage. Illuminated by the lyrical brilliance of Hermon Mehari's trumpet and magnificently regulated by the pearly phrasing of pianist Emmanuel Borghi, his brand-new group borrows, for the first time, the colors and orchestral dynamics of the canonical hard bop quintet to revisit, with his inimitable lyricism and sense of groove, a series of unjustly forgotten early compositions.

Les mémoires d'un jeune musicien de banlieue devenu un batteur ayant joué avec les plus grands. Au fil de sa carrière, de sa musique et de ses rencontres, des personnages tels que Peter Gabriel, Laurent Voulzy, Miles Davis, Sting, Michel Jonasz, Mike Tyson, Michel Petrucciani, Prince et Herbie Hancock font leur apparition. …

Among American audiences, Manu Dibango is best known for "Soul Makossa," a highly infectious blend of African music, soul-funk, and jazz that became a major pop hit in the early '70s. The African artist revisited his signature tune on 1994's Wakafrika, which boasts an all-star cast that includes Peter Gabriel as well as Haiti's Papa Wemba and African heroes Ladysmith Black Mambazo, King Sunny Ade, and Youssou N'Dour. With such a stellar bunch of guests, Wakafrika should have been outstanding instead of simply decent.