In 2009, French drummer Simon Goubert and Senegalese korist and singer Ablaye Cissoko came up with the idea of creating African Jazz Roots, a hybrid ensemble that could lay the foundations for a genuine dialogue between forms and rhythms drawn from both modern jazz and Mandingo traditions. Fifteen years on, the project is still going strong with its initial impetus never turned into a rigid formal concept. Constantly shifting the balance of its naturally syncretic expression both in terms of orchestration and collective dynamics, African Jazz Roots discovers and explores its own territories at the same time it creates them, making improvisation a common language where all differences are welcome and ultimately overcome.

The 'couple' that saxophonist Daniel Erdmann sets out to take into therapy is none other than the one that France and Germany have been working together to maintain since the post-war period, with harmony that is always under threat. A regular for many years in these cross-border projects that put to test the 'understanding' between both traditions – which, even in jazz, like to affirm their differences – Erdmann once again shows his imagination by putting together a small but ambitiously orchestrated group, bringing together the elegance and lyricism of his saxophone, strings and clarinet in a chamber music spirit typical of a certain French sensibility and a fiery rhythmic 'made in Germany' style, resolutely rooted in jazz. The best of both worlds for a shock therapy!

Jazzpassage: Franco-German evenings programmed in partnership with Kulturbüro Offenburg / with support from AJC