Les Égarés

One has come to expect excellence and refinement from Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal. The Malian-French duo explore a unique cello-kora repertoire that has consistently explored new horizons to the delight of aficionados worldwide. Accordionist Vincent Peirani and saxophonist Émile Parisien joined forces as a duo for the first time in South Korea in 2010. This French duo have gone on to perform over 1,000 concerts together. So, when the four virtuosos met at a 2019 festival, it seemed their first jam session could only lead to further musical inebriation. Right? Well, if their debut album as a quartet, Les Égarés (The Lost), is anything to go by, not quite.

This is a solid, yet somewhat uninspiring album. It has the delicacy without the intricacy, the magnificent solo surges without the conversations we expect. There are moments of outstanding beauty, like the closing ‘Banja’ from Ballaké's Mande canon, which features a bristling sax solo opener from Parisien; or the hard-driving ‘Orient Express’, a reworking of the Joe Zawinul masterpiece. But they serve to underline a work in progress which we hope will fulfil its undoubted promise in the musical adventures to come.