(FR)
Sélène Saint-Aimé, contrabass, vocals; Hermon Mehari, trumpet; Sonny Troupé, ka drum; Rafael Aguila Arteaga, tenor saxophone; Arnaud Dolmen, drums
Afro-Caribbean music, contemporary jazz or world music? In her music-making, the young Afro-French bassist, singer and composer Sélène Saint-Aimé emphatically draws attention to her Caribbean and West African origins, but her expression is all the same distinctly contemporary. Although deciding to pursue her formal music education quite late, she later studied with notable jazz figures: bassists Ron Carter and Lonnie Plaxico, and saxophonist Steve Coleman. The intensely rhythmic and fluid Potomitan, her second album (2022), draws heavily on the traditional (bele) music of Martinique (where her family originates from), producing a sound that is as earthly and solidly structured as it is spiritual. With densely improvised percussive loops, Saint-Aimé spins a solid yet intimate rhythm section dialogue. Possessing a sweet voice and impressive vocal range, she overlays it with improvised vocalisations – sung mostly in scat, “nonsense” syllables.