Track Listing

1. Rose Rouge
2. Montego Bay Spleen
3. So Flute
4. Land Of...
5. Latin Note
6. Sure Thing
7. Pont Des Arts
8. La Goutte D'Or
9. What You Think About...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2281 in Music
• Released on: 2000-09-12
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Exclusive Import only 2 CD set includes a three track bonus CD which features an exclusive mix of 'Sure Thing' (Todd Edward's Deepline Remix) along with two mixes of his first single, 'Rose Rouge' (Blaze Early Shelter Mix) & (Spiller Rogue Mix). Signed to Blue Note for the world this is a great jazz/dance fusion record. Perfect for those dinner party's! Limited edition. Slimline double jewel case.

Amazon.com's Best of 2000
Smooth, downtempo grace flows through the veins of St. Germain, a.k.a. noted French composer-producer Ludovic Navarre. His record is a sensual flow of jazzy textures, Latin rhythms, and bass-ridden beats, hovering on the verge of techno, jazz, or experimental headphone music without tipping its hand too far in any direction. The result is irresistible: class with an edge. --Matthew Cooke

Amazon.com
Techno and house music producer Ludovic Navarre is--along with Laurent Garnier, Air and DJ Cam--one of the biggest names in French electronic music of the past decade. His ability to imaginatively blend jazz elements with recent dance-music styles has been demonstrated before, but the seamless quality of this release is stunning. Compared to someone such as Amon Tobin, who obviously (although brilliantly) creates sampled collages, St Germain makes it pleasantly difficult to identify the boundary lines between "live" performance, programmed electronics, and sampled sound. Part of the credit must go to this album's musicians, including Pascal Ohsé, Eduoard Labor, Alexandre Destrez, and Idresse Diop (at least some of whom are francophone Africans making their mark in the post-colonialist European Afro-jazz scene). The CD's opening piece, "Rose Rouge," is centered on an edgy piano rhythm and a looped vocal fragment from jazz singer Marlena Shaw. The dub-inflected "Montego Bay Spleen" features Jamaican jazz guitarist Ernest Ranglin, who offers a clean, warm, neo-Wes Montgomery style filtered through his years as a session musician-architect of ska and reggae. And Edouard Labor's raspy flute tone on "So Flute," its role as much rhythmic as melodic, adds a Latin flavor to the mix. "Sure Thing," another high point of the release, is built around a vocal and guitar sample from blues guitarist John Lee Hooker, borrowed from the soundtrack to Dennis Hopper's film The Hot Spot and noteworthy on its own as probably the only time Hooker, Miles Davis, and Taj Mahal ever played together. Navarre's skill in selecting musicians, finding sample sources, and assembling cool, streamlined grooves adds up to quite an accomplishment. --Bob Bannister

Customer Reviews

Rose Rouge Does It For Me
I especially like the first number, Rose Rouge, but the rest of the CD is enjoyable as well. Also available in an edition with a 2nd CD containing additional mixes.

An Instant Classic and St Germain's Best
Tourist by St. Germain is one of those albums that I doubt I'll ever tire of. Could have been a perfect album without weak tracks, "Montego Bay Spleen" and "What You Think About..." which in my opinion are just average. Nonetheless, the album is great with the now classic "Rose Rouge", "Pont des Arts", and "La Goutte d'Or" topping out as my favorites. Any fan of lounge music or electro-jazz should own a copy of Tourist.

4/5 stars

This Classy French Tourist Grooves.
Saint Germain is not only one of my favorite arrondissements in Paris (known for its cafés, such as Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore, and as the center of the existentialist movement), it is also the name used by French electronica-nu jazz composer-producer, Ludovic Navarre. Tourist is Navarre's 2000 synthesis of electronica, techno, and jazz soloing by Pascal Ohsé on trumpet, Edouard Labor on saxophones and flute, Alexandre Destrez on keyboards, Edmundo Carneiro on percussion, and Claudio De Qeiroz on baritone saxophone. If the music sounds familiar, it's because Navarre samples from jazz greats like Marlena Shaw, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and John Lee Hooker. The album tracks, "Rose Rouge" and "Sure Thing" are reason enough to invest in this CD. The complete track listing includes:

1. Rose Rouge 7:02 (samples Marlena Shaw, Live at Montreux; and the drum and bass loop from Dave Brubeck's Take Five)
2. Montego Bay Spleen 5:44
3. So Flute 8:31
4. Land Of... 7:52
5. Latin Note 5:59
6. Sure Thing 6:22 (samples Miles Davis & John Lee Hooker, Harry's Philosophy)
7. Pont Des Arts 7:27
8. La Goutte D'Or 6:18
9. What You Think About... 4:47

G. Merritt