Compositions and improvisations, voice: Sonny Simmons. Poems, percussion, reading: Bruno Grégoire. Reading: Anne Segal.

New Roots? This is a sound Sonny Simmons has had in mind for nearly a lifetime. This exceptional double CD captures Sonny, mostly on English horn, with french poet Bruno Grégoire. This is not the first time that "jazz meets poetry". But this is not exactly jazz, and this is not exactly poetry. Nothing can really describe this project: conceived as a two-hours suite, it takes you to the roots of Sonny's musical vision, black music from the borders of the Niles to the borders of Mississipi, while Bruno Grégoire and Anne Segal draw vivid pictures of other faraway lands, - other lost fatherlands.

Non french-speaking listeners shouldn't be deterred from exploring these sound landscapes: Sonny delivers here one of his most haunting solo experiment ever, the four-part, 43 minutes long Anciens Souvenirs, composed for the English horn. One of the many reasons this record will stand as one of the pivotal albums recorded by Simmons over a course of 40 years.

First edition of 60, december 2006

Credits: Poems by kind permission of Obsidiane, pub. Sound, remix: Benjamin Duboc. Sleeve photos: Bruno Grégoire. Inner sleeve pictures, design: Michel Kristof, HW!. Produced by Sonny Simmons, Bruno Grégoire and Anne Segal. Executive producers: Julien Palomo and Michel Kristof.