It is always a pleasure to see famous movie stars creating music and producing records. Swiss actress Irène Jacob and her jazz composing brother, Francis, have released an album this year sung entirely in their native language of French. An interesting factor is that the release was recorded in America.
The record is very soothing and easy to listen to. It seems as though the roots of the music come straight from that of jazz influence. Percussion is very soft and mostly done with shakers and bongo drums. As far as the string section goes it sounds like most, if not all of the guitars on this masterpiece are that of acoustic-electric. Quiet sounding flutes recorded at low volumes complement the beautiful vocals of Irène Jacob, as the dialectic French accents roll off of her tongue. Francis Jacob mainly has vocals in a background section, and seems to make sounds mainly to accompany the music more than his counterparts singing. There is a track titled “Communion,” where Francis unleashes his capabilities as a singer in a duet with his partner. Despite the fact that there is always a plethora of genres within any culture, this record seems to demonstrate perfectly that when it comes to the French culture, jazz fits in perfectly. The production of Je Sais Nager could not be any more fitting for what the music is.
This CD is truly a relaxing and enjoyable listen to any person that can appreciate music in all of its forms. It’s a shame there aren’t enough artists making attempts to produce records from their own cultures and trying to plug them into the mainstream of the music industry in America like these musicians have.
In A Word: Soothing
