“The new decade finds multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and performer Philippe Saisse entering a new stage of life. Hing recently become a father for the first time, he is busier than he could hope to be in his popular role as a producer, arranger, composer and session player. At the same time, he finds himself ever more excited about the cross-fertilizations taking place in the musical underground and about the possibilities of further incorporating these sounds into his solo output.
Born into a musical family - his father was a singer-songwriter who also worked for CBS Records in France - Saisse credits his variety in tastes to his childhood in Marseille and Paris, where pop radio would encompass all manner of music. "The African sound, the Arab sound and all that stuff has never been far from the French culture," he explains. "As far as I'm concerned there was no segregation growing up in France, because it was part of the everyday thing."
As a ager, Saisse attended the Paris National Conservatory, where he studied piano, percussion, music theory, and composition. Upon graduating in 1975, taking First Prize in percussion and mallet keyboards, he accepted the prestigious Paul Winter Scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. There he furthered his skills by studying advanced composition under Michael Gibbs and performing with his idol, vibraphonist Gary Burton, while soaking up the music of the era such as Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, and the Mahishnu Orchestra. "I always knew I would not become a classical player," he recalls.
01 Me & The Boyz (04:32) 02 Masques (04:59) 03 Madison Rose (05:16) 04 Feelin' Kinda Sexy (04:37) 05 Proko-Groove (06:50) 06 Secret Garden (01:11) 07 Wolverine (05:27) 08 Maurice & Igor (05:43) 09 Prelude (06:17) 10 Images (06:15) 11 Will You Ever Know (02:43)