Tourist by St Germain

“Tourist” was written, produced, and mixed by Frenchman Ludovic Navarre, a.k.a. St Germain. It was released by the legendary jazz label Blue Note on May 30th, 2000 and it sold over four million copies. St Germain was one of the pioneers dabbling in jazz with techno music in what was to become the new electronic music of France at the time. It falls into the genres of nu jazz and acid jazz. Every track is delightful; funk, latin, reggae, and hip-hop beats weave their way throughout the album.

The album begins with “Rose Rouge,” which samples the lyric “I Want You To Get Together” from Marlena Shaw’s “Woman of the Ghetto” (Live at Montreux), as well as Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” for the drum and bass loop.

Next up is the chill out song “Montego Bay Spleen,” which features Wes Montgomery-style guitar flavorings (played by Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin) and a fat down tempo beat. It combines echoey percussion with really clever phase effects that make you sit up and take notice of the sound movement between the speakers.

The third track “So Flute” jumps out at you with a thick techno and dub infused groove leaving you wondering how someone could catch their breath after that intense eight minutes. From there, a saxophone blooms while a hip-hop beat lays down with Caribbean flavors in the track “Land of…?“.

Track number six, “Sure Thing,” is one of my favorites and contains samples from “Harry’s Philosophy” (Miles Davis and John Lee Hooker). This groove extends into the dub and techno loops of “Pont Des Arts,” and you begin to hope that the album never ends. But after nine incredible tracks your role as a tourist on this tour does too.

~David White

Where to Listen:

Tidal – https://tidal.com/album/15871621