A nice and sunny day in Istanbul today, and what better way to celebrate this than listening to one of most lively bassists around Henri Texier and his Strada Quartet and their new album Alerte à l’eau on Label Bleu. Mr. Texier is one of France’s well known contemporary jazz musicians especially with his partnership with Aldo Romano and Louis Sclavis, which I’ve talked about before here.

The Sextet is composed of his son Sebastien Texier on Alto Sax, drummer Christophe Marguet, Francois Corneloup on saxes, guitarist Manu Codja, and Gueorgui Kornazov on trombone. Texier’s compositions almost always present world music sounds, especially from Africa, in contemporary jazz structures and this album is no different. There are some short improvisational pieces and some lovely world jazz a la Mezzo, great trombone work from the Bulgarian Kornazov, and of course the virtuoso playing of Texier and Co. Just check out the opener “Afrique À L’eau” to feel the energy of the album.