Tourist [Limited Edition]

Disc 1
1	Rose Rouge 7:00
2	Montego Bay Spleen 5:42
3	So Flute 8:29
4	Land of... 7:50
5	Latin Note 5:57
6	Sure Thing 6:22
7	Pont des Arts 7:25
8	La Goutte d'Or 6:17
9	What You Think About... 4:48
Disc 2
1	Rose Rouge Blaze Early Shelter Mix 6:20
2	Sure Thing Todd Edwards Deepline Remix 7:18
3	Rose Rouge Spiller Rouge Mix 8:26

Barnes & Noble

If you crossed Dave Brubeck's cool jazz classic Take Five with the sensual house of Journey with the Lonely by Lil' Louis, the results would sound a lot like Tourist. While most attempts to fuse dance music with jazz idioms involve nothing more ambitious than a looped flute sample, St. Germain -- alias French techno producer Ludovic Navarre -- effectively marries the two on his second album, on which he makes ample use of live musicians. On "So Flute" and "Latin Note," Chicago-style house textures anchor rolling piano and rippling vibraphone, while hip-hop rhythms provide the underpinning beneath the tight horns of "Land of..." and mumbled sweet nothings of "Sure Thing." Tracks that stray further from club conventions, such as the dub-infused "Montego Bay Spleen," featuring Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin, prove even more rewarding. If Tourist exemplifies what Navarre is capable of when he's "just visiting" jazz, we look forward to what follows if he establishes permanent residency. Kurt B. Reighley

All Music Guide

Since the advent of acid jazz in the mid-'80s, the many electronic-jazz hybrids to come down the pipe have steadily grown more mature, closer to a balanced fusion that borrows the spontaneity and emphasis on group interaction of classic jazz while still emphasizing the groove and elastic sound of electronic music. For his second album, French producer Ludovic Navarre expanded the possibilities of his template for jazzy house by recruiting a sextet of musicians to solo over his earthy productions. The opener "Rose Rouge" is an immediate highlight, as an understated Marlena Shaw vocal sample ("I want you to get together/put your hands together one time"), trance-state piano lines, and a ride-on-the-rhythm drum program frames solos by trumpeter Pascal Ohse and baritone Claudio de Qeiroz. For "Montego Bay Spleen," Navarre pairs an angular guitar solo by Ernest Ranglin with a deep-groove dub track, complete with phased effects and echoey percussion. "Land Of..." moves from a Hammond- and horn-led soul-jazz stomp into Caribbean territory, marked by more hints of dub and the expressive Latin percussion of Carneiro. Occasionally, Navarre's programming (sampled or otherwise) grows a bit repetitious -- even for dance fans, to say nothing of the jazzbo crowd attracted by the album's Blue Note tag. Though it is just another step on the way to a perfect blend of jazz and electronic, Tourist is an excellent one. [Tourist is also available in a limited edition featuring an extra disc with three bonus tracks.] John Bush

Rolling Stone

Fusion without seams, swing that never flags, Tourist is a modern valentine to one of the lost joys of jazz -- as dance music. David Fricke