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Philippe Saisse With the masterful ability to create the most dazzling melodic fantasies from his imagination and virtually any kaleidoscopic effect from his keyboards, multi-instru mentalist and composer Philippe Saisse decided to streamline the overall sound of his new recording, NeXT Voyage, even while heightening the musical sophistication and cutting-edge feel of his second Verve Forecast release. "I wanted to incorporate a little more of the current R&B and hip hop production values that R.Kelly or Babyface might use," Saisse explains,"and apply them to my own kind of instrumental jazz. The simpler grooves and background accompaniment make this record a lot more urban than the last." He produced Chaka Khan's Destiny album; composed tunes for David Sanborn, Al Jarreau, and Al DiMeola; served as music director for Sanborn's Night Music show on NBC; and played keyboards on a wide variety of recordings, including the Rolling Stones' "Harlem Shuffle", David Bowie's Scary Monsters, and projects by Tina Turner, Vanessa Williams, Nile Rodgers, the B-52s, and others. Saisse began amassing that amazing array of credits shortly after he completed his formal music education. Hailing from a musical family - his father is a singer-songwriter who worked as a staff producer for CBS/Sony France - Saisse studied piano, percussion, music theory, and composition at the Paris National Conservatory. Upon graduation in 1975, he not only won the school's First Prize in percussion and mallet keyboards but was offered the prestigious Paul Winter Scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. "I always knew I would not become a classical player," says Saisse, who devoted as much time to digesting the early '70s music of McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, Santana, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra as he did to his classical training. "The day after I got my First Prize at the Conservatory, I was on a flight to Boston to work with my idol, [vibraphonist] Gary Burton. He took me under his wing and taught me every little thing that I know." From classes at Berklee, where he also studied advanced composition under Michael Gibbs, it was a short step for Saisse to a budding professional career. Through Burton, he landed his first gig with Narada Michael Walden, which in turn led to performances on Al DiMeola's Splendido Hotel and Electric Rendezvous albums. "In a short couple of years I was playing with the people I used to worship as a teenager," Saisse recalls, "Billy Cobham, Tom Scott, Steve Kahn, Alphonso Johnson, and others." Saisse quickly made the jump from most valuable sideman to producer, a role he stepped into after studying the techniques and approaches of such masters as Arif Mardin, Russ Titelman, Nile Rodgers, and Tommy Lipuma. I watched the way they focus on the material -- making sure that it's right before you even go into production," he ex$ everything into perspective and is very meticulous about the freshness of the sound." Recently, Saisse had the chance to put those lessons into practice again, producing Que Pasa, the latest album by Gato Barbieri, the fiery tenor saxophonist's first in more than a decade. "Working with Gato on and off for the past three years, I learned a tremendous amount that has changed my own playing," Saisse says, "especially how to play melodies within the solo." In addition to his stellar production work with Barbieri, Saisse has produced an array of musical projects over the past year. He principally wrote and produced a Native American Indian project, entitled Tribe, featuring legendary flutist Carlos Nakai, which is set for release later this year.
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