One of my favorite movies is the French thriller Diva. Curé, one of the film's almost cartoonish bad guys, is constantly listening to French folk music through an earpiece. An odd fellow, he seems to hate everyone and everything (one simple example will do: "J'aime pas les ascenseurs!"..."I don't like elevators!"). He presses that earpiece deeper into the canal just before launching into his next act of bad: putting a bullet into an adversary or perhaps sticking them with an ice pick.

Anouar Brahem's jazz trio is an odd one, at least to American ears. Piano, accordion, and oud. Two-thirds of that set are not often found in a traditional trio. Instrumentation aside, the music itself shares the spirit of improvised jazz with its thematic focus and constantly shifting instrumental roles. Brahem's background in Arab classical music merges easily with the more Western sound of jazz. Though he plays the oud, he is more than willing to share the spotlight with the rest of his band.

The album's title track is a perfect example of this sort of egalitarian musical concept: the theme is introduced by a few long accordion lines (Jean-Louis Matinier) before the oud joins in to add unison support while Francois Couturier's piano chords fill in the remaining space. These roles often change mid-composition, giving the listener different angles on the themes.

Another suite-like piece is "Vague/E La Nave Va." Beginning with a Philip Glass-esque piano motif, the accordion comes in to punctuate the chord changes before the oud states the main theme with the piano switching back into unison for a bit. The accordion also moves to unison before Brahem steps out to take a solo. All three players restate the theme before the composition ends on a single, resonant piano chord.

The music made by Brahem's trio seems like a new jazz chamber ensemble of sorts—one that blends several musics together while avoiding the stuffiness associated with the old "Third Stream."

Le Voyage de Sahar would have been too good for Curé. He wouldn't have deserved the richness and thoughtfulness of the music. At least not while he was alive.