Leila Olivesi - African Rhapsody Leila Olivesi

First released on CD in October 2025, African Rhapsody by French pianist Leila Olivesi now arrives on vinyl with a 7-track selection across two sides - plus an exclusive bonus track unavailable on the CD: "Ile Va Sang Dire", featuring vocalist Yete Queiroz on a poem by Michel Ducasse

Since the CD's release, the album has earned Leila Olivesi the title of Jazz Musician of the Year 2025 (Jazz Magazine & Jazz News), a 4-star review in DownBeat (July 2026), and the Prix du Disque Francais from the Academie du Jazz - alongside a coveted CHOC rating from French publication Jazz Magazine.

A pianist of both lyrical depth and structural finesse, Leila crafts vast musical landscapes here, journeying from the light of the Sahara to the urban pulse of New York, weaving connections between Africa, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Winner of the Django Reinhardt Prize (Academie du Jazz, 2022) and named Artist of the Year, French Mauritanian pianist, conductor and composer Leila Olivesi pays tribute to a poetic and imagined Africa with African Rhapsody. Performed by an octet featuring some of the finest musicians of her generation, this powerful declaration of love draws on the Negritude movement of the 30's, 40's and 50's by French speaking African and Caribbean subjects under French colonial rule.

"An impressively polished and varied production for octet plus vocalist and choir." - **** DownBeat

"Leila Olivesi ranks alongside the greats -- Mary Lou Williams, Carla Bley, Maria Schneider." - Le Monde

"More than a jazz record, African Rhapsody is a journey to the heart of Negritude poetry, a bridge between art forms sharing common roots." - RFI, Olivier Rogez