Had you ever worked with
Eric Krasno before this?
No, but we knew each other.
It felt like a perfect fit from
the beginning.
Was it a conscious decision
to have a guitarist produce
the album?
Yes. I wanted this album to
push guitar music forward
and challenge some other
guitarists to come into
my world.
Speaking of other guitarists,
you have a few guests joining
you. How did you decide on
whom to invite?
My manager put a list of possible
guest guitarists together
that I approved. Then Krasno
invited them and they said yes
right away—it was that simple.
What an honor it was to play
with these great musicians.
I have enormous respect for
John [Scofield]. Though we
only played together for a short
time, he showed me a kind of
patience on the guitar that I
really appreciate and I will carry
with me from now on.
What did Dave Matthews
bring to “All the Same”?
He brought his own soul to
the song. He understood what
I was expressing in it and he
developed that idea into something
that larger audiences can
understand and appreciate. He
is a huge talent and I am so
thankful that he has blessed
this song.
You have a great fuzzy tone on
“Borei.” How did you record
that in the studio?
I played around with the
Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus
and my Boss SD-1 [Super
OverDrive] until I got just the
right sound. I think they made
it a bit brighter when they
mixed the album.
Touré employs his unique two-finger picking style on his Godin Summit CT.
Note the plastic fingerpick worn on his index finger. Photo by Derek Beres
What gear did you use for
the sessions?
For the sessions in Mali, I used my
Godin Summit CT through the
JC-120. Other than the SD-1, the
only other effect I used was a Boss
CH-1 [Super Chorus]. During the
New York sessions, the studio had
a great Mexican-made Strat that
had Seymour Duncan Antiquity
pickups. I plugged that into a vintage
’68 Fender Super Reverb.
What was the biggest surprise
during the sessions?
I think hearing Dave Matthews’
verse was the most surprising.
I knew he was a big star and
would do something nice on the
song, but I had no idea he would
capture the spirit of the song and
launch it into the stars the way
he did. I was blown away.
How does improvisation factor
into your performances?
My style is based in improvisation.
New songs usually come
to me as I improvise. Live, the
songs never sound the same
as they did the last time. It’s
about creating a base for soloing
and improvising, so for me it’s
very important to allow space
for things to change and for
new things to come into the
music. For example, “Lakkal
(Watch Out)” was completely
improvised in the studio with
Krasno, Tim Keiper, and Eric
Herman—my manager and
occasional bass player. We just
sat down and started jamming
on some ideas, and before we
knew it we had this new song.
On the album, that song is
right next to others that took
years to evolve.