“I have always been a huge fan of American R&B, soul and jazz. To me, it is the closest thing we have to a universal musical language. But it’s a language that needs to be updated every so often. You have to treat the sources with respect but still make room for the new idioms and expressions.”

So says Pascal Ohsé, the phenomenally gifted trumpeter, composer and creative catalyst whose debut solo album on Warner Bros. Records, Memento, forges a deft and dazzling synthesis of musical elements both old and new to create a sound that is at once utterly unique and totally accessible.

Taking the West African name Soel to honor his Guinean roots, Paris-born and bred Ohsé is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking work with the multi-faceted artist Ludovic Navarre aka St Germain, with whom he blazed new musical trails freely formulated from elements of classic jazz, electronica and various strains of dub, house and world beat. “It is the best of all possible musical environments,” Soel asserts. “Working with Ludovic has opened so many different doors on so many different musical worlds. I’ve been able to take what I’d learned from touring and recording with him and apply it directly to my own music, which has given me a very broad palette to work with.”

It was from this rich spectrum of styles and sensibilities that Soel began fashioning an instrumental approach that would mix and match his encyclopedic influences to form a fresh and distinctive new approach. As part of his personal learning curve, Soel spent his off hours listening to stacks of vintage vinyl from a Parisian friend’s extensive American soul and jazz collection. “I really immersed myself in the sound of those times,” he continues. “It was from that basis that I began experimenting with introducing contemporary elements into the music I had been absorbing for so long.” The sonic strategy was simple but demanding. “I wanted to take my fondness for the music of the Sixties and Seventies,” he explains, “and find a way to update it and, in the process, make it more accessible to today’s audiences. The trick was to maintain the integrity of the source material while still giving it a contemporary flair.”

It was a process that evolved over a six-year span. “I had the idea of a solo album in 1998,” the conservatory-trained musician reveals. “The first step was to put together a dream list in my mind of the musicians I would want to work with. It was fun to let my imagination run free and when the time came I had a lot of potential concepts and combinations to pick and chose from.”

Original compositions for the project had been written in and around Soel’s various other creative endeavors and then held in abeyance until the patient and perceptive artist was ready to make his move. What followed was four months of intensive pre-production, employing an impressive array of guest artists, including vocalists Clement Ashford and Tori Robinson.

Soel was also careful to leave room for unintended aural consequences once recording actually got underway at the home studio of producer Ludovic Navarre aka St Germain, outside Paris. “The music moved in all kind of different directions,” Soel confides, “and part of the challenge was to stay within the structure of the material while still allowing for the artists to interact freely. The atmosphere in the studio was really charged with energy, but at the same time very relaxed and fluid and we ultimately recorded thirteen tracks, of which nine made the final cut. The whole experience was like embarking on an unknown musical voyage and finally arriving at someplace magical.”

Yet, even with his decidedly original approach, the artist stayed close to the roots of his inspiration. Two standout original tracks, for example, draw heavily on samples from the groundbreaking Sixties aggregate, The Last Poets. “I admire them tremendously,” Soel enthuses. “And when I wrote this music I sent them some rough mixes. It wouldn’t have been right to sample their material without their permission, which they graciously granted.”

Yet, for all its echoes of Coltrane and Miles and Dizzy, as well as the best of Motown and Stax, Soel’s sound is hardly a retrograde romp through musical history. “There are strong electronic elements in this music,” Soel asserts, “and I want to explore how samples might be used as virtual instruments and vice versa. At its best, I think we captured a bit of both worlds.”

Aptly named Memento, Soel’s brilliant solo debut provided the impetus for a series of concert dates throughout Europe last summer with a handpicked backing band. “Audiences, especially at festivals, really responded to what we were doing,” he recounts. “I think music today is at a place where boundaries of time and the limitations of style are breaking down. People want to be moved, in their hearts and on the dance floor, and they don’t care about musical pedigrees so much. It’s a great environment to work in, especially when you’re pulling from so many different sources.”

It’s a contention consummately borne out Memento, an album that seems certain to elevate its creator to the top ranks of innovative and inspired artistry.