Le pas du chat noir

Le pas du chat noir (The Black Cat's Footsteps) is an album by the Tunisian oud player and composer Anouar Brahem, recorded in July 2001 at Radio Studio DRS in Zürich, produced by Manfred Eicher and released by ECM on 9 September 2002 as ECM 1792. It is a trio with François Couturier on piano and Jean-Louis Matinier on accordion, playing twelve pieces by Brahem, and pairing the oud with the piano is unusual. According to All About Jazz, Brahem first wrote much of the material at the piano in Tunis; the pieces are fully composed but played with the freedom of improvisation, in the manner of chamber music. In March 2004 the trio played the title piece on the TV5 Monde programme Acoustic, and that performance is now on Brahem's official channel.