‘“Because” reflects our wish to give this powerful repertoire [of African American songs] a new interpretation,’ write the two artists, ‘to offer it a different sound from the one it is more used to.’ A further difference is to eschew ‘the “classical” textual approach to these songs, while still not at all genuinely “jazz” in flavour’. To summarise, it’s a cross between ‘love and respect for the heritage of the genre and a freedom to improvise, as if potentially reinventing the present moment’.

All very intriguing and worthy. But the CD gets off to a disconcerting start for three reasons: one, no listener will be prepared for the sound of a classically trained countertenor singing Spirituals; two, the countertenor voice is one associated predominantly, but not exclusively, with music of the Baroque era, with its precise metre and phrasing; three, while a distinctive jazz piano arrangement of such material makes an interesting alternative to the norm (the classic and much-loved settings by Harry Burleigh, say, or Sydney Baynes), such a setting must surely be sensitive to the words. Which is why a hard-driven agitato piano beneath the heart-wrenching melody of ‘Sometimes I feel like a motherless child’ simply does not work – especially as an opener.

Better to have begun with the exuberant ‘I got a robe’, where the accompaniment by pianist Baptiste Trotignon (10 of the 18 numbers here are arranged by him) perfectly complements the text. Or with the track that precedes it, the Crucifixion song ‘Were you there?’, the first part sung a cappella with immense grace by the mellifluous American Reginald Mobley. Close your eyes, it might be Marian Anderson. Two tracks on and we come to ‘Steal away’, which is, for me, the highlight of the disc and where text, melody, arrangement, voice and piano all combine for a few minutes of heart-stopping beauty. Likewise ‘Deep river’, the final track, is most touchingly done by both artists.

Before that, in addition to further Spirituals, there is the title-track ‘Because’ – not the famous old ballad by Guy d’Hardelot but a song by the now-ubiquitous Florence Price. She, with the aforementioned Harry Burleigh, provides three more saccharine ditties. There is also an ill-advised rendition of the Motown classic ‘I heard it through the grapevine’, which falls some way short of Marvin Gaye’s imperishable original. Good booklet in French, English and German with, unusually, all the song lyrics in English and French.