The twelve finely-nuanced tracks on Sylvain Luc's new album flicker in warm shades of amber, veering from soft golden yellow to fiery orange red. Luc weaves his musical spell around a handful of covers (including a furiously swing version of the Miles Davis classic All Blues), his own sensual compositions (including the title track Ambre), French songs such as Gentil coquelicot and the Basque melodies he listened to as a child. Ambre shines not as a concept album, but as a series of finely-crafted masterpieces, small in size but rich in composition.

Sylvain Luc made a name for himself on the French music scene as a gifted accompanist, playing with everyone from Catherine Lara, Georges Moustaki and Dee Dee Bridgewater to Françoise Hardy and Congolese singer Lokua Kanza. But the talented guitarist has now stepped centre stage and decided to accompany himself. And the result is a polyphonic cascade of guitars, acoustic and bass guitar fusing with guitars scratched and struck as percussion. Luc has taken temporary leave from the "Sud" trio he forms with André Céccarelli and Jean-Marc Jafet (and with whom he spent much time on the road recently performing some 100 concerts) and applied all his energy to the acrobatic art of solo.

Right from the start of his career Sylvain Luc has been curious to explore different styles. And he has developed extraordinarily eclectic musical tastes along the way. Moving up to Paris from his native Basque country in 1988, the young guitarist crossed the paths of Richard Galliano and Francis Lassus, who were the first in the profession to give him support and encouragement. Then, while he was studying for a master's degree in classical guitar, Luc was called up to accompany the Argentinean singer Jaïro and later Philippe Léotard and Romain Didier. Luc was soon in much demand on the jazz scene and got one of his first big breaks stepping in to replace Louis Winsberg in jazz trumpeter Eric le Lann's group. From there he went on to accompany a whole host of stars, plying his guitar with rare skill and poise.

Stepping out of the shadows as a solo artist relatively late in his career, Sylvain Luc has won rave reviews from the critics for his new album, Ambre. RFI Musique took the opportunity to go along and meet the French guitar prodigy and found a smiling-eyed musician who refuses to take himself too seriously.

RFI Musique: Several tracks on your new album, such as Omenaldi and Berceuse basque, are inspired by childhood memories and your Basque roots. Is this a case of you 'rediscovering' your native culture?
Sylvain Luc: I'd say it's more a sort of homage to my homeland. The Basque region is where I got into music in the first place, where I got my first guitar at the age of five and my first record at the age of ten. Music's a family tradition with us! Actually the record I got at the age of ten was called El Garekin which means "together." It was an album of traditional music. I didn't particularly choose my way in life. Like any other human being I was fired with dreams of gaining my freedom, dreams of leaving home and moving to Paris, dreams of gaining a place at the Conservatoire and playing with Miles Davis!

You ended up moving to Paris and gaining a place at guitar school. But what about Miles Davis? Did you ever get to play with him?
No, I didn't, but I did get to see him play once. He was a true music great and what I really loved about him was his arrogance! As a black American musician he had to fight for his art his whole life… He was an artist who possessed great elegance. Miles Davis was someone who knew how to leave his mark on all the periods he lived through.

What have you learnt from the huge amount of French singers you've accompanied in the course of your career?
A lot! With Catherine Lara - who's become a great friend of mine – I'd say I shared the childish pleasure of playing music together. Catherine is a really good musician and our friendship has really lasted the distance. When it comes to working with other people I'd say I've learnt to adapt myself and helped a lot of great musicians give the best of themselves. When I went off to Germany at the last minute to accompany Moustaki on tour I was really impressed to see how he packed venues out to the rafters. Audiences knew all his songs by heart – that really blew me away!
The first artist to call me up to work with him was (the Argentinean singer) Jaïro. That was back in 1988 and that was a big shock, let me tell you, because I had to start playing tango. The only thing I knew of Jaïro's before that was Les jardins du ciel and that was his big commercial hit. Then after that, of course, I met Astor Piazzola…

With your new album, Ambre, it almost feels as if you're discovering yourself for the first time and daring to step centre stage…
Well, I certainly took my time getting there… I did go solo once before actually. That was on my first album when Bertrand Richard from the Transat label really encouraged me to go for it. He'd seen me playing jazz rock fusion with Sylvain Marc and thought a solo album was a brilliant idea. But I can't say it was a conscious move on my part. So, yes, it's true, I've taken a while to get round to doing something personal. But it's a stressful business, you know!

Do you feel that with your new album you've finally thrown off the cliché of 'jazz guitar prodigy' that you've been stuck with all these years?
I hope people see me first and foremost as a musician. The compositions on Ambre are all improvisations. I didn't sit down and write anything before going into the studio. All the years I've spent on the road have given me my most precious gift in life and that's the encounters I've made along the way. Amongst my best memories I have the moment of playing with this extraordinary flautist in Bangladesh and another occasion when I ended up playing with a Pan-pipe player in La Paz. I've learnt geography in my time on the road and I've discovered