The lengthy queue outside legendary Paris jazz club Le New Morning on Monday night let passers-by know that a major happening was about to take place within. The buzz was palpable right along the pavement where beautiful women in brightly-coloured robes and well-groomed men in suits, not to mention a selection of jazz musicians and "New" regulars, waited in anticipation. Inside, Dee Dee Bridgewater and the group of musicians billed as the singer's "new Malian family" were getting ready to take to the stage for three consecutive nights of concerts, going back to the roots of jazz, blues and Dee Dee's own history as an "Afro-American."

In the lobby of Le New Morning (where Dee Dee made her concert debut in Paris several decades ago), fans were greeted by the sight of Mandingo singing stars Mamani Keita and Mama Kouyate, decked out in the most eye-catching dresses, ready to accompany Dee Dee and Cheikh Tidiane Seck in their Malian Project. Up on stage, the guest list of musicians was equally impressive, ranging from Moriba Koita on the n'goni, Baba Sissoko on the tamani and Minino Garay on percussion to Yacouba Sissokho on the kora and Ali Wage on Peul flute.

The "rehearsal" - to all extent a regular concert, apart from the fact that the lyrics of a few songs are not yet completed and were thus delivered scat-style rather than sung - kicked off with Afro Blue, a piece composed by Mongo Santamaria, featuring lyrics by Oscar Brown Junior and arrangements by Dee Dee's pianist Edsel Gomez. Throughout the rest of the concert, the musicians flitted back and forth between America's Deep South and the heart of West Africa, alternating between audacious rearrangements of jazz numbers (including an upbeat cover of Nina Simone's Four Women and a Wayne Shorter composition) and traditional pieces from the 12^th-century Mandingo repertoire.

Dee Dee claims she felt the need to turn to Africa around ten years ago now after recording the album A Tribute to Horace Silver in 1995. Then, of course, there came her life-changing encounter with Cheikh Tidiane Seck, a contact they both describe as instant, absolute, a mind-blowing moment of truth. This meeting led to Dee Dee travelling out to Mali in 2004 and 2006, Cheikh serving as her 'big brother' and practical guide, taking her round restaurants and recording studios and introducing her to Bamako, Ségou and the extended Mandingo family. Dee Dee, full of her usual infectious energy, recounts the ease with which she slipped into what she describes as "the source rhythms." "I instantly found my place in this music even without knowing the melodies. I think that was partly due to my faculty for improvisation and my past as a jazz singer, but it wasn't just that… For me, going to Mali was a way of completing my music and rediscovering my country."

This Malian Project is not a totally new experience for Cheikh Tidiane Seck, either. Previously to this, he introduced the renowned jazz musician Hank Jones to ancient Mandingo rhythms on his album Sarala. Cheikh also teaches classes in the relationship between jazz and Mandingo rhythms at UCLA university in the States. And yet he is visibly moved by his experience with Dee Dee, a project he describes as "the beauty of musical justice being done in the end." Talking to him the night before the concert, Cheikh actually asked to be excused from the room, breaking off our interview, then returned to the room with tears in his eyes.                     

The beauty of this collaboration must also partly be due to the fact that Dee Dee and Cheikh appear to have been on this musical quest all their lives. Cheikh declares, "I've always felt really close to Afro-Americans. Back in Africa in the 70s, all the bands arranged their stuff salsa-style but we were there playing rhythm & blues. This idea of going back to musical roots makes a lot of sense… Dee's Dee's got this extraordinary voice and facility for rhythm that have come down through the ages." Proof of this comes when at odd moments during the concert we sit back and close our eyes and discover that certain duets with Mamani Keita and Mama Kouyate, arranged by Cheikh Tidiane Seck, are strangely troubling – listen as hard as you might, you can't completely distinguish between who's singing, who's scatting and where exactly we are!

The idea behind the triptych of concerts at Le New Morning is to show the different stages of creation - already well advanced, it seems -  before Dee Dee and co. record an album together in Bamako in mid-October. Recording sessions are set to take place at the Bogolan Studio (owned by Philippe Berthier and the late Ali Farka Touré). Cheikh promises an album "full of illuminatory moments." "There hasn't been a single rehearsal," he says, "where there hasn't been a big love story between one of the musicians and Dee Dee… It's very powerful, very beautiful, there just aren't words to express it all… The experience has only just begun but I can already say everything to do with this project has been completely magical!"