Festival International de Jazz de Port-au-Prince 2010 fades to black

Haiti

This is the plan: Cuban pianist Elio Villafranca lands in Haiti this weekend for Festival International de Jazz de Port-au-Prince 2010.  Villafranca has been hired by Canadian saxophonist/flautist Jane Bunnett for her January 23 – 25 FIJPaP concerts.  Bunnett then leaves Haiti, but Villafranca stays on at the behest of Haitian singer Pauline Jean.

Jane Bunnett

In such a strong genre as Cuban piano, (and I’ve been lucky to perform and record with some of the greats … Frank Emilio, Hilario Durán, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Chucho Valdés) Elio is the next great voice to check out!  His compositions and his playing are extensions of each other (a little like Monk).  He’s a thinking man’s Cuban jazz pianist and continually inspires and surprises me.  His surprises often come where the lines of composition and performance are blurred into one, that is, when spontaneous improvisations sound like full pre-meditated compositions. (eliovillafranca.net)

Pauline Jean is booked for five consecutive nights including one at the Institut Francais d’Haiti at Port- au- Prince (January 27) and a second at Parc Historique de la Cannes à Sucre in Tabare (January 30).  The venues for the other dates on January 26, 28 and 29 are not given at last check.  Jean’s other band members for Festival International de Jazz are named.  They are Mimi Jones (bass), drummer Shirazette Tinnin – whom I had the pleasure of meeting in May at Jazz on the Hill – and Markus Schwartz (percussion).

The Berklee trained Jean is a New Yorker, born of Haitian parents.  It is that background that has fed her arrangements of Jazz and Blues with the traditional Afro-Haitian vibe that becomes her.  The character she brings to the genre has in turn taken her to attractive opposites in the 2nd Annual Women in Jazz Festival and the Haitian Jazz Festival as well as Reggae Vibes in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Her début CD, A Musical Offering (Sekonsa Record), is out since June.  She describes this recording, backed up as she is by bassist Corcoran Holt, whom we last sampled on Luther Franςois‘ Castries Underground and Jean Caze, a fixture on the Haitian Jazz scene, among others  as “swingin’,  bluesy and soulful.” (Pauline Jean on MySpace)

Can you tell?

Jazz Vocalist Pauline Jean performing “Beautiful Friendship” at her CD Release Concert on June 21, 2009 at Metropolitan Room (NYC)

Riyel, Vanessa & Alex Jacquemin with George Mel as a special invited guest were the other invited Haitian artistes from the United States.  Joining them would have been Dizwikara de Pierre Rigaud Chery and Natif Jazz Quartet de Claude Carré.

That was the plan.

This weekend was supposed to be a time to play songs of joy and laughter…something like this…

Instead it is a time of wailing, sorrow and tears…something like this…

Hmmm…

The world now revolves around Haiti as peoples from the four corners of the globe mobilize in response to the tremendous human suffering wreaked upon it by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake of January 12, 2010.

Central to this outpouring of support is music.  Artists from across all genres have already begun to lend their talents and star power to draw in support, in cash and in kind, for our brothers and sisters who occupy one-third of the island of Hispaniola that they share with the Dominican Republic.

Not to be left out of the loop, Jazz artists are no more swinging their axes, blowing their horns, wielding their sticks, beating their drum heads and excercising their pipes just because, but rather for the cause.

For instance, Canadian flautist Jane Bunnett, who was due to perform at the International Festival de Jazz de Port-au-Prince this month, has a cause of her own to fulfill on January 28, 2010.   She has organized a fundraiser for that day at Hugh’s Room, 2261 Dundas St. W, Toronto.  More than that, Bunnett has pledged to do a whole series of such fundraisers for the people of Haiti.

Now we go across the waters from Port-au-Prince to Jamaica for an example of Haitians helping Haitians.  Singer, songwriter and producer JeanPaul Solomonoff, born to a Haitian mother and a Russian Polish Jewish father, will perform with Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander at the 2010 Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival, Jan. 24th-29th.  All proceeds are destined for the Clinton/Bush Haiti Fund. (As an added note, Claude Wilson of JamaicaMusic OFFBEAT has revealed that “…Etienne Charles joins Monty Alexander on main stage Thursday, January 28 at the Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival at the Greenfield Stadium just outside Montego Bay.”

More here…

CD review of Luther François’ “Castries Underground”

Castries Underground: Caribbean jazz at its best

By John Stevenson

NB.: The bolded words are exclusively those of the Collective’s editor

Luther François' "Castries Underground" CD poster

Caribbean jazz fans have been patient. Very patient.

Despite notable work with the West Indies Jazz Band, and his collaborations with Guadeloupean and Martiniquan musicians – including his involvement with Fal Frett – the region’s very own ‘saxophone colossus’ has taken nearly 20 years (since the ground breaking “Morne Dudon”) to deliver the goods with a solo effort.

With “Castries Underground”, however, Luther François has offered up a highly compelling and satisfying platter.

Recorded in the Helen of the West Indies (St. Lucia) on the imprint of his brand new company, LRF Soundworks, the premier St. Lucian instrumentalist shares tenor saxophone duties with American music academic Dr. William E. Smith, and is aided and abetted by Vincentian keyboardist Frankie McIntosh, Trinidadian drummer Sean Thomas, Guadeloupean percussionist Charly Chomereau–Lamotte, and American acoustic bassist Corcoran Holt.

Together, they carry us on a tour d’horizon of rich jazz improvisation, refracted through the prism of uniquely West Indian rhythms. Commentary on some of the compositions on this CD can be found below.

From the gently loping biguine gait of the short opening piece, (simply entitled “Opening”) to the Afro-Latin strains of “Charly’s Groove”, and on to the dramatic tension-and-release/call-and-response aspects of the CD’s title track, there is little doubt that François has produced something of a masterpiece.

“When I Think of You”, is dedicated to the memory of the late Barbadian jazz pianist Adrian Clarke. It is a slow-to-medium Latin waltz on which François‘s tenor phrases tumble out rhapsodically, like a Derek Walcott poem, punctuated by Frankie’s block chords and Charly’s dependable congas. W.E.S. Smith’s instrumental presence on accompanying tenor saxophone is assuring as it is heartfelt.

This reviewer is normally wary of the cacophonous muddiness to be found in some small-group line-ups featuring two saxophones. On this occasion, however, the Smith-François pairing can only be described as inspired. Indeed, they tower over the proceedings like the twin Pitons, bringing a wealth of harmonic and technical acumen to a rather unique live session.

Luther sheds some light on the recording in the liner notes:

“This live recording is the first in a line of audiovisual products to be released by the  company, and it captures the undaunted spirit of adventure and creativity which lies at the heart of this project. I want above all to acknowledge the understanding and cooperation of the musicians as well as their wonderful skills. Some notes on Frankie’s keyboard were not working and the bass provided for Corcoran was not that easy to get around. In addition, the music was being discovered and explored during the session. The conditions of recording were difficult to say the least and yet in spite of all this the spirit of collaboration was excellent. We completed the recording in two days with an appreciative and enthusiastic live public invited on the second night on a couple of selections. Marc Escavis, the sound engineer, did a great job from start to finish. The result is what I would describe as an outpouring of soulful interplay between consenting musicians.”

Luther François at launch of his new CD 'Castries Underground'

Indeed, Frankie’s piano work on this CD is always imaginative. What’s more, it’s never ostentatious. His natural affinities for the calypso, biguine and Afro-Latin rhythms have been honed through several decades as the Caribbean region’s premier Soca/Kaiso arranger. It is evident for all to hear.

The very captivating up-tempo, calypso-inflected waltz, “Little Trane” features Luther’s spirited flute playing. The tune was written for Luther’s son and features a touching Dave Brubeck-like solo from McIntosh, and an even more probing pizzicato bass spot from Corcoran Holt.

“Yes We Can” is a raging swing number that makes you want to shake your shoes off and head for the dance floor. The two tenors go head to head egged on by Sean Thomas’s mellifluous cymbal rides and Charly’s piquant percussion. We are also left in no doubt as to the person Luther François wishes to reside in Washington DC’s Pennsylvania Avenue.

“Helen” is a classic calypso-jazz vehicle of the kind popularised by jazz pianist-composer Clive Zanda. The piece carries a terrific swagger that conjures up memories of ‘chipping’ in Port of Spain on J’ouvert Morning during the Trinidad carnival.

“My Heart’s Desire” is perhaps the most post-bop influenced piece on the CD. Luther echoes John Coltrane’s “Cousin Mary.” There’s also a skillful drum solo spot from Sean Thomas.

The title track, the CD’s piece de resistance, weighs in at nearly fifteen minutes long and contains some of the most beguiling and creative musicianship to be found on any Caribbean jazz recording. Conjuring up memories of Miles Davis, the tune draws loosely on the chord structure of Eddie Harris’s Freedom Jazz Dance. The call-and-response/tension-and-release aspects of the way the composition unfolds gives it a highly dramatic quality. Luther’s muscular soloing on this boundary-pushing tune (neither “in” nor “out”) confirms him as arguably one of the world’s important tenor saxophone titans. The solos offered up by both Frankie McIntosh and Corcoran Holt on this tune are similarly outstanding.

Castries Underground is a greatly-appreciated addition to the ongoing exploration of Caribbean musical culture as expressed through the jazz aesthetic. Through this work, Luther François has successfully instilled pride in all of us.

Luther! Luther! Luther!

(Track listing for Castries Underground: Opening; When I Think of You; Charly’s Groove; Little Trane; Yes We Can; Interlude; Eric’s Theme; Helen; My Heart’s Desire; Castries Underground; Ending)

John Stevenson is a London-based Bajan free-lance writer and broadcaster.

Previous Post: New Luther François CD set for release

New Luther François CD set for release (updated)

St.  Lucia

Update 2 on August 28, 2008

St. Lucia’s illustrious saxophonist Luther François re-emerges with this brand new CD ‘Castries Underground.‘  Unfortunately, it is only on pre-release at this time.  The Collective has now established, first-hand, that the official release of this CD took place on August 15 in St. Lucia.  As to the questions of how the fans will be able to lay hands on the CD and if a promotional tour is on the cards still remain unanswered.

What is clear right now though is that Luther assembled a band of musicians from diverse backgrounds for this project.  There is St. Vincent’s premier keyboardist Frankie McIntosh; Guadeloupe’s Charly Chomereau-Lamotte, a percussionist who has worked with Luther in the past; one of Trinidad’s foremost drummers, Sean Thomas; and Dr. Will Smith (tenor), best known to us in the region as a Jazz music educator who has for years been assisting Tranquility Jazz with the development of Anguilla’s home-grown musicians under the banner of the WES Group.