West Indians feature prominently at Festival Banlieues Bleues, France (updated with video)

GUADELOUPE

Originally published, March 16  2011; updated with video, April 30  2011 

Guadeloupean saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart’s virtual visit to the shores of Haiti on March 11, 2011 for Jazz Racine Haiti put him at a crossroads from where he forged a new musical journey, one that began with his Contemporary Jazz explorations of the Gwo Ka drums on “Soné Ka la” and culminating with his most recent work, “Rise Above,” a product of the New York Jazz scene…and now an investigation into the roots of Voodoo Jazz.

Schwarz-Bart’s collaborators for Jazz Racine Haiti were Ewol Josué (vocals), Milan Milanović (piano), Luques Curtis (bass), Jean Bonga (percussions), Obed Calvaire (drums); and flying in from Carnival in Trinidad, Etienne Charles (trumpet).   

This show was part of the 28th edition of Festival Banlieues Bleues, Jazz en Seine-Saint-Denis at Espace 1789 2-4 Rue Alexandre Bachelet, Saint-Ouen, France 93400.

The next concert of note is on March 18 with the Christian Laviso Trio + Dédé Saint-Prix.

Laviso has, for thirty years, been plowing the deep grooves of the Ka for a completely original sound, Free Gwoka you could call it.  Laviso would say that his style was partly informed by the work songs he heard his Marie-Galante mother singing when he was a child and the Free Jazz of Ornette Coleman.

Saint-Prix, a multi-instrumentalist (flutist, singer, percussionist) and an alumnus of Malavoi and Pakatak, re-awakens his flagship band, Avan Van to once again light a flame under the indigenous ‘Bwa-Chouval,’ rhythms of Martinique.

(Sources: le bananier bleu, Banlieues Bleues)

Other Resources: Etienne Charles: Jazzy and Original

Up and about with Eddie Palmieri

Puerto Rico

Eddie Palmieri – The Sun of Latin Music, The Wild Man of Salsa, The Latin Jazz Messenger – from Spanish Harlem, New York – was recently in the United Kingdom pounding the piano and presumably getting his audiences to pound their dancing feet to his fusion of Latin Jazz and Salsa music.

Palmieri and his Afro-Caribbean Jazz All Stars were at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on Friday, July 02 and at the Brighton Dome in Brighton on Saturday, July 03.  For these dates, it was Palmieri (piano), Yosvany Terry (saxophone), Luques Curtis (bass), Brian Lynch (trumpet), Jose Clausell (timbales) and Vincente Rivero (congas).

Palmieri brought with him to England a rich Puerto Rican heritage, fifty years of experience in the music business and a career that has yielded three dozen recordings and a trove of some 200 original compositions.  Sitting on his mantle are nine Grammy statuettes. (Source: Eddie Palmieri & Afro-Caribbean Jazz All Stars | 2nd/3rd July)

Tracking Palmieri’s most notable live appearances in the recent past, we learn that he was in the distinguished company of Jazz and Latin’s finest stars who played the Heineken Jazz Festival 2010 in Puerto Rico from June 03-06.  Palmieri was specially invited along with Paquito D’ Rivera, Michel Camilo, Chic Corea, Eddie Gómez, Dave Valentin, Giovanni Hidalgo, Alex Acuña, Gato Barbieri and Andy González to be a member of the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazzfest Big Band, brought together  to present the music of the festival’s honourees.

Also attending the festival were the Chic Corea Trio with Corea (piano) Gómez (bass) and Antonio Sanchez (drums); Miguel Zenón with Zenón (alto sax), Luis Perdomo (piano), Hans Glaswischnig (bass), Henry Cole (drums), Héctor “Tito” Matos (lead vocals,  percussions), Obanilu Allende and Juan Gutiérrez (vocals, percussions); the Michel Camilo Trio with Camilo (piano), Charles Flores (acoustic bass) and Cliff Almond (drums); the Paquito D’Rivera Septet with D’Rivera (clarinet, alto), Diego Urcola (trumpet, valve trombone), Alex Brown (piano), Mark Walker (drums), Pedro Martinez (percussion), Jofre Romarion (bandoneon) and Oscar Stagnaro (bass); Humberto Ramirez’ Project; George Wein & the Newport All-Stars; William Cepeda’s Ethno Jazz Project. (Source: Heineken Jazz Fest ’10)

In 1961, Palmieri put together his own band with older brother Charlie Palmieri, Tito Rodriguez and Tito Puente.  That was how the La Perfecta sound came about.

On May 01, Palmieri revisited and revived the Latin dance-hall period of the 1950’s and 1960’s that influenced the Latin music of La Perfecta at the Rialto Center for the Arts in Georgia State.  The vehicle was La Perfecta 11. (Source: Q & A with Latin jazz leader Eddie Palmieri)

In April, Palmieri, Dominican Michel Camilo and Quincy Jones’ Cuban protégé Alfredo Rodriguez ‘represented’ the Latin roots of Jazz at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center of Miami Dade County.  The occasion was JAZZ ROOTS: A larry Rosen Jazz Series: PIANO LATINO, which marked the culmination of the 2009-2010 Jazz Roots series, part of  Jazz Appreciation Month  in Miami Dade.  The date was April 16. (Source: JAZZ ROOTS: PIANO LATINO showcasing jazz legends Eddie Palmieri and Michel Camilo)

The weekend of April 17-18, Eddie Palmieri was off to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Houston International Festival (iFest).  According to the iFest website, it was “all about celebrating diversity and learning about different cultures…”  So said, the line up for the fest, which spanned two consecutive weekends in April, featured a Jamaica Reggae jam with Steel Pulse and the Mighty Diamonds, King Sunny Ade of Nigeria and Senegal’s Baaba Maal and some of the best Zydeco and New Orleans’ Brass bands out there. (Sources: An insider’s guide to the five things you can’t miss atiFest)

March 12 -14, Palmieri and his musical collaborator of twenty years Brian Lynch joined forces at the Iridium Jazz Club as the Eddie Palmieri/Brian Lynch Quartet.  They reintroduced the fans to selections from Simpático, a CD that earned them a Grammy award under the banner of The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project, classic and new compositions from the co-leaders as well as numbers from the rest of the quartet.

The Eddie Palmieri/Brian Lynch Jazz Quartet is Palmieri, Lynch, Dafnis Prieto (drums) and Boris Koslov (bass). (Source: Eddie Palmieri / Brian Lynch Jazz Quartet Perform at Iridium, 3/12-3/14)

A week later, March 20, Kings Arts Complex and CAPA Spectrum Series presented Eddie Palmieri at the Lincoln Theatre in Ohio. (Source: Eddie Palmieri Performs at Lincoln Theatre, 3/20)