The weekend of June 15-17, 2012 – a sampling of Caribbean Jazz from the Woodshed

This past weekend in Caribbean-Jazz – a sampling

Another one of those busy times for paternal Jazz fans all over is Fathers’ Day. The Woodshed abounds with listings planned for that day, June 17. However, the Father’s Day concert of the Jamaica Ocho Rios Jazz Festival and Abstract Entertainment’s 2012 production of PanJazz, “Music – The Original Social Media,” stood out from the heap.

As a prelude to the Jamaica Ocho Rios Jazz Fest’s Father’s Day concert, a Dinner Jazz session was held at Glenn’s Jazz Club, Tower Isle, St. Ann in addition to the Sonny Bradshaw School Band Competition and Jazz Treasures at the Two Seasons Guest House, Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth on the Saturday. Then on Sunday, June 16, Jamaican fathers celebrated the Closing Father’s Day concert in the Turtle River Pk., Ocho Rios.

More here…

This weekend, on Saturday, June 16, the eighth annual presentation of Abstract Entertainment’s Pan Jazz 2012′s production of Music – The Original Social Media took place at Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th & Broadway, New York City.

For this show, vocalists Alison Hinds of Barbados and Thandiswa Mazwai were backed up by an All-Star band led by Trinidadian trumpeter Etienne Charles, whose participation in PanJazz was his seventh overall and his fourth as musical director. Notable band mates were Jacques Schwarz-Bart playing saxophone, Leon Foster Thomas and Victor Provost of St. John, USVI playing steelpans.

Returning, after an exciting collaboration last year, was the legendary South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, St. Lucia’s famed guitarist Ronald “Boo” Hinskon and Suriname’s Etienne Stadwick. Appearing for the first time with PanJazz was the multi-faceted Martiniquan percussionist Mino Cinelo.

This year’s production was dedicated to Ralph MacDonald, Grammy award-winning percussionist, songwriter and producer.

Trinidad and Tobago had its Saturday night action too, mind you. Saxophonist Jesse Ryan fronted a band of Theron Shaw (guitar), David Richards (drums) and Rodney Alexander (bass) at the Fiesta Plaza, Movietowne.

The ever-present Blackberry Bro, Nigel Campbell, lamented that Jesse’s original compositions like “Algun Dia” although fleshed out with “dissonance, swing, improvisation, rhythm and time changes, alternative chording,” had little impact because local audiences, save for a selected core of a few dozen fans, are not comfortable with new music and do not reflect that accepting energy to the artist.

Also on Saturday, June 16, Trombonist Reginald Cyntje of St. Thomas, USVI helped promote an appreciation for African-American history and culture at the fifth annual Juneteenth celebration at Watkins Regional Park in Maryland.

Juneteenth commemorates the abolition of slavery in the US.

On the lighter side, Smooth Jazz saxophonist Eric Darius, whose heritage is traceable to Haiti and Jamaica (the birthplace of his father and mother), flamed the Red Cat in Houston, Texas while Shirley Crabbe, a descendant of the British Virgin Islands did her thing at Old 76 House in Tappan, NY.

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• The weekend of June 08-10, 2012 – a sampling of Caribbean Jazz at the Woodshed (woodshedentertainment.wordpress.com)

Play de “Kaiso” Etienne Charles…play de “Kaiso” (updated on August 02)

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

first published on July 12, 2011 

If three is the charm, then Etienne Charles has charmed his way into the musical psyche with his third foray into the realm of Caribbean-Jazz fusion.  KAISO, like Folklore and Culture Shock that preceded it, straddles the divide between traditional Afro-Caribbean rhythms, under-girded by the storytellers who inspired the song-smiths, religious practice which salted life with its mysticism and the celebratory dances and parades that sought to derive its meaning.  Strung through all of this like a spinal column, a backbone if you prefer, is straight-ahead Jazz, Charles’ reason for being.

Thus with every adventure, starting with Culture Shock (2006) and progressing to Folklore (2009) and now Kaiso, Charles has wended his way deeper and deeper into that cultural vortex.

Folklore, still very much alive, not ready to retreat to the shelf as a back catalog, is arguably the most poignant example to date of the cross-cultural blend that Charles has been weaving with his horn since becoming a leader in his own right. The central theme of this CD being that musical extract percolated as it were by the folkloric tales that generation after generation of griots handed down through the centuries, the chants that define the rhythms these stories carry and the call of ancient singers to the response of a modern Jazz improviser and harmonic wizard.

It is this wizardry that has afforded the Jazz saints a repackaging of ole time and classic calypsos that is Kaiso.  Charles applied several devices in this endeavour going so far as to orchestrate the charts on “Rose” and “Teresa”; enliven “Sugar Bum Bum” with percussion-laden beats by Ralph MacDonald best suited for the chip like it was back in the day when bachannal was not as vagrant as it is today; enchant with “Margie” and “Teresa” through sublime and elevated balladry; cracks up with the good-for-nothing humour of  “My Landlady” by the exalted calypsonian in Lord Superior who alas is a dying breed; and lets loose on “Kitch’s Bebop of Calypso” in stylistic character to wit playing the changes then changing to the Calypso tempo unabashedly…down de road.

Now balance all this on the scale where silky melodies reside, executed by a trumpeter whose tone on this new CD finds a happy medium between the shrill and the dark, the result a sound – a voice – the leader has made his very own. This is exemplified from the opening piece “Kaiso,” through “Ten to One Is Murder” down to “Sugar Bum Bum.”  Pure bliss!

As you tap your toes or rock back on your heels, the workings of Jacques Schwarz-Bart’s saxophone soli and harmonics can be embraced standing alone or in tandem with the rest of the horn section.  Similarly, Monty Alexander’s pianisms lock into grooves, singularly or in duet with the leader that demonstrate the versatility of this Jamaican Jazz icon.  Kudos to the rest of the band as well.  When you listen to the CD, if you think it is an all-Trinidadian outfit made up of seasoned players from the most celebrated combos from the republic, think again.  Musicianship is musicianship.

Hence Kaiso is rendered accessible by Etienne Charles without sacrificing one iota to the anti-Jazz Gods.  Both sides of the brain will enjoy immensely because this is music that will keep on giving…

…and that was precisely what Etienne Charles gave the fans at the CD release party held at Club Coca Cola on the evening of August 01, 2011. With band (Brian Hogans – alto saxophone, Jacques Schwarz-Bart – tenor sax, Sullivan Fortner Jr. – piano, Ben Williams – bass, Obed Calvaire – drums, David Achee and Keith Prescott) in tow, Charles delivered what Raf Robertson, one of the foremost proponents of Calypso-Jazz, says is “…one of the best Cd’s I have heard in a long time…a dream come true of the possibilities of Trini kaiso.  I am blown away.”

 

Skippy Lezama now tells us that Kaiso has surged to Number 26 on the August 01, 2011 JazzWeek Jazz Chart.  The CD is also the second most added behind Monty Alexander’s Harlem-Kingston Express Live (Motema) and right alongside Dave Valentin’s Pure Imagination (HighNote).

 

“My New album Kaiso! scheduled for release on July 12th 2011 on the Culture Shock Music label features Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Brian Hogans, Sullivan Fortner Jr., Ben Williams, Obed Calvaire, 3canal and special guests Ralph MacDonald, Monty Alexander and Lord Superior.  The orchestra is conducted by Richard DeRosa.  The cover photo is by Laura Ferreira and the artwork by Mike Hernandez for Creative Duet.” Etienne Charles

Charles sets Kaiso in age of elegance

DALTON NARINE, GuardianMedia

Among young virtuosos of the trumpet, Etienne Charles leans forward as one of the regents of jazz in the ascendant class.  His third album, Kaiso, brings an eloquent representation of songs by Kitchener, Roaring Lion and Sparrow.  Though Charles inhabits their messages, he dwells on his inimitable branding to put a new spin on the material, proving that he has whittled pomp and style down to a fine art. 

Charles conducts us through his collection of moods, from suave to melancholy, and volatile to lovey-dovey, as he riffs through some authoritative solos.  “Kaiso is about the many musical moods of calypso,” Charles said…

While Charles is living the songs, saying “this is what I’m thinking, what are you thinking?” he cited, an example, Rose as a crossover number influenced by American ballads like Blue Moon.  “Rose is the song most people ask me about when I play outside of the diaspora…

It’s hardly surprising. Charles has found new tenderness in Rose.  And when the band wraps the tune, you’re left to assume that she eventually make back with Sparrow.  Beginning with soothing waves of a string orchestra, like the subdued air of a cathedral, the nostalgic power of Rose and the bittersweet sentiment of Teresa nuzzle up against Congo Bara (Netty Netty), a hip treat…

Continue reading on guardian.com.tt Charles sets Kaiso in age of elegance

Etienne Charles’ “Kaiso”: Not your father’s calypso

Rob Johnson, Denver Jazz Music Examiner

Etienne Charles‘s third album, Kaiso, so very special.  And, God, is it exciting!  More than just about any other jazz album this year. Any album that can feature an ultra-danceable joyous ode to getting beaten up by ten men is one that needs to be heard.  Or, how about a tribute to the Russian dog that was sent into space just to die?  If you can make that sound fun, you’ve got something.

Of course, it starts with the leader.  Etienne Charles is a Trinidad-born trumpet player with terrific chops and an outstanding melodic sense.  His purpose seems to be to bring Calypso music to America, unscathed and unadulterated.  His choice of tunes for Kaiso come from the most traditional and most popular composers of the music.

And his band is to die for…

The highlights on this CD come fast and furious:  “Kaiso”, the opener, gets you ready for what’s to come; “Ten to One Is Murder”, hilarious (Again, how can getting mugged by ten guys be funny? Listen and find out.); “Kitch’s Bebop of Calypso”, a tribute to bebop masters composed by Calypso legend Lord Kitchener. There are many more tunes you’ll want to hear, so do this:  Go straight to [the] record store [or to itunes, or to the artist’s webshop] and pick up Etienne Charles’s Kaiso.  It may be the Best Jazz Album of 2011.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Etienne Charles’ “Kaiso”: Not your father’s calypso

Additional Review: ETIENNE CHARLES’ “Kaiso” (Culture Shock Music) by Ben Radliff

PanJazz 2008 Father’s Day Weekend concert, Lincoln Center, New York

Frederick P. Rose Hall at the Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York comes to life yet again this very evening of June 14, 2008 with the annual Steelpan Jazz Concert produced by Abstract Entertainment.  This evening’s concert, sponsored in part by the British Virgin Island’s Tourist Board, marks another first for AE, which has scored a coup in putting pannists Andy Narell, Garvin Blake, Rudy Smith and Robert Greenidge on the same stage and at the same time with master percussionist Ralph McDonald.

Narell is featuring calypso ambassador “Lord Relator” with his acoustic band.  The Caribbean All Stars will have pannist Rudy ‘Two Left’ Smith and MacDonald up front and center.  And Blake, a cutting-edge pannist from New York has the celebrated Vincentian composer, arranger and keyboardist Frankie McIntosh and a world cast of musicians with him as part of the Garvin Blake Quartet.

The line-up for this event includes Barbadians Arturo Tappin (saxophone) and Nicholas Brancker (bass) and Trinidadian trumpeter Etienne Charles.

The Pan Jazz Concert is a celebration of the Caribbean American Heritage this month of June.  Pan Jazz aficionados will revel with the 21st Century Band’s Caribbean Jazz Summit through Sunday, June 15 as they have since June 10.  The Century Band plays two sets nightly, at 07:30 p.m. and 09:30 p.m. 

21st Century Band is led by the United States Virgin Islands’ Ron Blake (sax) and Dion Parsons (drums, percussions).  They have drawn into their ranks pianist Carlton Holmes, a friend of Caribbean Jazz who works with young Anguillian students of Jazz; Cuban bassist Yunior Terry, brother of saxophonist Yosvany Terry who has been reviewed here; and panman Victor Provost.

After-hours jams will be anchored by Haiti’s Mozayik at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at JLC.  Mozayik describes themselves on their website as proponents of “traditional Afro-Haitian rhythms (blended) with the instrumentation, melodic-harmonic sensibilities and improvisation of Jazz (under the influence of) Cuban and Brazilian Jazz…classical…gospel and funk.”     

Showtime for the Steelpan Jazz Concert is at 07:30 p.m. with a pre-concert reception at 05:30. 

After Hours jam with Mozayik is from 12:30 tonight as has been the case from June 10. 

 

 

 

 

Ralph MacDonald’s “Mixty Motions”

On the official Ralph MacDonald website, MacDonald describes his tenth release, “Mixty Motions,” his first since 2003, as “a danceable mix of infectious Caribbean grooves and smooth Jazz sensibilities…” 

Elaborating on this in an interview with When Steel Talks, MacDonald explains that this work is a mixture of “Pop, rock, calypso, latin – it’s got all the different things, places, I’ve experienced in my life…”

The eleven-track recording begins with Rhythm of the Drum.  The music was composed by MacDonald’s eldest son Anthony under the working title “Freedom.”  Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson of Solid Gold fame penned the lyrics and delivered them for the CD.

The title track is next up.  It is the first of seven instrumentals on this date that includes . 

My Space, a calypso, is the fourth cut on the track list.  The audience for the 2007 Lincoln Jazz Center’s Father’s Day Concert would have already heard this one live.  But according to WST, the take that would make the CD is mellower than the live version.

There is more calypso to be had right after My Space.  You Need More Calypso, a tribute to Trinidad, has some remarkable history behind it.  It was previously recorded for a record company project that never came out of the can.  Not being able to obtain the rights to the song, MacDonald re-recorded it with compatriots Greenidge, trumpeter, Etienne Charles and vocalist Roger George. 

Track six was designed as a Bridge of musical styles (funk, fusion, European, Jazz etc.) and instruments (strings and steeldrums).  It started out as a collaboration between the father and his youngest son Atiba to explore diverse musical influences.

The guitar of Dave Spinozza gives Man Dance a latin tinge infused with the signature sounds of Steely Dan and Carlos Santana.

Julian is named for saxophonist “Cannonball” Adderley whose first name bears the song’s title.

Black Samba was inspired by a trip that MacDonald made to Brazil, the home to the style that has come to be accepted as a solid branch of the Jazz idiom.

Atiba returns to the picture for the penultimate track on Mixty Motions.  He co-wrote Mayaro Drive, lined as it were with coconut trees, with Ralph as a representation of life in this Trinidadian village where the leader met wife Grace.

Lord, Don’t Stop The Carnival was written as an instrumental by Ralph’s father Patrick MacDonald who went by the calypso title The Great Macbeth.  It became a bona fide Trinidadian folk song.  Ralph has now resurrected the song with the lyrics that he put to it initially for one-time employer Harry Belafonte.  On Mixty Motions, it closes a recording much in the same way that the instrumental closed the dances of the elder MacDonald’s orchestra – a fitting tribute.   

Jazz and Blues Greats born of the West Indies

Hey, J-Fans, feel free to contribute to this list, in Comments…

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We are doubtless well aware that West Indians have been emigrating to the North American continent for generations. But it may not be as well-known that West Indians also developed a rich heritage in the context of American Jazz.

Jazz scribes have made that connection before.  However, an article published in All About Jazz on March 01, 2008 really brought the point home.  Richard Van Pelt was actually speaking to the imminent Monty Alexander expose with the Lords of the West Indies at Jazz at Lincoln Center, but delved into the subject of how Jazz became infused with Jamaican Mento and Trinidadian Calypso – or the other way around if you prefer – and how it came about that West Indian musicians would make a mark on the American Jazz landscape.

Van Pelt writes, “Through the years…myriad Jazz artists with West Indian roots made key contributions to Jazz, bringing both subtle and explicit West Indian musical expressions.”

Following is a list of names of “…West Indian musicians whose careers included Jazz.”  They are either from the West Indies or whose familial roots can be traced back to the Caribbean isles.  Excluded for the time being are the tremendous numbers of Cuban émigrés whom we will add, with your help, over time.

• Rupert Cole: Trinidadian alto saxophonist who apparently pushed off for New York from Barbados. Cole worked with Sam Manning, Don Redman (in the 1930s) and Louis Armstrong in the 1940s;
• Blue Mitchell: Bahamian trumpeter;
• Fats Navarro: Bahamian trumpeter; born of mixed Cuban-Black-Chinese parentage;
• Wynton Kelly: Jamaican pianist;
• Kenny Drew: Jamaican pianist;
• Oscar Peterson: Canadian pianist born to St. Croix father and St. Kitts mother;
• Carmen McRae: pianist with a Jamaican lineage;
• Art Taylor: Jamaican drummer who gigged with Howard McGhee and Thelonious Monk, associated with Coleman Hawkins and Bud Powell and recorded with Miles Davis Monk;
• Connie Kay: drummer with Montserrat heritage; replaced Kenny Clarke in the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ);
• Randy Weston: pianist with a Jamaican mother and Panamanian father;
• Roy Haynes: the drummer’s parents moved to Roxbury, Massachusetts from Barbados;
• Dizzy Reece: Jamaica-born trumpeter;
• Sonny Rollins: parents were natives of the United States’ Virgin Islands;
• Joe “Tricky” Sam Nanton: West Indian trombonist with Duke Ellington

…and may I add names of the new generation of West Indians who are or may join the pantheon of class acts.

• Taj Mahal: Taj Mahal was born Henry St. Clair Fredericks on May 17, 1942, in Harlem, New York, of a St. Kitts father who himself was a musician, a Jazz pianist, composer and arranger.   Henry was raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, by a Jamaican stepfather.  He adopted the name Taj after relocating to California in 1964, long before he rose to the Blues surface as one of the cream of the crop.  Taj’s recordings feature him on the guitar, harmonica, piano, bass, banjo, mandolin, fife.  In all, he plays over 20 instruments in a host of musical styles that go beyond the Blues into Zydeco, New Orleans creole music, childrens’ songs, folk tunes, gospel, soundtracks, rhythm & blues, Hawaiian and of course, Reggae (with Ziggy Marley) and other Afro-Caribbean sounds.  However, these forays revolved around and interacted with his Blues core.  Taj, a multi-Grammy winner, has been inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame for 2009.  The Blues Hall of Fame is a program of The Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization established to preserve Blues history, celebrate Blues excellence, support Blues education and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form.

• Norman Hedman: the Percussionist, Composer, Producer and Solo Artist is an artist of the highest pedigree.  Hedman slid smoothly between genres and in so doing fused those styles to create a unique signature for himself.  The conquero, probably best known for his work with R&B singer Alicia Keys, racked up a boundless list of credits that peaked with two Grammy ® nominations in the Latin Jazz category.  They were both for Norman Hedman’s Tropique, his personal music vehicle.  Over the last 25 years of his life, Hedman beat the conga drums for Arturo Sandoval, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Watson, Grady Tate, Pat Martino, Chico and Vaughn Freeman, Arthur Blythe, George Cables, Gary Bartz, Giovanni Hidalgo, Hilton Ruiz, Airto Moreira, Mongo Santamaria, Lew Soloff and Marcus Miller among others.

• Dion Parson: This 41 year old drummer from St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands has enjoyed a steady climb towards the stars since dropping the trombone for the drum kit at 15.  He later gained the favour of the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts which awarded him a music scholarship to attend Interlochen Music Academy in Michigan.   Parson would go on to earn a B.M. in Music Education at New Jersey’s Rutgers University.  Blake has enjoyed a close association with fellow Virgin Islander, saxophonist Ron Blake. Since hooking up, they started their own Tahmun label; and the 21st Century Band they co-lead resides on that label.

• Bobby Sanabria: Bobby is the son of Puerto Rican parents who was born and raised in the “Fort Apache” section of New York City’s South Bronx.  Now he enjoys the distinction of having been inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame with the naming of a permanent street him after him on the Bronx’s famed Grand Concourse.  This, the highest honour achievable by a Bronxite, was done in 2006 for his contributions to music and the arts.  Sanabria is in the company of other illustrious Bronx notables such as Ray Barretto, and Eddie Palmieri, to name a few.

• Dafnis Prieto: born in Santa Clara, Cuba, Prieto moved to New York in 1999 armed with a conservatory music education.  Since then, he has stuffed his resumé with the tutelage of such notables as Henry Threadgill, Andrew Hill, Steve Coleman, Eddie Palmieri, Chico and Arturo O’Farrill, D. D. Jackson, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdez, Claudia Acuna and Brian Lynch and many others. Now he is sharing some of that with contemporaries Yosvany and Yunior Terry and Avishai Cohen on his latest release ‘Taking the Soul for a Walk’ under his own Dafnison Music label.

• Rashawn Ross: this St. Thomas born trumpeter and arranger is eight years removed from a four-year Berklee college degree that positioned him for stints with some of the top names in Jazz such as Christian McBride,  Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton and Ron Blake. Ross does not, however, limit himself stylistically. As such, he has performed with many other well-established acts representing a wide range of styles outside of Jazz.

Rashawn Ross

• Celia Cruz: the most successful Cuban performer of the twentieth century, Cruz was associated with Tito Puente with whom she made eight albums, Johnny Pacheco, Fania All Stars and Ray Baretto.
• Jon Lucien: born a Harrigan on Tortola, British Virgin Islands and raised on St. Thomas, USVI, Lucien had a storied career in spite of his associations with more established artists such as producer Dave Grusin, Weather Report of the recently departed Joe Zawinul and instrumentalist Andy Narell among many others.
• Ralph MacDonald: this three-time Grammy winner is of Trinidadian parentage whose percussions were integral to the Grover Washington Jr. sound two decades ago and who in more recent times has worked with saxophonist Tom Scott, and pannist Robert Greenidge among innumerable other Caribbean musicians.

• Tessa Souter: New York-based vocalist born to Trinidad and British parents.

• “Soul Man” Dayve Stewart: Contemporary Jazz saxophonist who has a Caribbean background with a Cuban mother and a Jamaican father.

• Reginald Cyntje: born on the Commonwealth of Dominica in 1976.  When he was 6 months old, he moved with his family to St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands and then on to the mainland.

• Yosvany Terry; Eddie Bullen; Monty Alexander; David “Happy” Williams; Onaje Allan Gumbs; Reuben Rogers; Glen Bryan; Mario Canonge; David Sanchez; Jacques Schwarz-Bart; Liam Teague; Rudy “Two-Left” Smith; Tony “Pan-Jumbie” Williams; Marisa Lindsay; Mozayik; Elio Villafranca; John Santos; Omar Sosa;Yunior Terry; Danilo Perez, Dave Samuels, David Sanchez, Eddie Palmieri; Paquito D’Rivera; Gonzalo Rubalcaba; Vanessa Rubin; Hilario Durán; Cameron Pierre; Buyu Ambroise, Dave Valentin; Emeline Michel; Pauline Jean; Earl Rodney; Othello Molineaux, Ron Reid; Miguel Zenon; Papo Vasquez; Victor Provost; Courtney Pine; Michael Boothman; Nestor Torres; Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra; Hilton Ruiz; Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band; Papo Vazquez; Bobby Sanabria; Ron Reid; Gary Crosby;

…just added

• Etienne Charles; Luther Francois; Michele Henderson; Sonny Bradshaw; Clive Zanda; Ken “Professor” Philmore; Len “Boogsie” Sharpe; Nicholas Brancker;

to be continued…