23951: Hermantin (Pub)Haitian jazz (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun-Sentinel
By David Cázares
Staff Writer

December 17, 2004


Haitian jazz

The mail sometimes brings great new recordings. One of the latest to arrive
at my desk is the superb new jazz album by Haitian saxophonist Alix "Buyu"
Ambroise.

With Blues in Red on Justin Time records, the longtime New Yorker has
delivered a masterful fusion of jazz with Haitian folk and popular genres,
including roboday, djuba and konpa.

Ambroise creates a rich tapestry on which his quintet and invited guests can
improvise, while infusing jazz with a pan-Caribbean flavor. His work brings
to mind the fusion that occurred more than a century ago in New Orleans,
where a diverse gathering of musicians helped create an art form.

Abroise plays tenor and soprano saxophones. Joining him on the CD are
Frederic Las Fargeas on piano; Paule Beaudry, double bass; Dion Tucker,
trombone and Obed Calvaire, drums.

Also featured are Alix "Tit" Pascal on guitar; James "Tiga" Jean-Baptiste,
Haitian drums and vocals; Khalil Kwame-Bell, percussion; Fito Vivien, kata
drums and Emedin Rivera, Latin percussion.

The recording includes the tunes Konbit Zaka, a Haitian field holler song
that like the American version is a precursor to the blues; Complaine
Paysanne, which fuses jazz with konpa; and Caravan, composed by the great
Puerto Rican trombonist Juan Tizol.

"The music on the CD is an impassioned gesture of reciprocation between
Haitian music and American jazz," Ambroise says in liner notes, "a vision of
the traditional folklore songs and anthems I grew up with, recast smoothly
in a cosmopolitan jazz style befitting my New York experience, and that of
other Haitian expatriates who have made their home in America."

It is expertly done.

Staff writer David Cázares' Latin/world beat column appears every other week
in Showtime. Please send information to World Beat, Sun-Sentinel, 1390
Brickell Ave., Suite 105, Miami, FL 33131. E-mail dcazares@sun-sentinel.com
or call 305-810-5002.
Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel