the choice of “Jazz and salsa” #5
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VSEvery month, “Le jazz et la salsa” presents three albums of music from the Caribbean. The selection of the day, which takes us from New Orleans to Martinique via Cuba, is placed under the sign of filiation.
Trombone Shorty: the soul of soul, the power of rock
At the first listen, we say to ourselves that the new disc of Trombone Shorty suffers from a glaring proximity to its predecessor, the tinsel « Parking Lot Symphony », like a sequel struggling to get rid of its model. The ear is however hooked by the catchy melodies and the crazy energy. At the time of listening again, the cake reveals its true personality, reviving with a power that was once dulled. We then think that Trombone Shorty is part of this very select club of musicians who have forged a sound so unique that it could constitute a genre on its own.
The Torch of New Orleans
Shorty’s trademark is this raw energy borrowed from rock with guitars and drums. But beware, it’s still black music, which has its roots in soul and rhythm and blues. A musical gumbo, what! Because the music of Troy Andrews comes from New Orleans, with its brass, its soul, its sweat. Previous Jon Batiste who shone last year with “We Are”Trombone Shorty wears the colors of the birthplace of jazz high on the international stage.
He takes his nickname from having performed at the height of his four years with Bo Diddley on the Jazz Fest stage. From the earliest age, troy andrews followed his mother everywhere, Lois AndrewsNelson, a popular cultural figure in the Treme, the iconic neighborhood of New Orleans. Matriarch of a family of musicians, Lois included among her feats of arms, the rebirth of Baby DollsMardi Gras characters who spoil the carnival with their neglected and their bawdy songs. When her mother died last November, Troy danced on her coffin, as she herself had done during the tragic disappearance of her son Darnell. Lois didn’t educate Troy, she raised him, pushed him to go higher. “Lifted”in French ” Raised “is the title of the album.
Trombone Shorty: “Lifted” (Blue Note Records)
The symphonic dimension of Síntesis
Another musical family. In 1975, carlos alfonso and Ele Valdes melt Syntesis, the first Cuban group to fuse rock with the music of the Afro-Cuban religion. In 1989, their album “Ancestors” became cult in Cuba and around the world before experiencing two new versions in 1994 and 2003. For the guitarist Leo Brower, eminent Cuban composer and conductor, Síntesis appropriated Afro-Cuban ritual music, desacralized it to extract its dramaturgical potential. With “Ancestors”Síntesis wrote his own cosmology.
The Alfonso Valdes, an important musical family in Cuba
It is easy to imagine the incredible musical abundance in which the Alfonso Valdès children bathed. X (Equis) Alfonso is a renowned rock and hip-hop musician, founder of the Fabrica de Arte Cubano, a high place of art, music and encounters in Havana. For his part, his sister Eme successfully pursues her career as a singer while working at the head of the Habana World Music festival.
So, when musicians with unbridled creativity find themselves stuck in the unimaginable parenthesis that was the pandemic, there is no doubt that they end up tapping into their DNA to free their imagination. Helped by his sister and Leo Brower, X Alfonso revisited his parents’ work, rewriting ten pieces, ten odes to the Orishas to include a symphony orchestra. The result is a mystical, epic, cinematic sequel. “Ancestro Synfonico” is a gift from Equis for his parents, a gift for the public, the opportunity to discover or rediscover a major album augmented by new perspectives.
X Alfonso, Síntesis, Eme Alfonso: “ Ancestros Synfonico » (FACMusic/El Cerrito Records)
Sélène Saint-Aimé, new pillar of Caribbean jazz
During the first confinement, Selene Saint-Aime finds refuge in Martinique. During long conversations with her grandmother, the musician explores “family history, childhood memories, life. » This dive into itself inspired her to create a record that she titled ” Potomitan »the courageous mother, figure of Caribbean culture, pillar of the family which takes its name from the Haitian voodoo temple.
An imposed creative process that reconnects with the spirit of jazz
Struck by a long covid, the double bass player had to adapt her way of working. If she composed a lot before arriving in the studio, fatigue makes it impossible for her to provide scores. So everything was done on the spot, without rehearsal. She arrived with her melodies, giving directions. A collegiate creation that revives the tradition of legendary jazz recordings. For that, you need talent. Selene and her musicians are not lacking.
The two vectors of expression of the artist intertwine in the image of the musician and his instrument: the song, incantatory, carried by a dreamlike language, and the double bass, which draws the drums of Martinique and Guadeloupe (Boris Queen-Adelaide and Sonny Troupe). Cuban saxophonist Irving Acao and the American trumpeter Hermon Mehari, inspired, bring us back to the jazz quintet. As often found in Cuba, this jazz incorporates classical elements such as the violin of Mathias Levy and the cello of Guillaume Latil which quickly turn out to be essential.
In this “Potomitan”, we will find pell-mell, ka, bèlè, songs, prayers, poems and improvisations. But also Pelleas and Melisandre. And even The Bird by Charlie Parker. As well as a conclusion half-story half-sung in English. “ Potomitan » is an inspiring record whose reach goes well beyond the French West Indies. He embraces the Caribbean arc, pushing vice to New Orleans, prefiguring, perhaps without knowing it, the residency that the musician was soon to begin at the Villa Albertine. “Potomitan” is a pillar planted in the Caribbean with universal reach.
Selene Saint-Aimé: “Potomitan” (Komos)
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