The Harlem Suite
Jacques Schwarz-Bart
Ropeadope Records rad-699 (ropeadope.com)
This album – The Harlem Suite – may suggest that Jacques Schwarz-Bart, and that fire-breathing dragon of his saxophone may have rolled up his Guadeloupean zouk and Gwo-ka music (at least for now). But a few bars into the opening chart Sun Salutation, you realize that you can never take the spellbinding rhythms of Guadeloupe out of the iconic Guadeloupean. Indeed, the melody, laced with the pulsating zouk-chiré rhythms, comes forth from Schwarz-Bart’s saxophone like tongues of fire. His music virtually “sings” as it grooves to jazz, the very echo and heartbeat of Harlem.
To anyone unfamiliar with the work of Schwarz-Bart, do not let the francophone name fool you. Behind it is an Antillean with an African soul, a Guadeloupean with spirits dancing in the flesh. This makes for a very potent mix in his music. His tribute to the jazz masters and the musical heritage of Harlem constantly inveigles; often elegiac – such as in the mystical impression of Herbie Hancock’s Butterfly, voiced by the wraith-like Malika Tirolien, while the moon seems to cast a carnival spirit on John Coltrane’s Equinox.
Shadows and light dapple From Goré to Harlem. Everyone has a role to play everywhere, as Schwarz-Bart leads a proverbially fired-up beguine vidé carnival band. Each piece of music swings pendulously. The questing Dreaming of Freedom, voiced by Stephanie McKay, soars into its celestial dénouement.
