Jacques Schwarz-Bart - Jazz Racine Haïti (2014)

Tenor saxophonist and composer Jacques Schwarz-Bart presents 'Jazz Racine Haiti', an innovative album at the crossroads of sacred Haitian voodoo music and jazz.

On recordings and in concerts, Jacques Schwarz-Bart has been a collaborator of such diverse artists as Roy Hargrove, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, David Gilmore, Chucho Valdes, Danilo Perez, Ari Hoenig and Meshell N'Degeocello. In his efforts as a bandleader, however, he has followed a clear path, deeper and deeper into the music of his French-Caribbean antecedents, which he has continued to blend with modern jazz. 'Jazz Racine Haiti', is a culmination of this work: alongside an international cast of musicians including two voodoo priests, Schwarz-Bart has created new arrangements of traditional Haitian voodoo ritual music and composed music inspired by his rigorous engagement with the genre.

The resulting recording is at once an achievement of ethnomusicology and artistic innovation. And in spite of its faithful commitment to a centuries-old - and, to some, esoteric - musical and spiritual tradition, 'Jazz Racine Haiti' is a fresh and remarkably accessible work.