Jazz.Speak
Audio Articles • Reading Reviews
MAGAZINE ARTICLE
All That Jazz (first published 2020 MAR 01)
A Caribbean Beat profile of three jazz singers from Trinidad — Charmaine Forde, Vaughnette Bigford and LeAndra — with career beginnings spanning 40 years represents a Caribbean perspective of jazz success...
ALBUM REVIEW
Insomnia by Adan Hagley (first published on 2019 OCT 10)
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian review of the debut album by promising young jazz pianist and graduate of Berklee College of Music, Adan Hagley. The inevitability of influence...
ALBUM LINER NOTE
Break Away by Michael Boothman (first published on 2018 JAN 26)
"Michael Boothman: a rebirth beyond nostalgia"...a celebration of that peerless Caribbean lifestyle and a return towards a freedom to be the best that we can be...
ALBUM REVIEW
San Jose Suite by Etienne Charles (first published on 2016 NOV 13)
"Etienne Charles and the Conquest of the Americas," a Trinidad and Tobago Guardian review of trumpeter Etienne Charles's new album. The wider Americas is explored for influences...
ALBUM REVIEW
Cousoumeh by Akinola Sennon (first published on 2016 SEP 18)
"The pot bubbling," a Trinidad and Tobago Guardian review of the debut album by steelpan jazz innovator. A daring leap into a new way of hearing improvised music from the Caribbean...
ALBUM REVIEW
Home Grown by Rellon Brown and the Dominant Seventh CalypsoJazz Band (first published on 2016 JUN 19)
"Homegrown but not quite ripe," a Trinidad and Tobago Guardian review of the debut album by trumpter and bandleader seeking to update the zeitgeist of the old calypso dance band...
ALBUM REVIEW
Gumbo Caribe by Theron Shaw (first published on 2014 JUL 30)
"Shaw shares dancing gumbo rhythms," a Trinidad and Tobago Guardian review of the third album by the taciturn guitarist who lets his instrument do all the talking...
ALBUM REVIEW
Imbizo Moyenne by Chantal Esdelle and Moyenne (first published on 2014 JAN 06)
"Moyenne's joyful mix of Caribbean and African," a Trinidad and Tobago Guardian review of the second album by the leading female jazz pianist in Trinidad and Tobago. Ethnic jazz and more...
ALBUM REVIEW
Creole Soul by Etienne Charles (first published on 2013 AUG 06)
"The electric ascendence of Etienne Charles", a Trinidad and Tobago Guardian review of the fourth album by Charles that explores pan-Caribbean rhythms and electric instruments...
LINER NOTE ESSAY
I Am élan parlē by Élan Parlē (first published on 2013 NOV 26)
"I Am élan parlē: A declaration of independence." ...A new definition of Calypso Jazz is announced in the music of this CD. I am élan parlē because I am the world!
LINER NOTE ESSAY (UNUSED)
I Am élan parlē by Élan Parlē (first delivered on 2013 NOV 26)
"A Play on Words: Élan Parlē and the new definition of jazz in the Caribbean." I Am élan parlē marks the continuation of the search for both an aesthetic and commercial response to the idea of innovation...
LINER NOTE ESSAY
A Tribute to the Mighty Sparrow by Len Boogsie Sharpe (first published on 2011 NOV 29)
"On Being First: 'Boogsie and the Evolution of Pan" ...One pioneer interpreting another on a pioneering new instrument is a legacy that can't be denied...
ALBUM REVIEW
Kaiso by Etienne Charles (first published on 2011 OCT 29)
"Etienne Charles say kaiso! Jazz and the West Indian Word," a review of the third album by the young trumpet phenom. An interpretation of the songs of three legends of recorded calypso...