Sone Ka La 2 Odyssey
By the time tenor saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart recorded Soné Ka-La in 2005 (“simply infectious” — JazzTimes),
he had amassed credits with D’Angelo’s Voodoo touring band, Roy Hargrove’s Crisol and RH Factor, Erykah Badu, Meshell Ndegeocello and other greats. In the spirit of those searingly original artists, the French-Jewish-Guadeloupean Schwarz-Bart set out with Soné Ka-La “to pioneer a sophisticated modern jazz language cross-pollinated with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and melodies inspired by the Gwoka traditions from my native island of Guadeloupe.” Now, after some 15 years of musical travels — during which Schwarz-Bart explored post-bop on The Art of Dreaming, voodoo music on Jazz Racine Haïti, Jewish liturgical music on Hazzan, and contemporary European jazz on Shijin — it was time for him to find his way back to the initial Soné Ka-La concept with a renewed approach. The result is Soné Ka-La 2 — Odyssey.
REVIEW
“Life affirming joy and a vivacious ebullience of spirit.” “Off-the-beaten-path and as beautifully exotic as sound can be”.
ALLABOUTJAZZ
“JSB continues his Guadeloupean Odyssey between (…) “the sounds of his roots”, afrobeat and soaring D’Angelo-esque R&B grooves”.
JazzTimes
Winning return to his native gwoka tradition for one of the best saxophonists on the planet, opening trails of freedom full of contemporary creole flavors.
Citizen Jazz
“A powerful, clever, multilayer work”.
Jazzwise
“A beacon of Caribbean Jazz”.
Jazz News
”From a social point of view, the music of Jacques Schwarz-Bart is a bridge between cultures and ethnicities. This is no coincidence, since the saxophonist comes from a German-Polish-Guadeloupean family and thus grew up multiculturally. Exactly this openness can be heard on Soné Ka-La, Odyssey. It is a soundtrack of integration.”
Jazzthetik