V.A. Koute Jazz

The story of Jazz and the French Antilles is an old one, and we can hear traces of it even in the first available recordings. From D’Alexandre Stellio to Jean-Claude Montredon, from Al Lirvat to Marius Cultier, from Jacques Coursil to Mario Canonge, the list of those who formed connections between these two universes that lie so close to one another is long. Antillean Jazz was initially described in terms of the wave of Caribbean Swing and Beguine Jazz that hit European shores between the two world wars. “Antilleans carried a lot of music in their bags, but the French didn’t realize at the time that the missing link between the US and France was the Antilles!”, the poet Roland Brival recalled in 2002 upon the reissue of his cult album “Creole Gypsy”. Placed geographically closer to the United States than Europe, the Antilles were very early touched by the Jazz and in a different way. That is why of numerous musicians caught this music to mix it with the traditional rhythms of their island: Biguine, Gwo Ka & Tumbélé.