Jacques Schwarz-Bart
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Jacques Schwarz-Bart (born December 22, 1962 in Les Abymes) is a New York based jazz saxophonist. His mother is Guadeloupean and his father was French Jewish author Andre Schwarz-Bart. He is dubbed "Brother Jacques" and his music has incorporated rhythm and blues as well as hip hop influences.[1]
His musical path is atypical. At age 4, he is offered a Gwoka drums. Better yet, Anzala (one of the all time greats along with Velo and Carnot), shows him how to play the 7 fundamental rhythms -Toumblak, Graj, Lewoz, Kalagya, Padjanbel, Mende, Woulé.
At age 6, while living in Switzerland, he discovers Jazz music through his best friend’s dad record collection. Fascinated, he self teaches the guitar by playing along with records. At 11 he starts gigging with the players of the local Lausanne scene, but soon after, his family relocates in Guadeloupe. There, without a jazz scene, he concentrates on school, to end up in the prestigious School of Government called Sciences Po, and eventually lands a job as a Senator’s assistant in Paris. He is 24 and seems on his way to social success, until the music bug comes back with a vengeance when he tries a tenor saxophone at a friend’s house. He practices between his long hours at the senate, and 3 years later, he kicks his career to the curve to attend Berklee School of Music.
Then starts the real life. After practicing into exhaustion for 4 years, he graduates, and develops a reputation by playing with the big guns of the Boston scene such Danilo Perez, Bob Moses, Giovanni Hidalgo. When Jacques finally decides to leave for The big Apple, he is ready. One week upon arriving in NY, he has a chance to be heard, in a moment of pure gusto that will shape his destiny. One evening, as he walks in Bradlee’s Jazz Club, he sees Chucho Valdes, Roy Hargrove and Randy Brecker blowing some hot stuff. Without thinking about it, he plulls his horn, jumps on stage and plays his heart out. One month later, he gets a call from Roy Hargrove to replace David Sanchez in his Latin Jazz band Crisol. Then, early 2000, he enters a new plateau: recording sessions, concerts: he even gets the nick name “Brother Jacques”. D’angelo came up with it, as he praised Jacques for his contribution to his band. Many others will call upon Jacques’ services: Roy Hargrove, Erykah Badu, Eric Benet, Meshell N’degeocello, James Hurt, Danilo Perez, Soulive, Ari Hoenig, David Gilmore... The list is now long, for this musician who starts getting noticed as a special composer, after his tune “Forget Regret” becomes the single on Roy Hargrove’s “Hard Groove” album.
As such, Jacques Schwarz-Bart has produced several personal projects. After a straight ahead CD entitled “Immersion”, comes The Brother Jacques Project: a mixture of soul and Jazz, with layers of caribbean rhythms, featuring the special voice of Stephanie McKay. With the album “Soné Ka la”, Jacques Schwarz-Bart is the first musician to fully consume the marriage between Gwoka and Jazz: 2 musical styles coming from the African Diaspora. There are featurings with Admiral T and Jacob Desvarieux of Kassav'. It is his oldest project, and yet the one that took the longest to achieve. This album released on Universal jazz has been unanimously acclaimed in the press and awarded.
