The 7:30 p.m. concert, which features Jacques Schwarz-Bart and his quartet, is dedicated to the life and legacy of slain Wall Street Journal writer, Daniel Pearl, a talented violinist who believed that music could bring people together.
On Tuesday, October 2, 2018, jazz saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart and his quartet, will headline the Daniel Pearl World Music Days concert at 7:30 p.m. in the Wien Experimental Theater of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Featuring music from Schwarz-Bart’s newly released album, Hazzan [Hebrew for cantor], the concert will be a jazz creation of Jewish liturgical chants, improvisational sequences, and infectious rhythms.
Born in Guadeloupe to widely acclaimed writers, Simone and Andrė Schwarz-Bart, Jacques has been at the center of several musical revolutions: neo soul, New Jazz, and his own creations: Gwoka and Voodoo Jazz. First studying saxophone at the age of 24, and enrolling at the Berklee College of Music in Boston at 27, Schwarz-Bart has released several albums in the last decade including Sonė Ka La and Abyss, which has built his current career as an internationally acclaimed jazz band leader; Rise Above, blending NY urban mood with Caribbean feelings; The Art of Dreaming, with Baptiste Trotignon, Thomas Bramerie, and Hans van Oosterhout; Jazz Racine Haiti, drawing on the spirituality of Haitian voodoo music; and Creole Spirits, a symbiotic meeting of Haitian and Cuban spiritual traditions. Schwarz-Bart’s impressionist writing, powerful tone, and wide ranging language have fueled a growing presence on the world stage. His vision has inspired a generation of young jazz musicians who are infusing jazz expression with native influences.
In late 2016, Schwarz-Bart became an associate professor at Berklee College of Music, where he is teaching ensembles that utilize such different musical styles as jazz and neo soul. His newly released CD, Hazzan, is a tribute to the memory of his father, holocaust survivor and French novelist, Andrė Schwarz-Bart, best known for his award-winning book, The Last of the Just, published in French in 1959 and translated into English in 1960. Jacques first conceived of Hazzan in 2008, when a rabbi listening to his performance of the Hebrew liturgical prayer, Adon Olam, as a jazz duet for the Jewish French Foundation, commented: “When you played, your notes sounded like a prayer. You are a hazzan on your saxophone.” Identifying himself as “100% Jewish and 100% black,” Schwarz-Bart hopes that Hazzan will do justice to this conception of his Jewish identity “as the blossoming fruit of universal cross pollination.”
This concert has limited seating and requires reservations by contacting the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at bennettcenter@fairfield.edu or 203-254-4000 ext. 2066. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, located at 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824.
