Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds 1960-78

haiti-direct

Get loose: Strut Records latest Caribbean fandango, the double LP collection, Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds 1960-78. Here’s a little taste, Les Loups Noirs’ “Pile Ou Face.”

From the comp’s liner notes: Led by charismatic singer Gardner Lalanne, Les Loups Noirs (The Black Wolves) were extremely popular in the ’70s, touring extensively and recording across the Caribbean and in New York and Paris. “Pile Ou Face” (heads or tails) is an uncharacteristically experimental instrumental that layers saxophones and swirling organ over a rolling compas beat – a great demonstration of the way that the timbales and percussion sections of the big bands were being replaced by stripped-back cowbell and kick drum at the beginning of the ‘70s.

Les Loups Noirs :: Pile Ou Face

5 thoughts on “Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds 1960-78

  1. Crazy. All of a sudden Haitian music is a focus. Win Butler sez a trip to Haiti with Regine changed his life (her parents left Haiti and came to Montreal when Papa Doc was in his first prime). The rhythms in the rara music he cites are here. Great.

    I have been listening to to an artist called Captain Yaba this week, music from Ghana. The album is called Yaba Funk Roots. Same deal…absolutely hypnotising rhythms, though not as ‘in your face’ as this stuff.

  2. Bought it. Thank you for pointing me to this. It made my Sunday. And the family’s too – since a chef dancing in the kitchen can’t do no wrong.

  3. I will for sure buy this record. I’m positive I have never heard music quite like this before in my life.

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