Saxophonist/composer Jacques Schwarz-Bart is from Guadaloupe in the Caribbean. His major musical interest initially was in jazz and Guadaloupian musical folk forms such as Gwoka. But one thing led to another and he ended up seduced by the funk. He toured with D’Angelo, performed with Erykah Badu among many others, and ended up as a mainstay in the Roy Hargrove RH band as well as a member of Hargrove’s Latin-oriented Creole band.
I don’t know if Jacques was trying to put Guadaloupe on the musical map but for sure he has succeeded.
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One evening in 1976 Minnie went on the Johnny Carson Show. Flip Wilson was the substitute host. He was prepared to do his silly shit, chitchat, and act a fool till Minnie blew his little mind.
With the kind of candor that is seldom if ever the hallmark of television, Minnie discussed her 1976 mastectomy operation and her struggles with breast cancer. Minnie died of cancer on July 12, 1979 at the age of 31. She fought it all the way. After her operation, rather than retiring from public view, sister Minnie Riperton decided to lead the crusade to raise awareness and public education about breast cancer.
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Minnie Riperton was a real woman. Indeed, one of her songs proclaims just that, “I’m A Woman.” What smote me mightily about Minnie was that her seriousness never soured her. She smiled and loved life even as life was killing her. She sang serious songs one minute and fun loving anthems the next.
When she dropped “Inside My Love” it was too much for mainstream radio. A woman inviting her lover to come inside her, and doing so in a beautiful voice with nary even a hint of salaciousness. The status quo found some of Minnie’s music a bit much but she stayed on the case advocating both power to the people and love for the people on both a personal and a mass level.
What I dig most is that she figured out how to make the personal political and how to advocate the political at a personal level. She could sing “Young, Willing And Able” and then follow up with “I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun.” Minnie’s music is music for adults who are young at heart.
—Kalamu ya Salaam
Do you remember Minnie Riperton? And from Guadaloupe a true fusion music crafted by Jacques Schwarz-Bart. We close out with 19 "Autumn Leaves" featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater, Johnny Griffin, Mark Murphy, Kenny Drew, Concha Buika, Shirley Scott, Gloria Lynne, Marie Booker, Jasmin Bailey, Jean-Michel Pilc, Leny Andrade, Ahmad Jamal, Ledisi, Cannonball Adderley, Jacintha, Trudy Pitts, Kersha Bailey, Charles Lloyd and Rachell Ferrell.