Guadeloupe’s thriving music scene has thrown up some original offerings of late, proving that home-grown Guadeloupean sounds make a perfect foil for jazz. Following in the footsteps of saxophonist David Murray and his collaboration with Guadeloupean hand-drum and voice group The Gwo ka Masters and trumpeter Frank Nicolas’s “Jazz ka Philosophy” project, saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart has emerged with his own jazz-ka fusion, Soné Ka La. The album features seven fundamental rhythms on Gwoka drums, expertly blended with jazz harmonies in a mix that respects both styles and actually enhances them in terms of musicality and spirituality. "I’ve been working on this for fifteen years now,” explains Schwarz-Bart modestly, “I was waiting to have enough experience as a saxophonist and composer behind me before taking on this complex musical chemistry. The point is to fuse the two musical styles according to parameters that are specific enough to guarantee a continuity, a consistency and a unity while being flexible enough to create a music that’s truly different from song to song."

Jacques Schwarz-Bart could certainly never be described as a newcomer to the music scene. He was born in Les Abymes, a suburb of Guadeloupe’s capital Pointe-à-Pitre, on 22 December 1962, but only began playing music in earnest in the 1990s. Before that Schwarz-Bart, who graduated from the prestigious French school Sciences-Po (which grooms future MPs and prime ministers), landed his first job as a senator’s assistant in Paris. He left the world of diplomacy to pursue his passion for music, however, winning a place at the world-renowned Berklee School of Music. Two years later, Schwarz-Bart, then in his thirties, graduated from Berklee and set up home in New York where he rapidly made a name for himself at local jam sessions. This led to a flurry of invitations to accompany established musicians on tour. Schwarz-Bart went on to play with big names on the Boston scene such as Giovanni Hidalgo, Danilo Perez and Bob Moses. But his big break came one night in the Big Apple when he walked into New York jazz club Bradlee’s and dared to get up on stage with his sax. Legendary Cuban pianist Chucho Valdès and trumpet star Roy Hargrove were both in the club that night and were blown away by what they heard.

"One month later,” recounts Schwarz-Bart, “Roy Hargrove’s agent called me to replace saxophonist David Sanchez in the Cuban band Crisol." This proved to be the first step towards Schwarz-Bart winning important recognition from the professional musician community and he went on to record a first CD on Fresh Sound, a label that has launched (nearly) all the new talents in the jazz orthodoxy. In early 2000, he upped the tempo, performing at a host of recording sessions and concerts with the likes of Erykah Badu, Eric Benet, MeShell N’Degeocello, Mario Canonge, James Hurt and Ari Hoenig. D’Angelo, the voice of nu-soul, forged such a close bond with the sax-man that he dubbed him "Brother Jacques" – a nickname which has stuck ever since. Meanwhile, Schwarz-Bart also made his mark as a composer, writing Forget Regret, a track on Roy Hargrove’s album Hard Groove that became a big hit. By this stage of his career, Schwarz-Bart had turned forty - but his career had more than made up for lost time!

All that remained for him to do now was cook up an original music project in his own name. And that’s just what Schwarz-Bart did next, throwing himself into writing new material that was, unfortunately, turned down by all the record labels he approached. Undeterred, he went on to finance the recording of this new work himself, looking after his own production and distribution. But then the big guns at Universal Jazz stepped in and offered him the chance to make a follow-up in the same style. Schwarz-Bart took his time over the project and two years later Soné Ka La stands testament to its author’s perspicacity and tenacity. The album, recorded between New York and Pointe-à-Pitre, features some superb songwriting, a talent that Schwarz-Bart doubtless inherited from his parents, both award-winning novelists. His father, André, penned La Mulâtresse Solitude in 1972 and his mother, Simone, was also extremely influential in gaining wider recognition for Creole culture and identity. Jacques Schwarz-Bart has now extended his parents’ favourite themes to a musical domain, adding a touch of soul-funk to proceedings.

Soné Ka La includes an impressive musical cast drawn from different countries, featuring everything from traditional French West Indian drums and American improvisation virtuosos to contributions from the Croatian pianist Milan Milanovic and Lionel Loueke, a Benin-born jazz guitarist hailed as the hot new discovery of 2006. Loueke also provides vocals on one song. Other vocals on the album are courtesy of ‘soul sister’ Stephanie McKay, Kassav’s founder Jacob Desvarieux, drummer and boulagyel (tropical beatbox) virtuoso Jean-Pierre Coquerel, and, last but not least, the new dub master Admiral T, whose smooth ‘flow’ reflects the current vogue for sound-systems in Guadeloupe.

"This is a melodic album,” says Schwarz-Bart summing up Soné Ka La in a convincing soundbite, “Every theme can be sung because in Gwoka music the human voice fulfils all the melodic functions." A fact amply illustrated on this melodic masterpiece!