Sarah, Adjuah, Danilo, Gonzalo, Donald, and Haiti: Second Hour of Interview and Tracks, Recorded at Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival

Intervew-and-Music with SARAH ELIZABETH CHARLES and CHRISTIAN SCOTT ATUNDE ADJUAH continues in a second Hour. With Tracks from DANILO PEREZ; GONAZALO RUBACALA, and DONALD HARRISON JR.

Sarah, Adjuah, Danilo, Gonzalo, Donald, and Haiti

60:54—62:46. Christian speaks about he and Sarah wanting music to serve as “a bridge” and Don Paul recalls Idris Muhammad remarking to him and Maryse that he his peers in the 1960s were “really reaching.”

62:47—74:33. “Equinox” by John Coltrane, 1960, played by Christian’s Sextet (with Elena Pinderhughes on flute instead of Dominic Minix on guitar) at the Montreux Jazz Festival in June 2016.

74:34—76:05 Sarah Elizabeth Charles talks about her Haitian-American father and her teaching in the Rise2Shine program in rural Haiti over the past five years.

76:06—78:22. “Haitian Sunrise” with Sarah and her Inner Dialogue band and Camille Meza on guitar and Jesse Fischer on glockenspiel.

78:23—80:01 Sarah speaks about Haitians as the first Black people to win their freedom from Colonialism.

Father walks sons to School along Boulevard Canapé-Vert, March 2018, still from video by Don Paul

80:02—88:08. “Wongol O” as arranged by Sarah, performed by the Willerm Delisfort Group at the 2014 Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival.

88:09—89:07 Christian speaks about Haitians’ bearing and dignity as like that of “an anointed people.”

Community-Garden in the Port-au-Prince ‘slum’ of Cité Soleil.

The sculptor Celeur in Raul de la Fuente’s 2014 documentary “I Am Haiti”.

Woman who’s rebuilding her restaurant, post-2010 Earthquake, quoted in “I Am Haiti”.

Lòlò, co-founder with his wife Manzè of the band Boukman Eksperyans, in “I Am Haiti”.

89:08—96:15 “The Last Chieftan” from Adjuah’s Stretch Music.

96:16—99:00 Sarah speaks about the “amazing work” that Milena Sandler and Joel Widmaeir and all of the PAP IJF do in bringing world-renowned musicians to Haiti and presenting Haiti to the world.

Milena and Joel from the Coconut Podcast by Alain Jo for PAPJazz in 2021

Don offers an aside that Graham Greene’s The Comedians is the “most absurd lie imaginable.” Christian speaks about being Sarah’s “biggest fan” and about her part in the “Phases” track from the first album of his 2017 Centennial Trilogy and his wanting to work with her as long as he lives,

99:00—99:24 Intro do “two more composers” who “acculturate” many elements

99:25—100:21 “Galactic Panama” from Danilo Pérez’s 2010 album La Providencia.

Danilo Perez at Parc Historique, Port-au-Prince, during the 2017 International Jazz Festival.

104:21—1:04:50 Intro to Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s “Sendero Aliento” from his 2015 album Suite Caminos.

104:50—107:00 “Sendero de Aliento” with Mario Hidalgo on lead vocal for the Santeria invocation.

Gonzalo Rubacala in the Garden of Hotel Karibe, Port-au-Prince, March 2017, again a video-still by Don Paul.

107:02—107:34 Christian on why the retention of African rhythms has made New Orleans music in particular what it is

107:35—113:49 “Hu-Ta-Nay” from Donald Harrison, Junior’s 1992 album Indian Blues, with Dr. John on lead vocal calling forth Black Indians of New Orleans on Mardi Gras morning.

114:20—1:16:00 Christian speaks on how African drumming masters’ differ and yet do not differ from Swing rhythms … It’s a matter of where musical values are placed, In the end you see that all “are completely and utterly related.”

116:00—1:17:22. Excerpt from “Kind of New”, a track on the 2007 album of that name by Donald Harrison, Junior that featured Christian and Kenny Barron, played here by Christian’s band, again at KNKX in Tacoma, Washington.

117:23—118:32 Thanks to all the musicians and to the Festival. Don concludes with Christian’s bringing a final “grace note” to the conversation in his wanting to gain “A lot more information” from master drummers.

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