Sakesho - Reseña

Latin Beat Magazine, August, 2002 by Rudy Mangual

Perhaps a name like the "New French Caribbean Jazz Quartet" would best describe the music and talents of this new collaboration of four master musicians. Instead, they named the group Sakésho after a Japanese restaurant the group experienced eating at before a gig in Paris; yet the meaning of the band's name relates to its meaning in the Creole dialect ("Hot, it's gonna be hot!"), not the Japanese translation.

Three top-gun musicians native to the French Caribbean islands, and a fourth (Andy Narell) who is virtually a naturalized citizen of the islands, finally came together to display their unique approach to making first-class music. Their first encounter was in 1993 on the island of Martinique. As opportunities arose, they worked together in various combinations of groups and other settings throughout the years. Narell, a virtuoso of the contemporary steel pan and internationally renowned for his collaborations with Marcus Miller, Chucho Valdés, The Caribbean Jazz Project, Aretha Franklin, and Hugh Masekela, immediately felt the chemistry among his talented colleagues. On his 2000 Heads Up CD titled Fire In the Engine Room, Narell wrote three tunes with his three Island friends in mind, and collaborated with them on the recording. After several gigs in Europe and in the French Caribbean, they decided it was time to reinvent themselves as a band. This debut eponymous recording by Sakésho is the realization of that dream.

Original compositions from the group paint a mosaic of musical images in the shades of a classic jazz quartet, the colorful traditional music of the French Caribbean islands, and the fusion of all the other harmonious regions of the planet. Andy Narell is the chief voice of the quartet via his steel pans and compositions, but he claims that his main job is to try and play up to the level of his three friends. Mario Canonge--from Martinique and currently residing in Paris--is the group's pianist and authority in French Caribbean music. Also a native of Martinique is bassist Michel Alibo, a founding member of the popular jazz-fusion band Sixun. The drum duties of the group belong to Jean Philippe Fanfant from Guadeloupe. A Parisian studio pro, he holds the quartet's energetic and expressive force together while delivering his own complex polyrhythms and percussive flavors.

The opener, Kon Djab Djigidji, is an Afro-Cuban groove with lots of space to showcase the solo talents of the quartet. The funky Mabouya is arranged as a mazouka (a French Caribbean rhythm), and Divini is simply a beautiful jazz ballad. All eight tracks on the CD are unique and innovative, full of soulful musical energy and spontaneity in ah unperceived style, Incidentally, the disc is also ah enhanced CD product; in addition to the audio tracks, it features a multimedia CD-ROM with a video of the band, artist profiles, and much more!