🎶🎷🌴🎹🥁 Pan-Caribbean was in fashion in the 80s. The Caraïbe Jazz Ensemble in Guadeloupe, Paquito d’Rivera’s Caribbean Jazz Project… Meanwhile, saxophonist Luther François, himself straddling Saint Lucia and Martinique, set up his Caribbean Jazz Workshop Group to produce the first album under his name, Morne Du Don. The guest list is rich, as much as the music. Adrian Clarke from Barbados shares the piano with Emerson Nurse from St Lucia and Ronald Tulle for Martinique. Happy Lewis’s dazzling trumpet represents Antigua and Guadeloupe. The rhythm section is Martinican, with Alex Bernard and Jean-Claude Montredon, complemented by the percussion of Charly Chomereau-Lamotte for Guadeloupe. Morne du Don takes us on a journey, moving naturally from nervous hard-bop to reggae, blues and Children, Jean-Claude Montredon’s favourite waltz, illustrating the excellence of Caribbean jazz. Sadly, this was to be the Workshop’s only recording, but Luther François still found time, alongside his many collaborations (Peter Tosh, Kat-Tèt, Fal Frett, Malavoi, etc.), for a new album, Castries Underground, released in 2008.
Morne Du Don – Luther François, 1989
