Big Night in Little Haiti

Big Night gets Jazzy in Little Haiti - Caribbean National

Big Night gets jazzy in Little Haiti

Music Series In Collins Park

by Michelle F. Solomon, ATCA, FFCC

Sunday, May 15, 2016 - Chardavoine's Creole Jazz Project

Celebrating Haitian Flag Day with Chardavoine's Creole Jazz Project from New York. Chardavoine is a concrete manifestation of Haitian jazz, a new genre emerging in jazz today.

Jazz guitarist Chardavoine would likely be a doctor if it weren't for George Benson.

While a freshman at SUNY in upstate New York, where he was studying medical technology, Chardavoine (first name: Jean) attended a concert by Benson. As he watched the jazz star lead the band with his guitar, Chardavoine's medical dreams vanished. 

Published: October 20, 2014

KCC Productions presents Chardavoine at Zinc Bar, Oct 22 at 9 PM. Featuring Chardavoine on guitar, Ben Winkelman on piano, Russell Carter on drums, Oleg Osenkov on bass, and Norbert Stachel on sax. $10 cover at bar, $15 at tables. Visit zincbar.com or phone 212-477-ZINC

With haste I am driving down the avenue toward NJPAC…. To cover another artist whose music was not familiar to so or me… I thought.  Driving toward the parking garage…I can hear the melodic melody floating through the air…. And urging me to find its source.  I hang a left into the garage…park my car, grab my equipment….  Like the pied piper the music leads me.  I pick up my pace frantically…. Heels clicking as I walk up the incline from the garage…camera around my neck…pad and pen secure in my bag.  I come up on the street, I see people everywhere…swaying, eyes transfixed toward the stage.

Layback – Fifth Season – I Remember Ernie – Who Could It Be – Jamaal’s Song – Carmen – Amee – Passion Stroke – Toujours – Father & Son – Illusions – Malaeeka – Forgotton Dreams
There has been a lot of rightful exposure to this gentleman’s album here in the UK on quality soul radio. Richard Searling’s mandatory show on Jazz FM North West (available via the Internet on Sunday afternoons) and Mike Stevens’ On The Real Side show on Sunday mornings, again via the web on Solar Radio have championed this album. Guess what I get up to in a Sunday, folks? No prizes there! The song that is getting a bee in the proverbial bonnet is the Frank Williams vocal cut "Layback" which the reason I did not hesitate in ordering this via CD Baby or via Chardavoine's website (https://www.chardavoine.biz).

With the ninth edition of the PAP International Jazz Festival coming in January, we can assume that the festival is now well entrenched in Haiti's capital culture. This year, Haiti Jazz Foundation started a pilgrimage to promote the festival and to bring more awareness of this great musical event in the Diaspora. This journey will take them to New York, Montreal, Paris and so on, to incite Haitians living abroad to incorporate this highly entertained destination into their calendar of activities for January.

By M. Skye Holly   |   Photos by Gregg Richards

We already know that books can take you to places you've never been. Music does the same thing. When you want books, you go to the library. Now, when you want music, you can go there too.

On Thursday, October 3rd, 2013, at 7:00 p.m., jazz lovers did just that. They excitedly awaited for the debut of CHARDAVOINE Haitian Jazz Sextet at the Dr. S. Stevan Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture at the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library, located on Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. As part of the Dwecklectic events series, fans of CHARDAVOINE were able to enjoy a mix of the artist's original compositions, as well as a selection of jazz standards and traditional Haitian songs.

January 4, 2012

Kreyol Jazz fans, in the New York vicinity, are becoming accustomed to great performances at Mirelle's Restaurant in Westbury. On Friday, December 30th, they were once again blessed with a remarkably entertaining and exciting performance by guitarist Chardavoine, one of the hottest Haitian Jazz musicians on the Kreyòl Jazz scene, and likely the most active producer of such entertainment in the community.

The artist opened the evening with a Stevie Wonder composition, "Creeping", followed by "Nica's Dream", a Horace Silver classic. I had the impression that Chardavoine was going to take me back to Wes Montgomery 1965 performance in Netherland TV, buy it was Edy Brisseaux's moment to shine. The concert continued to take steams with Edy's own composition, "Manjo".

Saturday, October 30, 2010

With Ginou Oriol & Felina Backer

Fans who usually attend Chardavoine's concert become infatuated with great performances. On Saturday, October 30, 2010, he shared the stage with Ginou Oriol and Felina Backer, two dominant voices in Kreyol Jazz, at the impressive Jamaica Performing Arts Center in New-York. The result was simply spectacular because the artist entertained the audience with a high level of creative energy during a two hour performance.

The 2015 Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival was a week-long celebration of jazz, creole culture, and Haiti. It was an impressive success. Kreol looks back at the festival and focuses on its uniqueness.

24 Décembre 2006

The 2006 New York Christmas season in the Haitian community entertainment industry started with a celebratory big bang. The Haitian Jazz Festival paraded some of the finest musicians onstage at Irving Plaza, this Saturday December 23, 2006. The line-up consisted of Mozayik, the Altino Brothers, Reginald Policard, Jowee Omicil, Beethova Obas, Mushy Widmaier, Chardavoine, James Germain, and Ginou Oriol.
Irving Plaza, a large concert hall, located in Gramercy Park in lower Manhattan, was swarming with Haitians and other nationalities to witness the third Haitian Jazz concert organized by John Altino (Papa Jube).