Jacques Schwarz-Bart

Born in Les Abymes in Guadeloupe in 1962, Jacques Schwarz-Bart develops a singular path that early on links the gwoka rhythms learned in childhood to the language of jazz, which he later discovers in Europe. After studies in France and a stint in political life, Jacques Schwarz-Bart turns to music in adulthood, learns the saxophone, studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, then settles in New York, where he enters the jazz, soul and nu-soul scenes of the late 1990s and 2000s. His playing is rooted in modern jazz nourished by Caribbean heritages, soul, funk and Afro-diasporic musics, with particular attention to the circulations between writing, improvisation and rhythmic traditions. Schwarz-Bart participates in various projects alongside musicians such as Roy Hargrove, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu or Me’Shell Ndegeocello, while developing a personal oeuvre marked by Soné Ka La (2006), Abyss (2008), Rise Above (2010), The Art of Dreaming (2012), Jazz Racine Haïti (2014), Hazzan (2018), Soné Ka-La 2: Odyssey (2020) and The Harlem Suite (2023). From one record to the next, Schwarz-Bart explores connections between contemporary jazz, Guadeloupean gwoka, Haitian-root music and diasporic memory.