ches smith and we all break
Saturday, September 23
TIME: 7:15-8:15PM
VENUE: logan center performance hall. 915 east 60th st.
Eight We All Break band members posing together against a red background, followed by an image of We All Break playing together on stage with a red outline of a heart in the background.
WE ALL BREAK
The brainchild of NYC drummer/percussionist/composer Ches Smith, We All Break features pianist Matt Mitchell, saxophonist Miguel Zenón, bassist Nick Dunston, vocalists Sirene Dantor Rene, Tossie Long, and Lalin St. Juste, and master drummers of Haitian Vodou Daniel Brevil, Markus Schwartz, and Fanfan Jean-Guy Rene.
Ches Smith’s dedication to Haitian Vodou began more than twenty years ago. Hired to accompany a Haitian dance class, he was immediately taken with the art form. Formal study in New York and Haiti followed, which led to folkloric performances and Vodou ceremonies. For the last twelve years, he has worked a variety of gigs in the Haitian communities of NYC, Gonaives, and Paris, in tandem with his career in jazz and creative music.
Smith formed We All Break in 2013 with two of his mentors of the Haitian drum, Daniel Brevil and Markus Schwartz, and frequent creative music collaborator, pianist Matt Mitchell. Smith’s compositional vision aimed to incorporate and transform elements of the traditional music – lead/chorus song structure, polytonal relations among singers and drums, conversations between the drums, and kase (“breaks”) – by placing them at the center of each piece. With a traditional rhythm as the foundation of each composition, that rhythm’s spiritual, political, and visual associations could function as deep wells of information and feeling, levering the work into a new dimension.
After several years as a quartet, in 2020 the ensemble expanded to an octet. Smith and Brevil collaborated on the new concept, which demanded an expanded vocal dimension, more developed melodic writing, the addition of contrabass, and another Vodou drummer. Smith had recently met vocalist Sirene Dantor Rene when he joined Vodou roots group Fanmi Asòtò. Her presence and authentic vocal stylings made her an obvious choice to sing lead. Acclaimed saxophonist and MacArthur fellow Miguel Zenón serendipitously reached out to Smith around this time to ask about Haitian drumming, and was brought on to strengthen the melodic aspects of the compositions and provide another soloistic voice. He invited master drummer “Fanfan” Jean-Guy Rene to fill out the drum team, and young bassist and composer-performer Nick Dunston to expand the low end and connect with the drum set. Brevil, in charge of bringing in traditional Vodou songs to nestle within Smith’s original compositions, did so and much more, including composing many of the songs himself.
The resulting album, Path of Seven Colors, has been hailed by The Guardian as a “tour-de-force of jazz innovation,” by Jazziz as “a sublime magnum opus,” and by Downbeat as “a groundbreaking album…stunningly original and mesmerizing in its ritualistic power.” The ensemble’s music and collaborative process are featured in a 50-minute film “We All Break,” by award-winning filmmaker Mimi Chakarova.
We All Break has performed residencies and jazz festivals in New York City, and toured internationally though Berlin, Buenos Aires, Paris, Brive-La-Gaillarde, Bordeaux, and Knoxville.
The musicians:
Sirene Dantor Rene - vocals
Tossie Long - vocals
Lalin St. Juste - vocals
Miguel Zenón - alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell - piano
Nick Dunston - bass
Daniel Brevil - tanbou and vocals
Fanfan Jean-Guy Rene - tanbou and vocals
Markus Schwartz - tanbou and vocals
Ches Smith - drums/percussion
This tour/performance/show/event is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of
South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The drummers of We All Breakoffer a clinic in the drums of Haitian Vodou at the Old Town School of Music on Sunday, September 24th. Find information on signing up here: https://www.oldtownschool.org/classes/detail/?courseid=7392
Vodou drumming is an ensemble art form featuring polyrhythm, conversation, improvisation, power, and surprise delivered through a myriad of highly evolved techniques.
A syncretic tradition with Dahomean, Yoruban, and Congolese roots, Haitian drumming is ordered in accordance with “nations” of rhythms, such as Rada, Nago, Kongo, Ibo, Petwo, Djouba, and Banda, among others. Daniel Brevil, “Fanfan” Jean-Guy Rene, Markus Schwartz and Ches Smith will demonstrate the rhythms of these categories through ensemble playing and break down the constituent parts with examples of each drum pattern. They will offer spiritual and political context, which is inseparable from the development of the drumming and the birth of Haiti as an independent nation. Questions and comments from those in attendance will be encouraged.