CD of The Week
Jane
Bunnett
Radio Guantanamo: Guantanamo Blues Project Vol. 1
As Reviewed by Wil Wosar
Listen to
samples from Radio
Guantanamo: Guantanamo Blues Project Vol. 1:
(In
order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest
player, click
here.)
You
Have Changed My Life
No
Money No Chica
New
Orleans Under Water
When I chose this recording as one being worthy of the title ‘CD of the Week’, it became evident that I had missed what was probably an unforgettable performance and experience at any one of the recent dates on Jane Bunnett’s Western Canadian tour.
Canadian soprano saxophonist and flutist Jane Bunnett and her group, The Spirits of Havana, showcased their previous work and introduced audiences to their latest recording, Radio Guantanamo: Guantanamo Blues Project Vol. 1. The recording is a tribute to the great “Changui” music of Guantanamo province on the island of Cuba.
Guantanamo
is home to the driest part of the island, the highest mountain peaks and
also the densest tropical forest. It has achieved some negative notoriety
over the last few years as its only naval base has been held by the U.S.
since 1902 and is now the location of a detainee facility for suspected
terrorists. Guantanamo was partly settled by French colonial slaves that
fled the Haitian Slave Revolt of the 1790s and “Changui” emerged
at that time with the first true Changui recording being done almost 200
years later in 1986.
Jane, long time colleague Larry Cramer who doubles as trumpeter and producer,
and the Spirits of Havana are joined by special guests on the project.
They include tenor sax great Dewey Redman, and top tuba soloist Howard
Johnson, who was actually a serviceman in Gitmo in 1961. The very busy
Canadian guitarist Kevin Breit shares pickin’ duties with Jumpin’
Johnny Sansone from New Orleans who also works the harmonica and accordion,
and shares top billing with Jane Bunnett in the song writing department.
A Volume 2 of Radio Guantanamo is in the works
For more information visit www.janebunnett.com
