The Afri-Garifuna Jazz Ensemble

Afri-Garifuna Jazz originated at 1474 Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn in the spring of 2011. The new musical art form has a unique and distinct sound because it incorporates the traditional Garifuna rhythms such as punta, paranda, and hungu hungu with jazz to create music from a Garifuna perspective. New York City has always been a place where vibrant fusions have emerged. Big band jazz and Afro-Cuban son fused in 1939 by Machito & the Afro-Cubans to form Afro-Cuban jazz; R&B mixed with Cuban rhythms in the 1960s to form Latin bugalú (or boogaloo). Now NYC is the home to the new fusion led by the Afri-Garifuna Jazz Ensemble.
The group had its beginnings in Los Angeles in 2008 when jazz vocalist Lucy Blanco began learning more about her Garifuna heritage. She began blending the Garifuna language and percussive rhythms with jazz aided by her music director, Michael Andres. The first piece recorded this concept in 2009 with a demo of Wayne Shorter’s, “Speak No Evil.” Lucy returned to her hometown and Jazz Mecca, New York City that same year, and was able to work with some of the best jazz musicians in the city, continuing to fuse jazz standards with traditional Garifuna songs. The Garifuna jazz sound continued to evolve as Lucy collaborated with James Lovell, becoming the Afri-Garifuna Jazz Ensemble.
Vocalist Lucy Blanco’s parents were born in a small fisherman’s village in Santa Rosa de Agua, Honduras, in Central America. They migrated to the Bronx, New York in 1964 where she was born. Her musical influences are varied and include Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Hector Lavoe, Gloria Estefan and Celia Cruz. Her life was forever changed when she got a chance to attend an Artist in Residence program at The Conservatory of Music in Den Hague, with Dr. Barry Harris as a member of The Radiant Voices. Since relocating to NYC, she has worked with some of the best musicians the East Coast has to offer such as Benito Gonzalez, Mala Waldron, Mimi Jones and Andrea Brachfeld. She performed at The 8th Annual Lady Got Chops Jazz Festival found- ed by Kim Clarke. Ms. Blanco is currently producing her debut album with International Pianist Warren Byrd. Ms. Lucy Blanco was the featured artist at Trinity-on-Main’s Night of Jazz in New Britain, Conn.
Multi-Instrumentalist/Garifuna Artist/Activist James Lovell was born in Mango Creek Village and raised in Dangriga Town, “The Cultural Mecca” in Be- lize. James developed his musical skills and knowledge in the Belize Police Band, where he learned piano, bass guitar, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet. He also took correspondence music theory from the Royal School of Music, Eng- land. His debut album, Cabasan Numari (Who is Going to be my Wife) was well received in the Garifuna communities throughout the diaspora. James migrated to the US in the early 1990s and began organizing strategies to safeguard the Garifuna language by teaching children, young adults, and adults to speak Garifuna through music. He is presently teaching conversational Garifuna, Garifuna history, Garifuna drumming and traditional songs at Biko Transformation Center in Bushwick/Ocean Hill area in Brooklyn. James Lovell is the Co-founder of Yugacure, a program is retrieving, reclaiming and safeguarding Garifuna language and culture in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. James was the featured Garifuna artist at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival held in Washington, DC in July 2013.
Violinist Evalou Vo began her violin studies in classical idiom in Berlin and learned folk styles and jazz arrangement with violinist and composer Peter- Michael Hofmann. She performed with Gypsy Ladies (East European/klezmer/ tango) for three years in Berlin, and studied music in Paris earning a Bachelor’s from Universite de Paris 8. Ms. Vossmerbaumer is currently a graduate student of music and violin performance at Hunter College. She performs with the Hunter Symphony, in recitals with chamber ensembles and since 2009, she performs with the first all-women mariachi group of New York, Mariachi Flor de Toloache.
Dre Barnes (pianist) was born in Philadelphia and began studies in classical piano at an early playing the music of Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin, later playing in local R&B bands throughout high school. While studying at William Paterson University, he began to pursue a career in jazz sitting in at local jam sessions. At Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, Barnes studied with Master Jazz Pianist Kenny Barron and, later on with the great Mulgrew Miller. His latest release is Wandering Spirits.
Hilliard Green (bass) has been studying music for more than thirty years and has been playing professionally for over twenty. His emphasis is on classical, jazz, rock, blues, R&B, and tango. He recently formed The In & Out Band, a trio using jazz standards as a vehicle for free improvisation. Also, he is the co-leader of the classical crossover ensemble ZigZag Quartet. He produced three CDs with his own ensemble The Jazz Expressions, a solo bass CD entitled “Alone,” and co-produced self- titled ZigZag Quartet cd.
Gary Fritz (percussion) studied music at Lincoln University, Penn., where he decided to pursue a professional musical career. Since that time he has performed a wide variety of musical styles and flavors including folk, pop, rock, rap, rhythm & blues, jazz, fusion, world beat, spoken word, big band, orchestra, and gospel. His talents have been featured on TV and film soundtracks. Along with leading his own band, 7th Heaven, Gary’s performance credits include some of the industry’s top talents: George Benson, The Black Rock Coalition Orchestra, The Brand New Heavies, Rev. James Cleveland, Charles Earland, Roberta Flack, and Onaje Allan Gumbs,