The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and drummer Obed Calvaire. His new album, 150 Million Gold Francs, was released 12 April. It features alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, keyboardists Harold St. Louis and Sullivan Fortner, guitarist Dener Ceide, and bassists Addi Lafosse and Jonathan Michel. Links to purchase the album, and to Calvaire’s website, can be found at the bottom of this article.

Obed Calvaire’s new album stands out in one conspicuous way: its interrogation of Haitian struggle across the ages. Calvaire was himself born to Haitian parents in Miami.

“We’re still paying for the fact that we were the first Black republic to gain our independence,” Calvaire stated in press materials. And if you’re curious as to that triumphant-turned-tragic history?

“Once you start Googling, it’s going to be a rabbit hole when it comes to the history of Haiti,” he tells LondonJazz, “and why they’re in the position that they’re in today.”

One other individuating factor is this: instead of following the lead of the New York scene, where albums are recorded in mere hours and churned out in rapid succession, Calvaire spent a long duration, in jazz time, crafting 150 Million Gold Francs to be a sumptuous listening experience. Plus, he broke from the typical Rolodex, and brought in mostly Haitian musicians.

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“I thought it would be nice to put together a unit that most people aren’t really familiar with hearing,” he says. “Because if you take the past 10 to 20 years, it’s like the same 30, 40 guys on every single record. It’s 10 drummers, five to six bass players, same [with] piano players. And then you have the leaders – the horn players – but the core is pretty much the same.

“To me, all the records start to sound the same because of that,” he contends. “So, I figured, why not change things up a little bit and get a different sound?” That sound might be Haiti to the bone, but thanks to Calvaire’s attention to detail and storytelling, it’ll hit you wherever you live.

LondonJazz News: Describe how the rhythms of Haiti flow through you.

Obed Calvaire: The fact that it’s in my DNA – I guess it kind of helps.

I grew up listening to and playing a lot of those rhythms that you hear on the album in church. But a few of them were forbidden, simply because they came from what my mom and dad thought were secular. And if those rhythms weren’t being played in church, I couldn’t really listen to them.

As I got older, I could go to Virgin Records or Tower Records and purchase a CD, and get hip to a lot of the rhythms I wasn’t allowed to hear. I gravitated more toward those rhythms; I just felt something. Those rhythms are usually played for voudoun ceremonies, and they just had a different swag to them.

LJN: Tell me about the band on 150 Million Gold Francs.

OC: [Bassist] Addi Lafosse and [keyboardist] Harold St. Louis, we grew up together. My dad is a singer, and Addi’s dad had a one-man band that would play guitar, accordion, and snare.

Harold and I would go to revivals every day. He also played drums, so he was like my rival. Then, at some point, he decided to switch to piano.

I got guys who actually understood the Haitian vocabulary, musically. That way, when they would call a cadence or something, we all would understand and know where to go musically. So, that was pretty much how I put the band together.

I recorded and produced Godwin Louis’ last two records, and I have so much respect for him as a musician. His knowledge of the music is extremely inspiring.

[Guitarist] Dener [Ceide] and I go all the way back to Miami, I would say 20, 25 years. [Bassist] Jonathan Michel and I go back 10, 15 years. He’s also from Haitian descent; the only person on the record who isn’t of Haitian descent is [keyboardist] Sullivan [Fortner].

But we also go back, say, 15 years, and his ability to flow through music is like no other. So, I figured, Hey, why not? Why not get him in the mix?

LJN: You were dealing with so much experience, so much import, so many heady concepts. How did you distil it all?

OC: You know, you sit down at a piano and you have a concept in mind.

I had a voice that I could already hear. I knew [guitarist] Dener was going to be on there, and [keyboardist] Harold was going to be on there. I heard their musical voices while I was sitting at the piano, constructing melodies and rhythms. Both of those rhythms are Haitian rhythms.

When you add rhythm to the melody, it brings a certain type of spice to the music. It also helps when you know the people that you’re performing with, and what their gifts are, and you capitalise on it.

LJN: Take me into the textures on 150 Million Gold Francs. Those are partly what drew me.

OC: So, if you take a song like “Sa Pa Fem Anyen,” the first song on the record, you hear my mother’s voice. And suddenly, a little effect begins to work on her voice, with a reverb that merges into the bass. It’s distorted, with some flange on it.

If you really pay attention to the record, these subtle details happen all the time, but they’re not crazy or in your face – with the exception of “Haiti’s Journey,” where it’s clear that there are all types of effects: delays, distortion on the sax, and crazy things happening on the drum [tracks].

LJN: What do you hope people walk away from this album feeling?

OC: Curiosity. Because when you’re curious, you start to do some research. You start to think, OK, well, what did he mean by that? What does this mean? What does this mean?

And then, once you start Googling, it’s going to be a rabbit hole when it comes to the history of Haiti, and why they’re in the position that they’re in today.

LJN: I’ll be down that rabbit hole. I read The New York Times every morning, and I don’t feel like we hear about Haiti too much.

OC: Ask yourself why.

LINKS:

Purchase 150 Million Gold Francs

Obed Calvaire’s website