N A H W 6

It's truly a marvel the impact that travel, locale, and hallucinogenic drugs can have on talented young musicians. The Navarros were a band from the sleepy town of Medford, Oregon, specializing in R&B and surf material, who decided to pay a visit to San Francisco in the summer of 1967. While they only planned to hang out for a few days, they ended up diving head first into the local hippie scene, and leader Rick Bolz started a new band with a handful of local players who shared his new taste for psychedelia. He called the band Neighb'rhood Childr'n, and their sole album, released in 1968, suggests a mid-point between classic San Francisco psychedelic rock and the poppier constructs of acts like the Turtles and the Beau Brummels…

Josef (1827-1870), Johann (1804-1849), Johann Jr (1825-1899) Strauss. Strauss is the name of a legendary Austrian family dynasty that has produced several waltz composers and outstanding band masters, and one of the members also wrote well-known operettas.

Courtney Pine was initially a Coltrane sound-alike, but he began to bring soul jazz, reggae, and other musical genres to the mix with his 1992 album Closer to Home, which made use of his background touring with such reggae bands as Clint Eastwood & General Saint. Since then he has eagerly brought hip-hop elements into his work, performing live with a DJ in addition to his usual combo. His 1996 album, Modern Day Jazz Stories featured DJ Pongo on turntables as well as DJ Sparki on hardware/samples. Using an Apple Mac with Logic Audio software and Pro Tools, Pine generates loops as well as multiple flute and sax parts and combines them with studio techniques that include filtering and pitch-shifting, Pine was able to create the most convincing combination of mainstream jazz and electronica/DJ culture. This combination of jazz fusion and hip-hop has sometimes been dubbed “Trip Jazz.” The DJs function very much as part of the band, throwing ideas at the players and responding to their playing much the way a percussionist might do.

Roger Biwandu est né à Bordeaux en 1972 de parents Congolais ( du Congo Kinshasa). Enfant, il a été influencé par la musique de ses sœurs qui écoutaient du rock blanc (Police, Toto). Il a pris les baguettes dès la fin des années 70 pour ne plus les lâcher depuis jouant aussi bien dun Funk, du Jazz, de la Pop, de la musique africaine, bref toutes musiques où la batterie est indispensable.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Café is a series of nu-jazz compilations distributed by Wagram Music. Its name evokes the cafés of the area in Paris associated with the existentialism movement.