Or Read here:
"Chantal Esdelle, a Berklee College of Music graduate, holds an important place among jazz musicians here, as she is one of, if not the only female band leader who is a renowned pianist in this island. She is part of a lineage that would probably include Winifred Atwell and tangentially Hazel Scott. Unlike those two artistes, Esdelle has been able to mine the musical influences of Trinidad and in a deeper sense, Africa and the African diaspora in the New World for her compositions. Further, unlike Atwell and Scott, Esdelle has a body of original compositions on her two CD releases that now place her ahead of a number of jazz luminaries in the islands who still balk at releasing original music, thus diluting the well of local copyrights to be exploited by the world..."
The above quoted epigraph was from an aborted review of the CD launch event for Imbizo Moyenne. the new CD from Chantal Esdelle and Moyenne, back in May 2013. The sentiment, however, is an absolute truth. There is no denying that Esdelle, and by extension Moyenne deserve to be heard, more so in our context as a burgeoning music industry. Time has allowed the disappointment of that release event to be replaced with the joy in heralding this new music. Out now in CD format to supplement the digital version already available in limited release, this simply packaged CD fills a yawning gap in the canon of locally-released jazz music.
