Never Look Back: Brownman Ali and jazz life in Toronto

Brownman relaxing at his studio in Toronto. Photo by Monika Godomska

A couple months ago, I reached out to Brownman Ali, Trinidad-born trumpeter working out of Toronto, and here for a couple dates with Sean Thomas and BJ Saunders, to discuss Toronto and its jazz scene. I got no response until just yesterday evening, Friday 12 April. Coincidentally, my column on the subject came out in the Trinidad Guardian on that morning titled "Canada a haven for Caribbean musicians."

I've tried to gauge the impact Caribbean artists have had in and on the Toronto music scene. I interviewed a number of artists from Trinidad resident in Toronto over a year in a number of genres including jazz. Brownman would have been the last. The conclusion arrived at, before this new interview, was that T&T artists and their native music were having a difficult time manoeuvring the Canadian music scene to a threshold that revenue streams were sustainable. In other words, a lot of them were not making that critical impact via radio airplay and CD sales—important for global exposure—beyond anything they had when they were here, relatively speaking. Toronto is no mecca for success for the few who have gone, as implied otherwise by the newspaper headline. Shazelle, singing pop is intriguing as a case study for what is now a new phenomenon by international talent scouts and labels: come to the Caribbean, find a beautiful girl and market them as pop singers (or rappers) leaving their exotic accent to tell their story. Worked for Rihanna!

I choose today to let Brownman's statement stand by itself to allow us to understand the perspective of this immigrant—or more correctly the child of an immigrant—who has not followed the path of official multiculturalism, but like Neil Bissoondath, who on the advice of his uncle VS Naipaul, chose to "go beyond the confines of cultural heritage." One senses that Brownman, who also migrated more than half a lifetime ago, has a similar sentiment regarding Trinidad to that written in Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada by Bissoondath : "I have no emotional attachment left...I miss nothing, am prey to no nostalgia."

Not so cool in the Great White North: Toronto and the Caribbean Jazz experience¹

Over the Carnival season recently ended, a couple Trini expat jazz musicians resident in the Great White North of Canada, Toronto to be exact, returned home for sustenance, vacation, and creative idyll. Anthony Pierre founder of Caribbean jazz outfit Kalabash and Brownman [Ali], multiple award winning and exalted trumpeter informally pressed the flesh with local musicians and fans, both outlining their plans for 2013. Their common experience in Toronto is one that can set a template for our musicians who seek favour in the big world abroad beyond the Caribbean diaspora cities.

Kalabash featuring Anthony Pierre has just finished recording a new CD—its second in 12 years—and is shopping it around to the summer jazz festival promoters as it seeks to get back into the active jazz performance scene after a quiet 2012. Brownman is the epitome of a busy musician performing close to 200 dates per year when not also teaching and doing workshops. He recently returned to TT after Carnival to perform 2 small gigs with top jazz drummer Sean Thomas and bassist BJ Saunders as a trio exploring modern electric jazz originally defined by Miles Davis after his Bitches Brew period. (Full Disclosure: This writer is a producer of the annual Jazz Artists on the Greens, and both Kalabash and Brownman have been featured artists there.)

Their return led to questions of the sustainability of a music career outside of this space, especially a jazz music career. Toronto, for all it’s worth, seems to be a haven for the Caribbean migrant seeking fortune in the creative industries. Caribbean born authors have found commercial and literary success there. Canada has been described in recent times as post-ethnic and trans-cultural, so the idea that Caribbean-born musicians playing jazz influenced by their homelands to an eager market there is not unreal. It is a more open market than the introverted and prescribed US, which is genre-defined and has restricts music with jargon terms such as world fusion jazz, ethnic jazz or non-Western jazz.