Jacques Schwarz-Bart (born December 22, 1962 in Les Abymes) is a
New York based jazz saxophonist. His mother is the Guadeloupean
novelist Simone Schwarz-Bart, author of The Bridge of Beyond. His
father was French Jewish author André Schwarz-Bart. The
two published a joint novel, Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes,
in 1967. The family traveled widely, living in Senegal, Switzerland,
and Goyave, Guadeloupe. Jacques Schwarz-Bart is dubbed "Brother
Jacques" and his music has incorporated rhythm and blues as
well as hip hop influences.
His musical path is atypical. At age four, he was offered a Gwoka
drum, and Anzala (one of the all time greats along with Velo and
Carnot), showed him how to play the seven fundamental rhythms -Toumblak,
Graj, Lewoz, Kalagya, Padjanbel, Mende, Woulé.
At age six, while living in Switzerland, he discovers Jazz music
through his best friend’s dad record collection. Fascinated,
he self teaches the guitar by playing along with records. By age
eleven, he sat in with the players of the local Lausanne scene, but
soon after, his family relocated in Guadeloupe. There, without a
jazz scene, he concentrated on his studies, most notably at the prestigious
School of Government called Sciences Po, and eventually landed a
job as a Senator’s assistant in Paris. At twenty-four he appeared
poised for a more conventional success, until by chance he tried
a friend's tenor saxophone. He practiced between his long hours at
the Senate, and three years later, he abandoned his nascent career
to attend Berklee School of Music.
After a grueling practice schedule that spanned four years, he graduated
from Berklee, and developed a reputation by playing with acknowledged
leaders of the Boston jazz scene, such Danilo Perez, Bob Moses, Giovanni
Hidalgo, before leaving for New York City. One week upon arriving
there, goes to hear Chucho Valdes, Roy Hargrove and Randy Brecker
perform at Bradlee’s Jazz Club. In a moment of boldness, he
pulls out his horn, jumps on stage and joins in. One month later,
he gets a call from Roy Hargrove to replace David Sanchez in his
Latin Jazz band, Crisol. By early 2000, he earns his nickname, "Brother
Jacques," from musician D'Angelo, in praise of Schwarz-Bart's
musicianship. In addition to Hargrove and D'Angelo, Schwarz-Bart
has done session work and performed live with Erykah Badu, Eric Benet,
Meshell N’degeocello, James Hurt, Danilo Perez, Soulive, Ari
Hoenig and David Gilmore, among others. His tune “Forget Regret” was
the single on Roy Hargrove’s 2003 album Hard Groove.
Jacques Schwarz-Bart has produced several personal projects. After
a straight ahead CD entitled Immersion, comes The Brother Jacques
Project: a mixture of soul and jazz, with layers of Caribbean rhythms,
featuring the vocalist Stephanie McKay. With his 2007 album on Universal,
Soné Ka-La,Jacques Schwarz-Bart is one of the first musicians
to fully explore the connection between Gwoka and jazz, two musical
styles of the African Diaspora. The project features musicians such
as Admiral T and Jacob Desvarieux of Kassav'. It is his oldest project,
and yet the one that took the longest to achieve.