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Trails of Tears
Trumpeter Jacques Coursil is back with his new cd release, Trails of Tears.
Jacques Coursil on Trails of Tears. Sunnyside Records (Photo: Esther Berelowitsch)
Jacques Coursil was born in Paris in 1938 – his parents were from Fort de France, Martinique – and received his musical and other schooling in the French capital.
In 1965, Coursil went to The United States, where he would remain for ten years. He landed in New York among all the agitation surrounding Civil Rights and the advent of free jazz (new thing), art happenings, protests and Hippies…
For the next decade he had the opportunity to work alongside the greatest musicians in America, both on the jazz scene and in contemporary music. He became a pupil of pianist Jaki Byard, and especially trumpeter Bill Dixon, with whom he went on tour playing duets.
His years in New York were dominated by music and literature, the arts and militant politics, and yet Jacques Coursil discovered other things which to his mind were just as fascinating: notably linguistics and mathematical logic. Slowly he moved away from the music scene and began teaching.
Coursil has since resumed playing in earnest, with his studies as inspiration, and his new music is showcased well on the Sunnside CD, Trails of Tears.
The intent of this powerful recording is to express the emotion of displacement and loss on the Cherokee tribe that was forcibly removed from their native homeland in the 1830s (the trail of tears) and the response from those of African heritage who were enslaved in the territory that the Cherokees were driven from.
The performance is enhanced enhanced by the presence of luminaries fromt he free jazz world, including drummer Sunny Murray, clarinetist Perry Robinson, saxophonist Mark Whitecage, bassist Alan Silva, and pianist Bobby Few. This ensemble performances and Coursil’s inspired trumpet voice makes this cd a moving musical experience.
Out Jan. 25th.
Did You Know? It is widely recognized today that musicians who were active during that “glorious Sixties” period were part of the greatest creative upsurge in jazz music since the bop revolution.