Haiti Music Video > Newsletter > Mozayik Jazz Band

Gashford Guillaume and the Afro-Haitian jazz band, Mozayik, summer's Jazz Up in Stamford

August 17, 2013 9:14 AM

The bank Mozayik, a name that is the Creole spelling for the word mosaic, is as infused and made up of seemingly discordant elements in the Afro-Haitian jazz they perform, as the name would suggest. The band and their sound came into being through regularly held jam sessions where Gashford Guillaume and Eddy Bourjolly took to experimenting with mixing Creole and Haitian sounds with other musical influences. The result was a music that has been described as taking jazz today in the same direction as did Dizzy Gillespie in the '40's.Today, their hard work, and a little bit of fate have propelled them to their most propitious height to date.

Mozayik Performs in the LP Studio:

More music videos from Mozayik..........

Guillaume, the band's drummer and founding member, grew up in the U.S. with legendary jazz pianist Chick Chorea as a personal influence. Though physically far from Haiti, he allowed the color of the music from his Caribbean mother-land to influence his playing and produced with his band members, also including electric bass player, Gene Torres, a sound distinctive and attention-grabbing enough that it has won them a spot opening for Guillaume's influence at the Jazz Up summer music series held in Stamford.

Mozayik Live @ Stamford Center for the Arts:

Some of the best music videos from Mozayik

Having entered with no expectations, Mozayik, with two albums under their belt and a third on the way, were giving uncommon validation and joy in being asked to share their music, old and brand new with a most discerning crowd on one of the summer's most important stages.

Afro-Haitian Jazz quintet Mozayik Live in Haiti - "Nago Wes"