Mini-jazz

Mini-jazz (mini-djaz) is a type of jazz music characterized by swing dancing and jazzy melodies with influences from rock music.

History

The Mini jazz movement started in the mid-1960s, small bands called mini-djaz (which grew out of Haiti’s light rock and roll yeye bands of the early 1960s) played kompa featuring paired electric guitars, electric bass, drumset and other percussion, often with a saxophone. This trend, launched by Shleu Shleu after 1965, came to include a number of groups from Port-au-Prince neighbourhoods, especially the suburb of Pétion-Ville. Tabou Combo, Les Difficiles, Les Loups Noirs, Frères DéJean, Les Fantaisistes de Carrefour, Bossa Combo and Les Ambassadeurs (among others) formed the core of this middle-class popular music movement.

In the mid-1970s, when the sounds of the antillian bands such as les Aiglons, Grammacks, Les Vikings and later kassav in the 80's started hitting the airwave and the haitian youth loved it. It was a serious call for the mini-jazz bands. As a result, Many mini-jazz started to do a make-over by adding full-horn section and synthesizers. Predominant in Haiti in the 1970s, its popularity has waned since the 1990s. Toto Laraque is a major artist in the mini-jazz era. Mini-jazz typically includes a small jazz orchestra ensemble.