Kismet Cooper, whose stage name is Mila Blue, is a vocalist and jazz student in Humber Polytechnic's bachelor of music program. She said events like Reverberations III showcase and uplift Black artists' talents.
Especially during Black History Month.
She said arranging her piece for the concert, under the mentorship of Jesse Ryan, the director of the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble, allowed her to shine.
The event last Thursday celebrated music that developed through the Black diaspora. The Lakeshore campus concert presented two contrasting genres, American gospel music and Afro-Caribbean jazz. Diaspora refers to the migration and dispersion of people from their homeland. The Humber Gospel Choir combined traditional gospel pieces and new arrangements. The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble explored numerous styles such as calypso and carnival-inspired music,
It’s Ryan’s second year leading the ensemble. On top of teaching music at Humber, he is also an alumnus. He said he wanted to bring innovation to Humber’s jazz scene, which inspired him to start the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble.
“There was a Latin Jazz Ensemble when I was at Humber that featured music from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. But there was no ensemble that featured Caribbean music from the English- and French-speaking Caribbean,” he said.
“I proposed an ensemble like that once I came with the faculty and started last year. The music we play is focused rather on music and composers from the English- and French-speaking Caribbean. So we're looking at both folkloric music from English and French-speaking Caribbean, as well as contemporary composers who come from those traditions and how they intersect with the greater jazz tradition,” Ryan said.
He said the Reverberations III set list is inspired by Toronto Caribana, through Calypso and Reggae and Soka.
“We're also going to be performing to a silent film, so the silent film is going to be the backdrop to our performance because we wanted to enter Afro-Caribbean identities and focus on Caribana, Toronto Caribbean Carnival. We wanted to focus on the imagery that came from the very early years of Caribana, Afro-Caribbean stories and Afro-Caribbean sort of visuals with this performance,” Ryan said.
Linda Wang, a second-year soprano, said the Humber Gospel Choir helped her not only grow as a musician but also as a person through its welcoming and communal environment.
“Gospel, the literal meaning is the good news and I think that's very true for me too. I think it just brings so much positivity and light to any room,” she said.
Mariana Franco-Izquierdo is an alto in the Humber Gospel Choir. She says that as a Catholic, gospel music has allowed her to experience her faith in a new way.
“I always played my Catholic church music, but this is actually my first time singing Black gospel music. It’s the best and still aligns with my beliefs,” Franco-Izquierdo said.
She said that in the spirit of Black History Month, it’s important for musicians to recognize that many genres, such as jazz, originate from the Black diaspora.
“We’re celebrating Black History Month, we sang that song Hymn to Freedom by Oscar Peterson and all about liberation and freedom and peace,” she said. “I think the message it sends is to be inclusive and it's meant to invite you.”
Natalie Stewart, the director of the Humber Gospel Choir, arranged a medley of Hymn to Freedom and We Shall Overcome that was prevalent during the civil rights movement.
“But then I've also tagged an arrangement of We Shall Overcome to that. So we'll be performing that as a nod to Black History, Black History Month and everything that people like Martin Luther King Jr. stood for, you know, like equality among all,” she said.
Stewart said the gospel choir's unique musicianship, which involves learning by rote and embracing a collective faith, sets it apart from other groups.
“Everything is taught by ear. So, there's no sheet music that's given," she said. "The students have to memorize phrasing, they have to memorize vocal and instrumental nuances, they have to memorize rhythm patterns, they have to memorize the lyrics.
“There's this heightened sense of ear training and rhythm and musical intuition that is at play when it comes to the Gospel Ensemble,” Stewart said.
“The second thing I think I would say is probably the difference, or that makes it unique, probably the aspect of hope and faith. And not to say that other (kinds of) music aren't hopeful or filled with faith, but the message that is attached to Gospel music is one that is quite therapeutic,” Stewart said.
Cooper said as a Caribbean person who migrated from her homeland and being a part of the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble, the genre allows her to learn about a variety of styles from different areas of the Caribbean.
“Specifically with Jesse's background because he's from Trinidad we're going to be looking at kind of like Calypso and Calypso 'jazzesque' type of music,” she said. “Like I'm Jamaican, so I'm Caribbean myself, but we don't quite have that sort of genre within Jamaica that that's kind of done on a regular basis.
"So it's been a really good learning experience for me in terms of seeing how both cultures can kind of marry and create something really incredible,” Cooper said.
A highlight of the ensemble’s set list was Cooper’s original song, Slow Wine, the story of two people dancing at a carnival. She wrote the melody and, with Ryan’s assistance, put together the chord structure.
“In terms of what the ensemble is doing, it's looking more at carnivals specifically in terms of how that operates in Toronto and the tradition of that for generations. And it was celebrating just, you know, the party aspect, the big fanfare,” she said.
"Sometimes people don't think about is that there is that big fanfare, but there can be quite a lot of intimacy, which I think is really beautiful. Afro-Caribbean jazz, it has such like a rich history, especially in Toronto,” Cooper said.
