Blues to Green

On August 14, 2021, jazz trumpeter and composer Etienne Charles & Creole Soul will perform at the 8th annual Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival, a day-long free music festival in downtown Springfield, MA. The ensemble will perform contemporary jazz shaped by the traditional sounds of Etienne's native Trinidad. Etienne and his fellow Puerto Rican and Haitian-American musicians will play jazz through a creole lens-- highlighting the African and Caribbean roots of the music. The day before, Etienne will conduct an outreach program about Carnival in Trinidad, which will draw a connection between Caribbean and African American traditions, and a connection between Caribbean music and jazz.