A huge amount of work from a reedman we'd never heard before – Martinique-born Alexandre Stellio – a hell of a clarinet player, and one who effortlessly weaves together island rhythms and early strands of jazz! All of the recordings here were done in Paris during the mid 30s, and provide a great illustration of the way that the crumbling French colonial empire was allowing all sorts of unusual criss-crossing in sound – in this case, the already-strong Parisian love of jazz mixed with the influence of new phrasings, colors, and rhythms from the French Caribbean – very much in the spirit that would soon become known as biguine! Stellio recorded a surprising amount of music during these years – and the set brings together every session with detailed notes and excellent sound – recordings that are all awash with his amazingly deft, edgey reed lines over romping rhythms, piano, and guitar – the last of which has some slight echoes of Parisian swing. 85 tracks in all – and notes in French and English! CD

An overstuffed package of classic work from the Caribbean – most of it from midcentury, at a time before reggae and other styles would bring even more exposure to the scene! The music here is in a nice mix of modes – separate by island identity, but drawn together in a good way by the package, and given more detail in the large booklet of notes – which features details in both English and French. Styles run the gamut from mambo to voodoo, biguine to goombay, calypso to cha cha, and lots more in between – with a total of 48 cuts by artists who include Compay Segundo, Facundo Rivera, Dioris Vallardes, Luis Quintero, Joe Harriott, Ruben McCoy, Theophilus Beckford, Sidney Bean, Josephine Premice, The Mighty Terror, Blind Blake, Cout Ossie, Cecil Lloyd, Mongo Santamaria, Henri Salvador, and many others! CD