Some of the songs were a little tricky to play, the first song “Initiation” being one of them.
There are 30 different instruments being played on this album You feel as though you’ve been on an expedition without leaving your own home when listening to the album. Mashing stylistic boundaries, the creatively adventurous group has shaped a montage of Afro, Latin, reggae and hip-hop grooves that showcase their diversity. The innovative nature of The Souljazz Orchestra has culminated in Inner Fire. You’d be hard pressed, I think, to find anything in Africa or Latin America or in Canada that sounds exactly like what we’re doing.” We want to keep the music unique and relevant to us. Whatever Afro-Latin Caribbean influences there might be it’s more to fuel our own creativity and our own compositions. Says Pierre: “We’re always about innovation. Souljazz is not about preserving a particular style or tradition. What you hear today does contain vestiges of the sound that was part of who they were at that point and so much more. Today according to Pierre they are like a big family, for good or for bad.
We never had big aspirations, and it just kind of took off.” The fuse had been lit. We just started jamming out for fun, that’s how it started. “Ray played in different Caribbean groups and Phil had gotten back from Cuba where he studied Afro-Cuban percussion in Havana. “I had just played in a Nigerian pop group and had played in a Malagasy jazz band,” says Pierre. They started out as friends hanging out at the same places in Ottawa and just through talking found they had a lot in common musically. Pierre says the time has gone by quickly. Inner Fire, the bands sixth album, has been burning up charts and will be lighting up festivals this summer. Twelve years, six albums, two Juno nominations and relentless touring throughout the world have melded the group into a tight, high-voltage, party machine that is known for their live shows. This Ottawa based collective of six features Pierre Chretien – vintage keyboards, percussion, vocals, Marielle Rivard – percussion, vocals, Ray Murray – baritone sax, percussion, vocals, Philippe Lafreniere – drums, percussion, vocals, Steve Patterson – tenor sax, percussion, vocals, and Zakari Frants – alto sax, flute percussion, vocals. The Souljazz Orchestra are connoisseurs and purveyors of some of the funkiest, soul-jazz, Afro-Latin driven, and Caribbean rhythms you’ll hear anywhere. What do a harp and a goat hoof rattle have in common? They are all part of the accelerant The Souljazz Orchestra use to stoke their Inner Fire Stoking the Fire with The Souljazz Orchestra