In this episode of MFM Speaks Out, Dawoud Kringle interviews Flutist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator, inventor Sylvain Leroux
"I Didn't Look For The Fula Flute; It Came And Got me!"
Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Sylvain Leroux. Sylvian is a flutist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator, inventor, and prominent member of Musicians for Musicians.
Sylvain Leroux grew up in Montreal where he studied classical flute at Vincent d’Indy; and improvisation and composition in New York at the Creative Music Studio where he attended classes by luminaries Don Cherry, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Karl Berger, Cecil Taylor and many others.
A pioneer of African/Jazz collaborations, Sylvain is a foremost player of the Fula flute, the traditional flute from Guinea.
He was selected as “Rising Flute Star” by the Downbeat Magazine Critics’ Poll for many years, achieving the #2 spot in 2019.
As a bandleader, he brought traditional West African music to Zankel Hall with his Fula Flute Ensemble and held the fort for more than a decade at New York City’s Zinc Bar with his African Jazz group Source. His 2002 CD Fula Flute achieved cult status, and stimulated a worldwide interest in the instrument. His 2012 album Quatuor Creole was hailed as “a perfect contemporary music release.”
He curated New York’s “Griot Summits” that featured performances by 25 West African griots from five countries. He has performed and recorded with Emeline Michel, Adam Rudolph, Karl Berger, Hassan Hakmoun, Billy Martin, and many West African stars.
As a maker and seller of Fula flutes around the world, he invented and patented the Qromatica, a Fula flute capable of chromatic functionality. This led him to initiate L'ecole Fula Flute, a music literacy project that graduated many excellent young flutists who are now re-energizing an endangered flute tradition.
Topics discussed:
Sylvain’s studies of classical flute at Vincent d’Indy; and improvisation and composition in New York at the Creative Music Studio under Don Cherry, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Karl Berger, and Cecil Taylor, his time with Adam Rudolph's Orchestra, the jazz and world music Canadian music scene at that time and now, how he became interested in the Fula flute, his band “Source” and their time at New York’s Zinc Bar for over a decade. How the combination of Guinean music and jazz has been accepted among Jazz audiences, his 2002 release Fula Flute and how it was received, his new album Qromatica, why he chose Julia Haines on accordion and harp and Mamadou Ba on bass, his performances at Zankel Hall with the Fula Flute Ensemble and curated New York’s “Griot Summits”, his performances and recordings with Emeline Michel, Adam Rudolph, Karl Berger, Hassan Hakmoun, and some of the West African musicians he played with, how and why he founded music literacy program L'ecole Fula Flute, how Covid affected the people's spirit and economy in Guinea, government support of the arts, his business of making and selling Fula flutes, how he invented and patented the Qromatica, his activities in MFM, the present African/world music scene in NY, the cultural separation between African-American musicians and African musicians, NY's GlobalFest for presenting African bands to the US audience, the Visa fee raise proposal to Congress, and his future plans in the areas of music activism.
Music featured in this episode:
1) Zoe
2) Mane Gauche
3) In Walked Bud
"Zoe" and by Sylvain Leroux, used with permission. "In Walked Bud" composed by Thelonious Monk (EMBASSY MUSIC CORPORATION BMI), performed by Sylvain Leroux.