Jean Jean Roosevelt is no newcomer to the music world. He’s been touring for nearly 20 years, opening for Youssou N’Dour at Bercy (France), winning a TV5 Monde award and releasing seven albums before this one, Libres ensemble (Free Together). After years of packing his suitcases, he chose Montreal as his home port, and this is something of a product of that ‘acclimatization’, in the form of a resolutely folk-pop album, with familiar but catchy riffs and melodies. Roosevelt brings in other musicians to provide a colourful backdrop of piano, violin, guitar and saxophone. The sunny traditional but modernized Haitian rhythms take us on a gentle voyage, inviting us to reflect on universal issues (living together, war, hatred, love) in simple, straightforward poetry. Libres ensemble doesn’t break any mould, but it does provide a soundtrack to the first few days of summer coming up.
