Performances
- Saint John Coltrane Church. August 6, 2021. San Francisco, CA
- Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International. August 8, 2021. Phoenix, AZ
- Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International. August 10, 2021. Tucson, AZ
- Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International. August 11, 2021. Albuquerque, NM
- Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International. August 12, 2021. Albuquerque, NM
- Jazz Aspen Snowmass. August 15, 2021. Aspen, CO
About the Artist
It is the brainchild of composer, guitarist, vocalist Pascal Bokar. His music is an innovative fusion of textures and styles drawing from multiple traditional musical styles. West African rhythms, melodies and percussion fused with Bluegrass, Jazz, R&B and Gospel. A celebratory infectious groove fed delightfully by the West African balafon (ancestor of the marimba) sabar drum, banjo and fiddle combined with high velocity bebop scat guitar, drums, bass, vocals and two keyboards. This high energy band fuels the stomp/clap percussion of a gospel choir and the intensity of its musical conviction drives the listeners to uncontrollable dancing and participation. All this accompanied by richly harmonized vocals.
Pascal Bokar, what the composer says about the Afro Blue Grazz Project;
“My compositional approach was to create something different but familiar at the same time, a balanced and coherent musical synthesis of the organic sonic landscape of the rhythmic, harmonic and melodic American experience… My music is an expression of the unique richness of our collective American socio-cultural experience celebrating its diversity while contemplating the actuality of our collective humanity…I truly believe in the universality principle of music and I wanted to create an authentic medium that would reflect its harmonic, melodic and rhythmic socio-cultural expression…but as the Father of Rock’n’Roll, the Great Chuck Berry said “there is nothing new under the Sun.“