Soko

Though guitarist-composer Jean-Jacques Rojer resides in Amsterdam, just 50km from where he graduated with a music degree in 2003 from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, his heart remains nearly 8,000km away in the tiny Dutch island country of Curacao in the southern Caribbean Sea.

It is home for Rojer and where he absorbed the indigenous African- rooted rhythms of tumba, danza, tambu and seu as well as the local muzik di zumbi style. Descending from a long line of acclaimed Curacaoan musicians, it was probably a fait accompli that Jean-Jacques would follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. But the versatile and talented musician ended up forging his own unique path on the road to 'Soko', his exciting Afro-Curacaoan jazz project and third recording as a leader.

With producer Brian Bacchus pulling together an all-star crew of veteran Nuyorican bassist John Benitez (Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Ray Baretto, Pedrito Martinez), vibraphonist Warren Wolf (an esteemed composer and bandleader in his own right and longtime member of Christian McBride's Inside Straight), percussionist and Curacao native Pernell Saturnino (Chick Corea, Paquito D'Rivera, David Sanchez) and the great Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums, Rojer had his ideal mix of musicians for this stimulating cross-pollination project.