Welfare worker and bassist Vincent Henar started the Surinam / Dutch group Fra Fra Sound in a Bijlmers youth center in the early eighties. By mixing traditional Surinamese styles such as kaseko, winti and kawina with modal jazz and bebop, a unique sound was soon created. The ten-year anniversary of this group was celebrated in 1993 with an expansion into Big Band, a tradition that has since been
… picked up regularly with With The Spirit Of Life as its third feat twenty years later. This can best be described as a big party for a twenty-piece big band. A lively Afro-Caribbean journey, without for a moment superficial or carnivalesque. The music is too intense for the latter: tight and swinging, with many massive themes from the brass section and strong solos from practically all members. The album was recorded live, which only enhances the exuberant atmosphere that almost radiates from the disc. (MR)more
