Ahead of Her Time

March is National Women’s History Month! We’ll be sharing stories about some of the most accomplished women in jazz, both nationally and locally. We hope you enjoy this tribute to the women of jazz. 

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Imagine this unlikely scenario: an isolated log cabin deep in the Canadian woods, surrounded by snow, but inside sits a roaring fire and a jazz artist writing music for Cuba. The cold inspires the heat. The yin and the yang. Jazz musician Jane Bunnett can’t explain it, but it’s been the juxtaposition of her creative life.

Bunnett was born in 1956 in Toronto and began her musical career as a classical pianist but, at the age of 20 she switched to jazz, learning to play the flute and the soprano sax. She was drawn to the sounds of Latin jazz and soon began to travel to Cuba. Nicknamed “Havana Jane,” she is known for blending the sounds of Afro-Cuban music, as well as soul and jazz.  She says it’s Cuba’s unique spirit that keeps her coming back. “ In Cuba, there’s so much music happening and a lot of the time it’s of a collaborative nature; I always imagine it’s like 52nd Street in its heyday,” she explains. “When I go there I feel that I’m surrounded by a lot of creative energy. There’s an enthusiasm about embracing the arts, and music is primary to everybody’s lives there, even people who aren’t musicians.

Bunnett has become a tireless advocate for Cuban jazz and her efforts have been awarded. In 2004, she was named and an Officer of the Order of Canada, in 2006 she received an honorary doctorate degree from Canada’s Queen’s University. She was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album for “Cuban Odyssey” and awarded Juno’s for her albums “Radio Guantanamo Blues” (2006) and “Embracing Voices”  (2009).

This week, President Obama traveled to Cuba with great fanfare about the re-opening of relations between our two countries. But for “Havana Jane” this merely marked the next step in her long love affair with Cuba. She has recently started a new sextet called “Maqueque,” featuring Cuba’s newest female musicians. Now that Cuba’s going mainstream, let’s hope “Maqueque” – and its fearless leader, Jane Bunnett – get the recognition they so richly deserve!