ESSA EL SAIEH Signed Photo ~ Haitian Band Leader

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ISSA EL SAIEH Autographed photo. Measures 8 x 10 inches with some wear to corners. An unusual find. 1940s and 50s Haitian bandleader, clarinetist Issa El Saieh's diverse influences included Bebo Valdez (who plays on this recording) and Bud Johnson. Blending the Cuban, jazz and Afro-Creole flavors, this orchesta has produced some lovely dance music. The legendary orchestra leader and gallery owner Issa El Saieh has passed away in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at the age of 85. He leaves his two children Manno and Babette and three grandchildren. The family of Issa El Saieh originally came from Bethlehem. It had arrived in Haiti via New York some time at the beginning of the twentieth century, and its members dedicated themselves to business, with great success. Issa's half brother Élias Noustas founded the first department store in Haiti: La Belle Créole. Issa became a legend in his own life time, in two ways. During the 1940s and 1950s he had a big band that created a new school in Haitian music, The band played a mixture of Haitian music, jazz and Afro-Cuban, and cut a number of records on Issa's own label, named La Belle Créole as well. Issa had been to school in the United States, and later he would take music lessons in New York from Eddie Barefield, Walter 'Foots' Thomas, Andy Brown and Budd Johnson. He played tenor sax and clarinet but never took any solos. Issa was more of an organizer and an arranger who would regularly bring such great musicians as Budd Johnson and Billy Taylor to play with the band. The orchestra became a nursery for musicians and singers who would eventually be among the most well-known in Haiti, like the alto sax Raoul Guillaume, the singers Guy Durosier and Joe Trouillot, and the drummer Ti Marcel, who compared with Ti Roro, known for his cooperation with Katherine Dunham. (He also played with the band from time to time.) During the 1950s Issa also opened his art gallery, without the shadow of a doubt the most famous one in the country, described in all guide books. He was a unique talent spotter who discovered and hired a large number of the great Haitian naïves: Jacques Enguérrand Gourgue, André Pierre, André Normil, Jacques Chéry, Seymour Bottex, Alexandre Grégoire and dozens of others. His prices were always reasonable, he never dickered, that was for tourists, and he always left you time to pay, if necessary. His own collection of Haitian art is the best one in the world. For some years around 1960 Issa also manged the Grand Hôtel Oloffson. T he met Graham Greene, and sure enough he is to be found in The Comedians, as Hamit, the 'Syrian', who is murdered and who knew 'as many intimate things as a prostitute's dog'. Issa had himself experienced Papa Doc's regime of fear when in the mid-sixties he was thrown into the notorious Fort Dimanche. It was a total of one month in different jails for some made-up crime before he was back out again. The Galerie Issa for may years was a gathering place in Port-au-Prince. Issa rarely left his house. He did not have to, because people came to him instead. It was always fun, and you could be certain that something happened and that you always met someone; artists, journalists, some minister and more or less corny tourists who could never quite figure out whether what Issa told them was serious or not. It was like a day at the race track with the Marx brothers. Issa's last years were darkened by Alzheimer and a weakening memory, but the illness never managed to grip him completely. He was a formidable institution, personally completely without pretension, full of stories, and he knew everybody. One of us met Issa for the first time at the beginning of the 1940s, the other one in 1969. Now, he is gone. An epoch has come to an end. It will never be as much fun again to go to Haiti in the future. THE BUYER WILL PAY $3.00 FOR SHIPPING. PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS. read more

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