Before the catastrophic earthquake, Canadian saxophonist and composer Jane Bunnett and her husband, trumpeter Larry Cramer, were scheduled to play the Fourth Annual Haitian Jazz Festival this week.

Bunnett told me in a phone interview this morning that she and her band, Spirits of Havana, were in Barbados at a jazz festival when she heard about the massive earthquake. They returned to their home base of Toronto, and quickly pulled together a fundraiser to help out the ravaged country.

"The Haitian jazz festival was the result of the Haitian government's efforts to bring attention to the rich musical traditions of the country," she told me by phone this morning. "Embassies from around the world paid the way for jazz musicians from their countries to get to the fest and perform for free.

"We were going to spend a week there. Besides performing, we were going to do clinics and workshops at high schools around the country. We were also taking down musical instruments to donate to music schools and community centers."

She said one of her first contacts with Haitian music was through the Cuban/Haitian a capella chorus Grupo Vocal Desandann, whom she and her husband featured in their 2001 film Spirits of Havana. Here's Bunnett performing with Desandann in a program called "Haitian Song, Cuban Soul":

More videos, and more interview, after the jump.

 

Bunnett said she was anxious and excited to learn more about Haitian music and culture, and to get to know more Haitian musicians.

"This would have been the first time I would have explored all of that," she said. "It felt as if I was embarking on something what would open a whole new world. Haiti has been overshadowed by Cuba for a number of reasons. The cultural organizations in Haiti were at the point of calling out, 'Hey, here's Haiti! We exist! We're connected to other cultures through our common African roots!'

"We came back and had to figure out a way to support and help in every way we can. While we feel fortunate that were not there, we also grieve for the many, many people who died there. This is an unthinkable tragedy. And it may sound like a cliche, but sometimes people need music to help them through things like this. And if we can raise money to help we hope it contributes in some small way."

A quick Google search shows the jazz community around the country stepping up with fundraisers in New York, New Jersey and Seattle. What's going on in your community?

Musicians, what's to prevent you from making that weekly hit a mini fundraiser? Drop us a line and let us know what's going in your local jazz scene. And here's the rest of that performance: