Awesome Interviews – Jermaine St.Omer (Saint O)

Jermaine St.Omer is a busy guy, he is the Bandleader, Musical director, and the Creative director for  the band Saint O. Thankfully we were able to pull him away from his schedule for a quick chat about what is going on in his exciting world.  Read the complete interview here:

 AC – Hello, thanks for taking the time to chat with me. Take a second to introduce yourself.

Jermaine – My name is Jermaine St.Omer and I’m the band leader of the musical group SAINT “O” whose musical genre is “Afro Caribbean Jazz/World music”

AC – Who were your musical influences growing up?

Jermaine – Growing up on the Caribbean island of St.Lucia my influences were mainly from the Caribbean diaspora which was predominantly reggae and calypso,however,I began at an early age to appreciate the music coming from other parts of the world especially jazz music. So I would say precisely my musical influences were Bob Marley,Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Earth Wind & Fire, and of course the Motown era of funk, pop and soul music.

AC – What makes your music unique and different from everything else that’s out there?

Jermaine – What makes my music different from other genres is the combination or the fusion of jazz with the Caribbean rhythms,making it a fine stew that will heighten your senses.You will get up and dance because of the Caribbean rhythms, but you will also appreciate the jazz solos and chord structure of the jazz idiom.

AC – How has Canada influenced you and your sound?

Canada’s influence has been minimal,however the Canadian audiences have embraced our sound,and the Canadian people are turning out to be the best audiences we have performed for. They are very appreciative and expressive, and get up and dance as soon as we begin to perform.

AC – Do you have anything coming up we can look forward to?

Jermaine – We are scheduled to perform at the Mod club for the semi-finals in a competition hosted by Landmark, where in attendance will be industry personel and record company executives from Warner,Universal Milagro,Sony and many other music professionals.The event is on November 22/2015.

AC – How can our readers get in touch with you?

Jermaine – We can be contacted through Facebook:  www.facebook.com/saintomusic or on our web site  saintocaribbeanjazz.com

AC – Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

Jermaine – We are currently negotiating an international tour to Suriname, french Guyana and Aruba,and should be hosting our first concert where we will be performing our original music. We are currently in the recording studio  putting the finishing touches to our upcoming CD which we hope to release in the spring of 2016. Look out for this fantastic band for the 2016 jazz season in Toronto, we would really appreciate your support, so send us your social media info so we can update you on what’s happening with us.