Jazz

Giveton Gelin, Island Dreamer: III of III: A Trumpeter’s Love Letter to the Bahamas

My first impression after listening to this album for the first time? Giveton Gelin id a young lion with an island in his horn! Born in Nassau, in the Bahamas, to Haitian parents, he still sounds like someone from both places. Now 27, he lives in New York and is a Juilliard graduate. In 2021 he was already described as a “rising star”, and he now has a place among the young trumpeters carrying the jazz tradition forward. Wynton Marsalis has praised his intellect and intensity. Roy Hargrove, who mentored him, said he is one of the few players who truly sings through the horn.

Island Dreamer: III of III is a tribute to the Bahamas, but not in the postcard sense. The islands are present as memory, mourning, humour and pride, and the music has the swing of jazz with Caribbean rhythms underneath.

The story starts early. Young Giveton began music at five in his father’s church and took up the trumpet at ten. He taught himself by copying his favourite records, with little around him in the Bahamas to show him the way. The turning point came when he heard the bassist Adrian D’Aguilar play live and realised there was a place for jazz at home. D’Aguilar became his mentor, and this album honours him, so the circle closes.

Gelin has said that Roy Hargrove was one of the trumpeters he listened to from the start, and that they shared a background, since Hargrove also grew up in church. Hargrove’s playing, he said, has soul, sophistication, style and beauty. You can hear those four words again on this record. Gelin has also remarked that conversations with Marsalis are rarely about the trumpet and almost always about ideas. That explains why this album is conceived as a story rather than as a collection of tunes.

His Debut, True Design (2020), was made with his Juilliard classmates and also awarded the 2020 LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award and ASCAP’s Herb Alpert Award. This new album unfolds as a continuous story rather than a playlist. Giveton Gelin plays trumpet and keyboards, his brother Giveson Gelin is on drums, the bassists are Mats Sandahl and Adrian D’Aguilar, the pianists are Esteban Castro, Micah Thomas and Jon Batiste, Neil Symonette is on percussion, Cosmo Lieberman adds saxophone and the voices belong to Karrington McKenzie (lead), with Almika Cates, Stanesha Deligonee and Dorrica Vanessa.

The record begins with Hurricane Dorian (a moment of silence), a short and solemn tribute to the storm that devastated parts of the Bahamas. This sets a tone of respect and remembrance, ensuring that nothing is forgotten. The lamentations of Giveton’s trumpet, supported by a piano with notes that are at once hesitant and assertive, will leave no one indifferent.

Then comes Blue Hole (III of III Cut), one of the most striking pieces. It honours the vast underwater sinkholes of the Bahamas, and Gelin’s calm trumpet and layered percussion trace a slow descent. The light, the sea and the landscape are all felt, but not as decoration. They form an atmosphere that shapes how Giveton listens to the world. Here, the trumpet makes it clear that the Bahamas are not a theme for tourists, but an invitation to respect nature.

When You Cry I Cry (Footprints)/Theme B reinterprets Footprints (When You Cry), the 2005 hit by Kingston dancehall group T.O.K. The original tells of a mother mourning a son shot dead on a trip to the grocery store. Gelin’s version is anthemic and moving, and it will stir nostalgia in many listeners.

Moun Lakay takes its title from Haitian Creole and can be read as “people from home”. It acknowledges the Haitian half of Gelin’s heritage while Get Loose (Lucy)/Theme A brings movement and lightness. Two brief voice notes give this album a human warmth rarely heard in jazz records: Roy Hargrove – Level II and Wynton Marsalis – Level III are messages from the trumpeter’s mentors, and the series is completed by D’Aguilar. They work like signposts: a young musician pausing to remember who taught him. A glance, a tribute, a moment of respect evoked by the trumpet with undisguised emotion.

I Solemnly Swear to Live is a quiet vow to live a life worth living, with Jon Batiste providing intimate piano accompaniment. It is one of the most affecting moments, and it shows how Gelin can say a great deal with few notes.

Dreamland and We Speak keep the tension between reflection and conversation while Take a Bow is Gelin’s instrumental take on Rihanna’s global hit, chosen because of the Caribbean connection with the Barbadian star. It has become his show-closer and played on trumpet it becomes emotive and very direct.

Eargasm and Ancestry are the album’s longest tracks, which gives the band room to stretch out. Place of Eternity is a brief pause before Fighting Spirit Blues the magnificent closing piece. A title like that fits the album’s message about overcoming adversity, and the blues is where Gelin ends his story.

This album defies easy categorization, yet it has a very distinct coherence. Gelin’s world is instantly recognisable even when shaped by a multitude of influences: bebop and church, dancehall and Rihanna, Haitian folk heritage and Juilliard discipline. Alongside this there is an element of the unexpected, a vital energy that reminds us that jazz remains a music of movement and risk.

Gelin has said the album is for everyone willing to open themselves to a story about adversity and overcoming it. I think that is right, and it is why the record travels well. You do not need to know a Bahamian blue hole or a T.O.K. hit to feel what is being said. Above all, the record reflects what seems to be the thread running through Gelin’s whole journey: an absolute faith in the power of music, and in its ability to turn the act of playing an instrument into something that lasts.

Island Dreamer: III of III is generous, personal and ambitious. It combines the sound of a trumpeter who sings through his horn with a clear storyteller’s sense of structure. A great album.

Frankie Pfeiffer
Editor in chief – PARIS-MOVE

PARIS-MOVE, October 8th, 2026

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Tracklisting:

1. Hurricane Dorian (a moment of silence) – 1:39
2. Blue Hole (III of III Cut) – 6:32
3. When You Cry I Cry (Footprints)/Theme B – 3:50
4. Moun Lakay – 5:07
5. Get Loose (Lucy)/Theme A – 3:14
6. Roy Hargrove – Level II – 1:18
7. I Solemnly Swear to Live – 4:06
8. Dreamland – 4:46
9. We Speak – 3:44
10. Take a Bow – 5:04
11. Wynton Marsalis – Level III – 0:27
12. Eargasm – 7:53
13. Ancestry – 7:38
14. Place of Eternity – 1:59
15. Fighting Spirit Blues – 8:12

Musicians:
Giveton Gelin – Trumpet, Keyboards, Synths, Piano
Giveson Gelin – Drums
Esteban Castro – Piano, Synths
Adrian D’Aguilar – Bass
Cosmo Lieberman – Sax
Neil Symonette – Percussions
Jon Batiste – Piano
Mathis Picard – Piano
Micah Thomas – Piano
Mats Sandahl – Bass
Jeremiah Edwards – Bass
Kyle Benford – Drums
Leslie Smith – Drums
Danielle Lee – Vocals
Karrington McKenzie – Vocals
Dorrica Vanessa – Vocals
Stanesha Deligonee – Vocals
Almika Cates – Vocals

Credits:
Executive producer: Giveton Gelin.