Since 1977, COOL BREEZE™ has been on the cutting edge of World Music, playing what they call "New Orleans Tropical", an inimitable potent blend of Caribbean, Latin, and African musics with a New Orleans sensibility and lyrics primarily in English. Three of the five founding members remain with the band today, and most of the 20 current members have been with the group since 1979 while the repertoire has blossomed to well over 100 original compositions.

As COOL BREEZE™ has matured, it has expanded to feature a classic male vocal quintet; a powerful and dynamic 6-piece horn section; and a lush 9-piece rhythm and percussion section. They conjure up infectious melodies, vivid lyrics marbled with the exceptionally well-turned phrase, and the type of wry observations about contemporary life present in only the best music in the world. Music that is the life's blood of society and culture, as well as serving as the bulletin board; the newspaper; the love letters; the foundation of ritual; and the relief from life's hardships.

As Tom Cheyney noted in The BEAT Magazine: "Few other globally influenced bands have blazed such a progressive path (as) tropical big-band COOL BREEZE™".

The first-ever COOL BREEZE™ release in the U.S., entitled "New Orleans Tropical", is a career retrospective designed to introduce the band to a wider audience and it is the first in a schedule of CD re-releases of all their recordings as well as new material. Eventually their entire repertoire of over 100 songs will be released on CD. As this release was being prepared, it was discovered that all the master tapes had begun to disintegrate and were unplayable. Extensive restoration was then undertaken. Not all the original tracks were salvageable, and a good deal of new recording, editing, and reparations were required. Eventually, it was also decided to add two new tracks which were recorded just for this CD.

As the recording was nearing completion, it was learned that a Hip-Hop artist had begun using COOL BREEZE™ as his stage-name and was releasing CDs under that name, despite the fact that COOL BREEZE™ has received international recognition for over 20 years. Two years of bitter and arduous litigation has postponed the release of "New Orleans Tropical" until Spring 2001.

Throughout its existence, COOL BREEZE™ persevered with the same humour, exuberance, and joie de vivre that brims over on these recordings. As anyone from the tropics is able to attest, a COOL BREEZE™ is always welcome.

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