Mini All Stars

Mini Allstars were a studio-based band of Haitian musicians brought together in New York in 1980 by the producer and owner of Mini Records, Fred Paul, to play the music of Nemours Jean-Baptiste, the pioneer of Haiti's ‘compas' dance rhythm, who had his heyday in the 50s. Featuring vocalists Carlo Claudin and Willie Lacroix, plus accordionist Richard Durosseau, all veterans of Jean-Baptiste's original band, the Mini Allstars recorded two albums - Pure Gold (1980) and Compas Mas (1982) - starting a trend among Haitian musicians for nostalgic re-recordings of the songs of the 5...