Mini All Stars

In 1980 Fred Paul, the producer and Mini Records owner, assembled the Mini Allstars in New York as a studio-only ensemble of Haitian musicians. Their sole purpose was to revive the repertoire of Nemours Jean-Baptiste, the originator of Haiti’s compas dance rhythm whose greatest success had come in the 1950s. Carlo Claudin and Willie Lacroix sang, Richard Durosseau played accordion, and all three had previously worked in Jean-Baptiste’s own band. The Allstars released Pure Gold that same year and Compas Mas in 1982, thereby launching a broader movement among Haitian musicians toward affectionate re-recordings of 1950s material. Fanatiques Compas gathers selections from those two albums and showcases their buoyant, large-ensemble dance music.