About Mini All Stars

Mini All Stars

Mini All Stars is a Kompa group from Haiti, MAS is one of the original Kompa bands. Mini All Stars was formed out the some of the best musicians that were under the Mini Records label.

In the sixties as electric guitar and modern instrument became more popular, it created the Mini-Jazz era wich required less musicians. So there were many new bands that were formed because of the electric guitar. Out of the Mini Jazz movement the Mini Records labels was established.

In the sixties the word "Mini" was associated with the Fashion fad at he time the Mini skirt.  The Group got their name from the idea of the fad at that time and combined it with Jazz hence the name Mini-Jazz, Mini-Records, Mini All Stars.

In 1977 Mini all stars was formed with and All Stars ensemble from the labels best artists, and they had a new sound.
They debut with "Lapeche" in 1977 and then followed with "We Gotta Move On" in 1982.

The third Album was a compilation Titled "Pure gold", it was a 15 song tribute to Nemour Jean-Baptiste who brought Kompa to Haiti. It was a rare 3 disc album compilation, kind of an historical first for Haitian Music. The 15 songs were songs from the 50's and 60's that were changed to a newer more modern sound with and up-to-date feeling. This album was produced by Mini Records under the supervision of the legendary Executive Producer Fred Paul.

Mini All Stars homebase is mostly Haiti and Miami, but they play in Europe as well as all over America. The band sounds comes from Kompa and various other influences such as rock, R&B with a blend of Jazz and the best of French Caribbean Music.

http://www.haiti.jp

Meeting with Fred Paul at Min-on in Japan

I had a great interview with Fred Paul at Min-On Headquaters www.min-on.or.jp in Tokyo. From the interview I was able to write this little piece about Fred Paul, the twelve city tour in Japan and how he founded Mini Records.

Fred Paul , the founder of Mini Records was one of eight children. Paul was born in Petite Rivière de l'Artibonite in Haiti.  His father  Frederique Paul was a teacher who decided to join his wife family business in other to support Fred and his seven siblings.

He was a professional soccer player in his early years in Haiti. After moving to the state to attend university 1969,  he realized that his passion was in music. But at the time being a soccer player or a musician,  even though most Haitians enjoyed dancing and the music it was frowned upon as a profession.

Fred decided to go in the music business, he wanted to introduce Haitian music to the world but at the time there weren't any distribution channels available. He felt that it was a challenging task that he wanted to tackle and he understood that he  had to do it the proper way. So he spent the next Ten years working and learning about the music industry.

In 1971 he founded Mini Records and has been in the business for over 35 years. He is one of the most respected executive producer in the business. Judging by Mini Records' Dicography one can understand why.  Fred has a gift for identifying and bringing together musical talents.

As a producer and promoter he takes his job seriously, he wants to leave a positive image and feeling about the music and the Haitian people whenever he performs overseas with his band.  In his own word "a musician is a sort of Diplomat when you travel abroad to promote Haitian music whether you are on stage as well as off stage".

I have to say that Fred Paul is really a charming guy and really loves what he does. A big thank you also to the Min-on staff for their courtesy.