Clive Zanda
Clive Zanda, born Clive Alexander in 1939 in Siparia, Trinidad and Tobago, was a pioneering jazz musician known for extempo and kaiso jazz. He was the first of nine children of Richard and Louisa Alexander. His father was a shoemaker, guitarist, church music leader, and his mother was a homemaker, florist and gospel singer. His brother Carlton is a steelpan arranger and jazz musician.
As a child he played homemade cardboard bongos and began classical piano lessons at 15. When his teacher left, he kept improvising. He moved to London in 1959 to study architecture, where he was inspired by live jazz and decided to pursue music. He trained with composer Michael Grant, formed his own group, and worked on blending calypso with jazz.
Zanda returned to Trinidad and Tobago in 1969 during the Black Power movement. He worked with Scofield Pilgrim at Queen’s Royal College and started Gayap sessions to teach musicians and build a community. He later held these workshops in a room attached to his architectural firm.
Back in Trinidad, he developed extempo/kaiso jazz and coined the term kaisojazz for this fusion of calypso, folk music and jazz. His first album, Clive Zanda is Here! With Dat Kinda Ting, was released in 1976. Other albums include Pantastic Visions Revisited (2000 and 2014), Pan Jazz Conversations (2003), and Piano Vibrations (2016).
Clive Zanda died on 6 January 2022 in Port of Spain, at age 82, from complications of diabetes.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:13 (CET).