David Sánchez commissions piece live, October 02 2009

Puerto Rico

Double Grammy award winner and a 2009 Latin Grammy nominee, Puerto Rican saxophonist David Sánchez, was the first feature act of the Montgomery County Community College’s Lively Arts Season 2009-2010. Sánchez’ show, a performance of his Layenda del Cañaveral suite taken from the album Cultural Survival, was presented at the Science Center Theater on 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell on Friday, October 02  2009.

Layenda del Cañaveral, a commissioned piece for Chamber Music America’s New Works: Creation and Presentation Program, was inspired by the poetry of Sánchez‘ sister, Margarita, that details “the travels of African peoples who worked on sugar cane plantations throughout Africa and the Caribbean” and so incorporates African percussion arrangements and chants for context.

The Concord Picante debut CD that houses the eight track of Cultural Survival brings together Sánchez‘ African, Afro-Cuban and Caribbean influences.  But there is a social consciousness – the view that the youth of today are detached from the realities of the world around them and the suffering endured of people around the world, not the least of which are the economically hard-hit of Haiti and the displaced of New Orleans – that under girds the music here.

In addition to Sánchez‘ Grammy wins, he has four Grammy nominations to his credit.  He also has a Latin Grammy for Coral on the mantle.

Next up in the Lively Arts Season is the Cuban Paquito D’Rivera.  An accomplished saxophonist and composer, D’Rivera’s mantle has been adorned with Grammy and Latin Grammy statues alike.  He is the first artist to achieve the milestone of winning Latin Grammy Awards in both Jazz and Classical.

The Paquito D’Rivera Quintet is on February 12, 2010.  Patrons should well expect to partake of D’Rivera’s taste for Afro-Cuban melodies and rhythms as well as Classical.

Sources: Montgomery County Community College, concordmusicgroup

Port of Spain, here comes The Jazz Singer Vaughnette Bigford

Trinidad

by Production One

edited by Israel

Southerner Vaughnette Bigford was the fifth Songbird in the series SONGBIRDS…live at Aura Restaurant & Bar on Wednesday, November 04 2009.  Bigford continues the trend of talented female singers showcasing their talent at this unique production, bringing her smoky Jazz tinged voice to Port of Spain.

Since her debut in 2004, Bigford’s rich, earthy Jazz vocals have been making audiences sit up and take notice – and she’s been developing quite a fan club too!  She is recognised for her haunting delivery of some of the most timeless Jazz standards and confesses that when she discovered Jazz, she knew she had found a “home“.

Hailing from South Trinidad, Bigford’s professional entry onto the Jazz circuit came at the 2004 Steelpan & Jazz Festival (formerly Pan Royale) as guest vocalist with Len “Boogsie” Sharpe and Phase II Pan Groove.

For three consecutive years, she graced the stage at the San Fernando Jazz Festival, appearing with Carlton Alexander’s Coalpot Band.

Bigford has trained and continues to perfect her craft with some of the finest local and foreign vocal coaches and musicians.  That list includes Cristiana Balbosa and Jessel Murray (Trinidad), Jazz legend Dr. Barry Harris, Hank Jones and vocalist Sheila Jordan.  She continues to work with the esteemed Ms. Donna Mc Elroy, a Professor at the Berklee College of Music Voice Department.

Closer to home, Vaughnette has worked with some of Trinidad and Tobago’s most celebrated Jazz musicians: Carlton Zanda, Theron Shaw, Raf Robertson and Ray Holman. Topping her list of most noteworthy performances to date is her smoldering centre-stage solo act at the YWCA’s “Sisters in Song” – a Caribbean Jazz concert featuring local greats like Mavis John and Chantal Esdelle – Jazz Artists on the Greens in March, 2008 and her role as guest vocalist to the band Earthsound at Ryles Jazz Club in Boston in June 2009.

Bigford remains an active member of the US-based International Women in Jazz.  She is also a student of Berklee music online and was one of the few Caribbean nationals to be awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music Summer Performance Program in 2008.

SONGBIRDS…live featuring Vaughnette Bigford, Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ AURA Restaurant & Bar, 51 Cipriani Blvd, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.  Behind Bigford was guitarist Theron Shaw, bassist Douglas Reddon and percussionist Modupe Folasade Onilu.  Note that Bigford shed the trap drums for this date.

Vaughnette Bigford:

Wanna hear some Brazilian, Columbian, French music…check me out at Aura…music for all races and cultures.

For more of Vaughnette, go to  http://www.vaughnettebigford.com or http://www.myspace.com/vaughnettebigford.

The Puerto Rico Golden Jazz All Stars revisited

Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rico Golden Jazz All Stars gave a concert, February 23, 2007, at Carolina, Puerto Rico to highlight a century of traditional music and the reading of compositions by Rafael Hernández, Pedro Flores, Don Felo and others.

Alex E. Petro revisited that experience with a September 18th workshop presentation at the Fort Fleur d’Epée du Gosier, Guadeloupe.  The centrepiece of the workshop was a showing of the live DVD of that Latin-Jazz set released as Al Rojo Vivo: Live in PR (Mundo Libre 21517).

And to show how Puerto Rico has reconciled its understanding of modern music, one of PR’s best arrangers, Eric Figueroa, the man who was the musical director and pianist of the band – one that had flautist Dave Valentin in its ranks – was seen doing two Jazz Classics in ‘Morning‘ by Claire Fisher and ‘Footprints‘ by Wayne Shorter.

Check out ‘Morning‘ for yourself here…

(Original source: le Bananier Bleu)

Etienne Charles launches ‘Folklore’ at JaLC, July 21-25 (updated with November review of Folklore in JazzTimes)

Trinidad

Trinidadian trumpet phenom, Etienne Charles, launches his brand new CD release ‘Folklore‘ from Tuesday, July 21 through 25 at Dizzy’s Club Cola, the bamboo lined ‘intimate room‘ that presides five stories above Central Park at the Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street.

The eleven tracks of the Folklore CD will take the listener on a “dramatic musical journey into the mysterious, spiritual and traditional folktales of the Caribbean,” shouts the promo.

Charles follows blind pianist Marcus Roberts whose run at the Club also starts Tuesday 21, but overshoots Charles’ by one day.  The Marcus Roberts Trio is Rodney Jordan on bass, the toddler of the Marsalis clan, Jason, behind the drum kit, and Roberts.

Folklore review by Bill Milkowski of JazzTimes

Previous Post: John Stevenson’s Liner Notes to Etienne Charles’ Folklore

Poll for ‘Most Influential Trinidadian Jazz Artists’ closed – with no results – due to poor voting

________________________________

Jazz on the Hill 2009 got off to a corny start with Bobby Hinton and Friends, May 15 2009

British Virgin Islands

original posting, September 28, 2009

updated on October 03, 2009

The reviews of Jazz on the Hill 2009 have been in the can for months.  I just was not inclined to publish any of it before now.

Going to Virgin Gorda every May for Jazz on the Hill has been a must for me these past two years. Sorry, I took no notice of the first edition of this new Jazz event on the British Virgin Islands’ calendar. Maybe it was because it was low key affair to start with or I was just not clued in then as I have been since 2007 when this forum came to life. Well, that is not a good excuse, but I will go with that for now.

There is something about Jazz on the Hill though that is quite fascinating to me: you never know what you’re gonna get.  The Jazz names could pop out at you because they have a history with you.  Or the names might mean nothing so that there is a longing to find out whether you could trust the producers not to disappoint.  After all, you make it a point of duty to attend Jazz Festivals, not only to re-acquaint yourself with the old (and young souls) of note, but to go an excursion of exploration.

So it was with this question mark in my head that I nearly drove myself crazy trying to negotiate the thickest of traffic jams I have ever witnessed in Road Town, Tortola as I wended my way to the ferry dock on Waterfront Drive for the sail to VG.  The ferry was due to push off at 06:00 pm and I was stuck in a traffic line, across town, with no more than ten minutes to spare.

That was when I made the bold decision to abandon my machine in the middle of town and foot it to the dock.  Of course, I was careful to park up properly in a duly constituted lot and secure it under lock and key.

I made it to the dock on time, but had I been in telepathic mode, I would have known that this is the Caribbean and not all times are on, you understand.  The ferry did not take to the waters for the thirty-minute sail for another fifteen to twenty minutes.

Now, to the real reason for all of the stress: the Jazz.

Pianist Bobby Hinton and Friends were already on stage doing the Blues and calling on a ‘Rainy Night in Georgia.’ Had Hinton known that this May was unseasonably wet, he might have opted not to do the rain dance at all.  Anyhow, no waters flowed from the heavens that night.  No waters could have flowed anyway after he crooned ‘What a Wonderful World.’

These two songs have been given all kinds of treatment over time.  However, the versions that have made an indelible imprint on my mind are those of Ray Charles and Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong respectively.

Something struck me about Bobby Hinton and Friends, just as I had settled myself down to the feast of Jazz music to the backdrop of stirring conversations with acquaintances and friends about the virtues of the genre.  The crisp voice of the ageing Hinton towered over the trio he was leading, one that was graced with the presence of a female drummer by the name of Shirazette Tinnin and trumpeter Tom Browne on a warm-up for his Saturday night performance on St. Mary’s Hill. The other name in Hinton’s make-up band for the festival was Aaron Mills on bass. But it was Shirazette Tinnin, trapping the kit behind Hinton and his headliner guest Tom Browne that caught my attention.

Pardon me folks.  As much as I get around, I have been fortunate enough to enjoy a female drummer since I was privy to one Cindy Blackman many years ago. I guess, I am not that exposed as I would to believe!  Conclusion?  It was an obscene fascination, a novelty if you will.  By the end of Hinton’s stint to open Jazz on the Hill 2009, I had completely forgotten about gender and instead lauded the skill of Ms. Tinnin.  I was introduced to her right after she got off stage and admired her humility on compliment.

Hinton’s repertoire was loaded with familiar fare that the most un-Jazz patrons might have recognized: “Rainy Night in Georgia,” “What a Wonderful World,” “Stand By Me,” Georgia,” and “Mustang Sally.”

Maybe this was not intentional, but it might have served to make the event accessible to the casual audience than might have stumbled upon the good cause to wit supporting the fundraising effort of the St. Mary’s School fraternity.

For me, Hinton was corny.  But judging by the love coming from the audience scattered about the hill, his set was loved by all.  And I did too, really.

And Hinton would have endeared himself by giving a workshop for the benefit of the St. Mary’s School kids.

This is important, the visiting musicians leaving a portion of their expertise in-country while sharing their music on the big stage.

On a side note, the faculty of the music department of the North Carolina Central University were also generous with their time.   They ferried across from Virgin Gorda to Tortola to offer the music students of the St. George’s Secondary School their very first lesson in improvisation.   So said Music Director of the school Derry Etkins as the St. Georges Lab Band played their third gig on Night 2 (May 16 2009) of Jazz on the Hill.

Speaking of the North Carolina Central University Faculty Jazz Band, it could be said that they actually put Jazz on the Hill 2009 into orbit, Bobby Hinton notwithstanding.  Aside from the professionalism of the band, the engineering of the band sound was perfect from the very first note.   The same could not, however be said of the previous sets by St. George’s Lab and Drexel Glasgow’s Gospel in a Mellow Tone.

More as my muse calls for…

The San Fernando Jazz festival 2009: ready, set, go (update 2, October 12)

Trinidad & Tobago

originally published, September 26, 2009; update 2 on October 12, 2009

by Reynold Bassant, PRO, San Fernando Jazz festival and Israel, WEC

The San Fernando Jazz festival 2009 was staged on Saturday, 26th September on the scenic San Fernando Hill in San Fernando, Trinidad.  Featured headline act was Raf Robertson and an ensemble of Jazz artistes doing a scintillating new piece of work entitled “Pass The Hat”: A Tribute to Lord Kitchener.  This is Raf’s ingenious extension to his oeuvre which has a spicy calypso edge to its Jazz trimmings – a heady concoction with sunny toppings coming from Arturo Tappin, Frankie McIntosh, Etienne Charles, Errol Ince and his Quartet, Vaughnette Bigford and others.

Bigford took to San Fernando Hill (and not for the first time) with Theron Shaw (guitar), Sean Thomas (drums), Douglas Redon (bass), Tamba Gwindi (percussions) and Anthony Woodroffe (saxophone).

Musical Note by Israel

Taking the word of the Trinidad Guardian’s Radhica Sookraj, the star of The Grandmaster tribute was The Jazz Singer Vaughnette Bigford.  Her set was a varied one that included among other things a Michael Jackson cover and a duo with the bass of Douglas Reddon.  Bigford even lifted herself off from her comfort zone to do a French song along with Classic Jazz.

Bigford will make another play at Satchmo’s Jazz Club in Port of Spain, Trinidad on October 16 before taking on the role of SONGBIRD at Production One’s concert series based at Aura Restaurant in PoS on November 04  2009.

But speaking of Sando Jazz, ask Seeta Persad of Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday what the highlight was and she would defer to keyboardist and arranger Dawad Phillip who said that “by far, the defining moment” of the festival for him was when Leston Paul did his interpretation of the Grandmaster’s “Pan in A Minor.”  Paul was one-fifth of the Errol Ince Quintet.  The other four-fifths were BJ Saunders on bass, saxophonist Earl Caruth and Vonrick Maynard on drums.

The Errol Ince Quintet gave an encore performance at 110 Jazz and Calypso Lounge, San Fernando on Sunday, October 11, 2009.  The group was set to play the Grandmaster’s “Carnival is Over” along with “Killer Joe” (Quincy Jones) and “Girl from Ipanema” (Antonio Carlos Jobim).

Now back to Vaughnette Bigford’s Satchmo’s appearance.  It is all part of the Hennessy brand’s marketing ploy that essentially supports local musicians – in this case Trinidadian Jazz musicians – by putting them up on stage while serving Hennessy city cocktails on the floor.  Hennessy Artistry has carried this concept to some of the mega cities of the world, London, Moscow, New York, and Paris.

The other Trinidadian musicians who will share the bill, called Hennessy Artistry Live, with Bigford are The Sean Thomas Sextet, Professor Ken Philmore, Tabanca the Blues band and Sheldon Holder from 12 the band.  Sean Thomas is also serving as the curator of the event. (Source: newsday.co.tt)

A Production One Note: SONGBIRDS…live is a new concert series from Production One Ltd. featuring Caribbean female vocalists. A performance showcase featuring, on a regular basis, some of the most notable upcoming and unheralded female voices in contemporary music in Trinidad and Tobago with an ear turned to Jazz and World Music.

Kellie Cadogan, Rosemary Phillips for Ultimate Soul Weekend, this weekend

Barbados

updated September 26, 2009

Ultimate Soul Weekend brings Thirteen Stars to the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium, Barbados, for Three Awesome Nights, September 25 – 27, 2009.  The headline acts are drawn from the golden age of post-60’s Soul, just before disco dancing and strobe lights began to rule the floors and R&B was cut into multiple sub-genres.

Patrons from Guyana, Trinidad, Grenada, St. Lucia, the US, Canada and the UK are flocking to the magical island of Barbados to witness the Soul revival of Deborah Cox, En Vogue, Peabo Bryson and Stephanie Mills, Cece Winans and funkmeister Jeffery Osbourne who remade his career providing vocals for Smooth Jazz instrumentalists, which in turn opened him up to Jazz Festival audiences.

It is interesting that Timeless Barbados has billed Ultimate Soul Weekend as an event in which the international acts are joining “Barbados’ Best” and not the other way around.

Among the Barbados cast are noteworthy Caribbean Jazz acts in the persons of singers Rosemary Phillips and Kellie Cadogan.

Kellie Cadogan is surely riding the wave of her latest CD release, ‘The Nearness of You‘ that sold out more quickly than Cadogan imagined it would.  She did a half hour set of Jazz, R&B and original material on Saturday 26 with her band (Kirk Layne, bandleader and keyboardist; Richard Evans, bass/double bass; Melvin Alick, drums; and Basil Archer, guitar.

Rosemary Phillips shows up on Sunday 27.

The Barbadian line-up for The September Music Festival is completed by Dwayne Husbands, Ria Borman, Ayana John, Krosfyah and Alison Hinds.

Student workshops precede Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan and Jazz Festival 2009 (updated, October 13)

Trinidad & Tobago

originally published on September 30, 2009; update 2 on October 13, 2009

The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan and Jazz Festival (TTSJF) returned this past month-end for its eighth edition of workshops and live performances.  In the lead up to the start of the festival on October 1, the producers, The Queen’s Royal College Foundation, mounted a workshop series led by vibraphonist Joe Baione from Delaware, USA.

Sponsored by Frist Citizens, these workshops were to expose Trinidadian youngsters to new instrument-playing techniques, practical uses of music theory, and the aesthetics of Jazz and other genres of music.

Mortimer Baptiste is an executive member of the Festival’s Management Committee.  Going by the heightened interest in last year’s workshops, Baptiste believed the turnout for this year’s sessions (would) be just as good.  “One of the objectives of this festival is the development of TT artistes as music practitioners and business people,” says Baptiste. Baione explained his vision as enhancing “..the understanding that music is the universal language as students develop an understanding for each other’s culture through music education.”

The free musical workshops were introduced to take advantage of the presence of professional artists while they are in Trinidad to perform at the Steel Pan and Jazz Festival.

The workshops were mounted in Trincity, Couva/Central, San Fernando and Port of Spain, Trinidad from September 29 to October 02.

This year’s festival was being held from September 30 to October 2, 2009.

The three-day Festival programme itself placed the Delfeayo Marsalis Quintet front and center of stage on the very first night, Wednesday, September 30.  Drumming for the trombonist  was supposed to have been his brother Jason, the youngest of the first family of New Orleans Jazz, grounded by father Ellis and brothers Wynton and Branford. However, that did not work out somehow and Herlin Riley was called in to do the honours.  The Quintet was rounded off by Mark Shim (tenor saxophone), Mark Gross (alto sax), Dean Hulett (bass) and David Bryant (piano).

Added to the pot were the steelpans of Robert Greenidge who served as Delfeayo’s special invited guest for the occasion.  For Joan Rampersad of the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Marsalis and Greenidge were a “class act” especially on Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”

The band also covered the Duke Ellington’s “Limbo Jazz” along with original music from the leader .

Trinidad Rapso group, 3 Canal, Exodus with Pelham Goddard on keyboards, singer Candice Alcantara and saxophonist Sandy Gabriel from the Dominican Republic rounded off the evening’s lineup.

The festival resumed on Thursday, October 1 with workshop leader Joe Baione.  The vibraphonist, like Marsalis, also had a Trinidadian for a favoured guest.  For this round though, it was pianist Chantal Esdelle who is otherwise known as the figure behind the band Moyenne.  Representing Trinidad on that night as well was the Etienne Charles Quintet, which served up Charles‘ interpretations of Folklore Tales – as told on his sophomore CD, Folklore, released back in June.

Trinidadian upstarts, Blue Culture, made their appearance on the final night, Friday October 2, as opening act for the Alexis Baró Sextet and Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra.  The other steel bands to balance out the Jazz and Steel scales were the Desperadoes and Exodus Steel Orchestras, who rang in on night two and night three respectively.

Sources: newsday.co.tt (1), newsday.co.tt (2), steelpanjazzfestival.com

Previous Post: Tn’T Steelpan Jazz Festival ‘08 climaxed November 01

Trinidadian Betty Blue is now engaged in New York

Trinidad and Tobago

As if there was not enough Jazz talent in Trinidad and Tobago, yet another Trinidadian artist, this one living outside of the twin-island Republic, has shown up on the Woodshed radar.  Her name is Betty Blue.

BETTY BLUE

Born in Trinidad, Blue was however raised on the French Caribbean Department of Guadeloupe where her parents settled her until she was a teenager.

Blue then migrated to the United States where, as a Jazz singer weaned on church music, she had the formidable challenge of learning English as a foreign language to be able to get into the scene.

All that is behind her now and she can now be found singing Jazz Standards with her Trio or doing Jazz-Fusion music, accentuated by the steel drums of her umbilical homeland when performing her percussion-heavy Calypso-Jazz and stuff.

Ms Betty Blue, who was this past summer busy playing Jazz clubs and private parties around New York, will be at the Crystal Lounge, 1460 Flatbush Avenue (between Glenwood and Foster Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11210) starting, Saturday, October 24 and every Saturday thereafter through November 14.  Her final outing at the Crystal Manor is on Tuesday, November 17, 2009.

The Betty Blue Jazz Band kicks off her Crystal Lounge engagement tonight at 07:00pm by highlighting the Steel Drums.  On October 31, the featured instrument will be the Organ.  After a one-week break the first week of November, it will be the Piano on November 14.  And to close on November 17, the Guitar will be front and center.

Source: Caribbean Life

R³ Experience: The Power of Russel Léonce, Ruth Osman and Rizon, “heavenly synergy” (updated on Oct. 31 with Erica M. B. Ashton photos)

Trinidad

originally posted on October 08, 2009

update 3 on October 31, 2009

The Daaga Auditorium at St. Augustine, University of the West Indies, Trinidad, hosted a repeat performance of R³ Experience The Power of Russel Léonce, Ruth Osman and Rizon on October 3, 2009. The first staging of the show in July of this year attracted such intense critical acclaim that the producers thought it wise to put together an encore and return the Experience to Daaga, St. Augustine.

Russel, Ruth and Rizon were, however, not content to simply rehearse the same show and thus merely retrace their musical steps.  Based on all published Comments by fans of the second edition of R³, the show was not exactly like the one before.  Brenda B. Butler put it succinctly in a posting on her Facebook profile republished on Russel’s blog.  Butler noted that “new elements were added – dancers, a violinist, new songs, rearranged songs.”

Gillian Moore of the Trinidad Guardian had her own views of the show, which she captioned as a “polished, entertaining and refreshing (take on) themes of grace, love and faith.”

Moore went on to describe in her Guardian review how Léonce drew the audience in with his R&B-Gospel renditions including his hit song “Troubles Won’t Last” taken from his Culture of Love CD; how Osman’s warm vocals enveloped her audience, and held them spellbound on the Jazz standard “Nature Boy,” “When You’re Near” and her self-penned compositions, “Rain” and “You“; and how Rizon’s Soca-Pop won the crowd over and had them singing along with him.

Not to diminish the exceptional musicality of the threesome – which Allison, a Commenter on the blog, characterized as “heavenly synergy” – what stood out all the more was the message and the ministry.  Butler thought that it was their  ”overtly Christ-focussed“ interactions with their audience that did the trick for Russel, Ruth and Rizon. Others observed that they conveyed their convictions and spirituality with such aplomb that  their patrons, by their own admission, were brought to tears and emotional surrender.

One of those persons, Karis, shared her feelings on Russel’s Ning powered social network saying “The show was wonderful…made me cry at times though because it was so deep.”  Karis continued, “I saw others wiping their eyes too.  (That) was a real touching show.”

Holding the music together were Musical Director/bassist Clint DeCoteau, acoustic guitarist Marva Newton, electric guitarist Jason Bishop,  percussionist Modupe Folade Onilu, traps man David Richards, keyboardists Emile Fortune and Rodney Harris.  The back-up vocalists were Deryck Ollivierre, Genisa St. Hilaire and Reisha St. Hilaire.

If the long string of superlatives and verbal gushing are enough to go by, Butler and Karis were among a houseful who shed emotional tears on the night of October 3, 2o09.

R3 - The final bow?

Browse to russelleonce.ning.com and Lisa Allen-Agostini’s Trinidad Guardian Commentary to see for yourself.

Previous posts:

SONGBIRD Ruth Osman @ Aura, September 02, 2009

R³ Experience 1, July 25, 2009

Cuban traps impresario Dafnis Prieto celebrates new CD release

Dafnis Prieto is a master drummer from Cuba who has stamped his authority as such – but also as a composer and arranger – on the Latin and Jazz music scenes of New York since landing in the U.S.  One U.S city that has not experienced Prieto as a bandleader is Boston, Massachusetts.  All that is going to change on Friday, October 16 when Prieto makes his major Boston debut with a band of New York-based musicians at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts.

Prieto is celebrating the release of his brand new record, Live at Jazz Standard, with his Si o Si Quartet.  Live at Birdland is ten tracks full of exclusive Prieto compositions.

The Si o Si Quartet is Peter Apfelbaum (tenor and soprano saxophones, melodica, caxixi), Manuel Valera (piano, keyboard, melodica), Charles Flores (acoustic and electric bass) and Prieto (drums, vocals and clave).

On Tuesday, October 13, Si o Si moved to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine sans Flores. He was replaced by Prieto’s Cuban compadre, Yunior Terry.  This same configuration returned to Boston on October 14 for two days of Marsalis Jams before taking on the Villa Victoria crowd for the real thing.

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Musical Note:

Caxixi

A caxixi is a percussion instrument consisting of a closed basket with a flat-bottom filled with seeds or other small particles.  The caxixi is an indirectly struck idiophone.  Like the maraca, it is sounded by shaking. It is found across Africa and South America, but mainly in Brazil.  Natives believed the caxixi to summon good enchanted spirits and to ward off evil ones.

In Capoeira music, the caxixi is played along with the berimbau.  In West Africa it is used by singers and often alongside drummers. (Source: wikipedia.org)

15th Performing Arts Season in the BVI, a different kettle (updated)

Virgin Islands (Br.)

Arturo Tappin (left)

The 2009/2010 season of Jazz in the British Virgin Islands is literally hours away. Tonight at 08:00 o’clock, Barbadian sax lion, Arturo Tappin, sounds the call to Jazz fans in the Territory to join him at the Auditorium of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College at Paraquita Bay, Tortola for the first strike of the 15th Performing Arts Series.

Tappin has been to the Territory once before, but that was at Jazz on the Hill in Virgin Gorda, two years ago.  He left the J-fans who lined St. Mary’s Hill on that tourist rock back then with a one-of-a-kind after-taste that is sure to whet their appetite for another round of Caribbean Jazz from this musically muscular showman.

The WEC has yet to unearth who Tappin’s backing band will be.  However, his track record of surrounding himself with individuals of uncompromising musicality gives comfort that the Auditorium will glow like red hot iron ore this holiday weekend.

We do have a pretty good idea though as to what to expect at the show tonight.  In the words of Arturo Tappin himself, it will be “kaiso, reggae, hip-hop, be-bop, hard bop, cool jazz, smooth jazz, R&B…originals and covers…music from 1930 to 2009.”  We’ll let you know whether he sticks to his word.

This season’s schedule of shows makes a complete left turn from the legacy established by past President of the H. L. Stoutt Community College, Dr. Michael O’Neal.  Sadly, the current producers have shed some Jazz skin from the long-established roster, cutting out the much-anticipated January Jazz Showcase.

This season, only one international Jazz act, Steve Wilson, will step out unto the well adorned Auditorium stage.  I will not be caught napping casting a shadow over the choice of bringing Wilson back to the Virgin Islands.  However, when two dates, (one Caribbean Jazz Showcase and one Jazz Showcase) out of thirteen have been set aside strictly for Jazz this season, one cannot help feeling a deep sense of disappointment that the vast amount of Jazz talent languishing around the Caribbean and worldwide is not being tapped to broaden the aural palette in Chocolate City.

That aside, the HLSCC Jazz Band will bring together some of the very best Jazz artistes the BVI has on offer to contribute sets to the Holiday Concert on December 13 and HLSCC Summer Music Fest on May 29, 2010.  Every year before Christmas and at the end of the Performing Arts Season in May, The Jazz Band joins forces with the HLSCC Chorale, the College’s Chamber Players and their Brass and Woodwind Ensembles for recitals.

All things considered though, it is expected that a much more diverse fan base will be developed over the next seven months as Soca Diva Alison Hinds unplugs on October 18; Jermaine Sellers and Y’Anna Crawley of BET’s Sunday Best and the Soweto Gospel Choir drop by to worship on November 14, March 06 and January 14 respectively; the BVI’s King of Reggae Music, Quito Rymer goes on show, November 14 under the banner, Virgin Islands Showcase; and Nai Ni Chen puts up Modern and Traditional Dance routines on April 24, 2010.

Of course, there will be the usual helpings of Classical, the Colorado Quartet in January, Mezzo-Soprano Denyce Graves in February and Concert Pianist Leon Bates in May.  No doubt, all of this is a boon for the arts in the British Virgin Islands.

Nevertheless, spare a thought for the Woodshed Jazz Warriors who have one less circle to make on our Jazz Calendar this 15th Performing Arts Season.

SONGBIRD Brenda B Butler buttered up the Aura Sunday evening

Trinidad & Tobago

originally published on October 18, 2009;

updated on October 22, 2009

It had to have been something special about Brenda B. Butler, the San Fernando girl, that would lead Production One to break away from its monthly schedule to do a special SONGBIRDS...live this past Sunday, October 18. What it is that is so special about Brenda B.? One will just have to wait on the fans who no doubt crowded the Aura from 05:00pm Sunday evening to hear Butler's neo-soul and Jazzy vibe. And we hope they will tell us all about it.

Butler does not come straight to Jazz, we suspect, having been weaned on a varied diet of the soul of Brook Benton, the glam-rock of Elton John, the pop-in-transition of the Jacksons and the modern rock of Genesis. Yet when it came to performing, Butler was at first pointed to Classical music, which was what her school choirs were all about in her teenage years.

Finally, in the early years of the decade of the 1990's, Butler landed a couple of solo performances, one of which was in An Evening with Cole Porter, a Trinidad production of The Belvederes, conducted by Richard Yang Tuk. While this show took her closer to the Jazz idiom, Butler maintained her interest in Neo Soul and R&B, nurtured by some of the trend-setters of the style, Jill Scott, India.Arie, Corinne Bailey Rae and Erykah Badu.

For all of Butler's broad tastes in music, it would be fair to say that she was grounded in her faith. Thus, it should not be a stretch to surmise that wherever her singing takes her, it will be coloured by need to use "her voice and heart to evoke different emotions in people's souls," as she put it. That was tailor-made for an interesting menu at SONGBIRDS...live @ Aura with her backing band, Judah B and the Same Street Band of Judah Bharath on guitar, Sam Mitchell on bass and Ian Joseph on drums.

No sooner had Brenda B Butler exited the Aura stage than her Facebook profile was flooded with comments from her fans - not one ounce of reservation could be found amidst the myriad comments.

So it was crystal clear that through her two sets, complete with wardrobe and make-up changes, Butler had "At Last" taken "Pause" to spread her vocal "Pearls" "Like a Star." Surely, it was "Never Too Much" for the Aura patrons, judging by the repeated cries for an encore performance.

"He Loves Me"; "Is it a Crime"? Butler asked, referring to her God.  Well, the 'music-Gods' could be heard saying, as the last note sounded at Aura: "Hit The Road Jack," Brenda B. is in town.

Previous SONGBIRDS have been Caroline Mair, Ruth Osman and Candice Alcantara. Next SONGBIRD is Vaughnette Bigford in November.

Concert Review from outside the Woodshed: Jazz diva serves sweet music

Jaine Rogers’ new CD will get ‘Under Your Skin’ too

Anguilla

Review by Mark Lyndersay

October 19, 2009.

When a singer as young and as surprisingly polished as Jaine Rogers offers her first recorded collection of music, the first question that’s likely to pop into a music lover’s mind is “Who is she?”

On the surface of things, Rogers is a gorgeous young singer from England by way of Anguilla with a voice that’s stunningly mature and rich; a husky, throaty pulse that speaks of decades of hard living she can’t possibly have experienced.

She sharpened her chops throughout this decade with high profile and club appearances in Anguilla, capping that arc of work with an appearance at “Divas with heart” at Radio City Music Hall in 2008, according to the biography on her CD.

She cites as influences Dinah Washington, Mahalia Jackson, Sarah Vaughn and Nina Simone.

But between the sleeves of her album is a more complicated portrait. Backed by a tight, well coordinated band that decorates her earthy delivery with delicate, tasteful flourishes, Jaine Rogers ranges widely through a repertoire that’s part re-imagined standards and part original compositions with scattered influences.

On songs like Misty, Walk on by and the intimidating Cry me a River, she skips lightly between homage to the performers who have come before her on these works and daring rethinking of the phrasing of these well-known compositions, wresting some pleasant surprises from the familiar words.

On Cry me a River in particular, a song with so many remarkable readings, Rogers stakes her own, distinguished claim on the work, playfully offering herself as the hurt, ruefully vengeful woman taking a bitter glee in the pain of her supplicant ex-lover.

The new songs offer a sometimes more confusing portrait of a young artist searching for a way to define her interpretive skills.

When God cries and Reflections are both reggae influenced numbers, the former offering heady gospel inflections on a rock steady beat, the latter framing bluesy wailing over a dub bass snarl that snakes compellingly through the song.

My Mistakes is almost pop blues, a number that seems to have been composed for a slower and more contemplative reading that Rogers has picked up the pace on and spiced with wailing guitar solos.

What ties the album together is uniformly excellent orchestration and arrangements by Michael Carvin, who may well understand the singer’s voice as well as she does.

The songs may jump all over the place in style, but the arranger threads a careful understanding of his band’s capabilities through all the numbers and more compellingly, a real appreciation for the range and intelligence of his singer, whose ambitions for the songs are both intriguing and engaging.

Even after multiple listenings, I can’t really say that I know who Jaine Rogers is, but this is a smart singer who has a sound understanding of both the power of her voice and how it can exploit the lyrics she interprets.  So I’m keen to find out what she discovers about herself and shares in future releases.

So yes, it’s fair to say that she managed to get under my skin.

Band members

Carlton Holmes - piano & keyboards

Nigel Williams - guitar

Jansen Cinco - bass

Mayra Casales - percussion

Camille Gainer - drums

Track list

1. Ah Love (Jaine Rogers)
2. Life is Just a Melody (Michael Carvin)
3. First Touch (Davon Carty, Jaine Rogers, Michael Carvin)
4. Misty (Johnny Burke, Errol Garner)
5. Cry me a River (Arthur Hamilton)
6. Monday (Davon Carty, Jaine Rogers, Michael Carvin)
7. Walk on by (Burt Bacharach, Hal David)
8. When God Cries (Davon Carty, Jaine Rogers, Michael Carvin)
9. Reflections (Davon Carty Michael Carvin)
10. Novocaine (Davon Carty, Jaine Rogers, Michael Carvin, Mitch Maketansky)

Mark Lyndersay is a professional photographer and journalist who has worked in Trinidad and Tobago over the last thirty years.  He has worked in corporate communications, editorial management and been widely published as a writer and photographer.  His column, BitDepth, is the longest running column reporting on technology in the country.

Mark Lyndersay’s writing and photography can be found at lyndersaydigital.com.

ARTURO TAPPIN at BVI’s Caribbean Jazz Showcase, October 19 2009

Barbados

by Derry Etkins

I had just seen Arturo Tappin in Guyana at the “Sidewalk Café” when I happened upon a poster in a bakery in Road Town, Tortola, announcing his upcoming performance at the H. Lavity Stout Community College, being “twinned”, as it were, with Alison Hinds’ “Soca Unplugged.”

I construct this opening remark in this manner to say that the advertising for this year’s 15th Performing Arts Series has not been as vibrant as it usually is.  It may be said that the Arts Series is one of “The BVI’s Little Secrets”. This may have contributed to the late arrival of many patrons who could be seen and heard entering the HLSCC auditorium during the performance.

The Tappin line-up included Nicholas Brancker (piano), Julian Griffith (bass), Melvin Alec (drums), and Terry “Mexican” Arthur (tenor pan).

The show got under way at approximately 2020hrs and as Arturo had promised another reviewer, he wasted no time in getting into the “Caribbean Ting” with a piece akin to Ole Time Kaiso in “C”.

This was done in a way that the melody danced on top of the arpeggios of the I-IV-I-V chord progression. It had a non-specific melody, I thought, very characteristic of Calypso in the 1930s.  Arturo gave a twist to this idiom by adding a “Rhythm bridge” (III-VI-II-V).

Afterwards, Arturo informed me that the song was actually a Blue Mitchell composition “Fungi Mama.”  I must take my hat off to Mr. Mitchell because, as generic as the melody is, he captured the “Kaiso feel” quite convincingly.  Not bad for someone born in Miami!  Note too that the “Rhythm Bridge” mentioned above is part of the original composition.

As drummer Melvin Alec “got into the feel” of this piece, there was a sudden explosion of sound as the bass drum burst through the noise gate in the sound booth.  Quick reflexes on the part of Sound Engineer, Sheldon Harris, remedied this situation.   More on the sound later.

The second piece, All The Things You Are, was given the traditional “Swing feel”.  For a brief moment though, I thought this was a multi-media piece, because I saw an image projected on the screen behind the band.  My hopes were dashed a few seconds later when I read the words, “Please wait” – an obvious computer glitch.

There was an interesting juxtaposition of styles here, as a strong R&B influence came through in Nicholas Brancker’s piano solo.  All through this performance, there was a sensitive interplay between the musicians as they listened to and “felt” each other.

Arturo prefaced his next offering with the story of how he met Roberta Flack. He was performing in a club in Barbados, he said, when Ms. Flack walked in.  He immediately changed his set to include Feel Like Making Love. For this piece, he went into his quiver and pulled out the Flute.

The “lick” Arturo chose as the intro was strikingly reminiscent of “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”.  After soulfully establishing the melody, he gave way for Nicholas Brancker to treat us to a “bluesy” piano solo out of the Ramsey Lewis school.  Brancker’s Classical training (Grade Eight under the ABRSM) provided him with the facility for the general sensitivity of touch that he projected in his accompaniment.

Terry “Mexican” Arthur made his first contribution to the evening’s fare with a Tenor Pan solo towards the end of the piece.  The band jammed on the opening chord then returned to the song’s verse-form for a calming end.  And the audience loved it.

Piece number four was the Herbie Hancock composition, Dolphin Dance (Maiden Voyage 1965). This is a relatively obscure piece with an elusive melody and an exotic chord progression.  Considering Melvin Alec’s tasteful, sensitive drumming, he showed surprising maturity for his age.  Bassist Julian Griffith was content to lay back and provide the canvas for Brancker to splash his piano colours.

A tribute to the late Michael Jackson rounded out the first half of the show.  In Can’t Help It the group’s Achilles heel showed a bit.  It became more evident in this one that the group was not totally comfortable playing together. Conversations I had later confirmed my suspicions, that while both Nicholas and Arturo travel extensively with Roberta Flack, they do not play often in the quintet configuration with steel pan.  Nicholas plays bass when on tour with Ms. Flack.

During his solo on Can’t Help It, Arturo displayed his ability to extend the upper range of the Tenor Sax, making notes as he went along that did not belong in the natural range of the instrument.  Drummer Melvin showed his ability to shift the pulse.  He displayed those chops when he was joined by the Sax for a romp, to return to the main “chorus motif” for the end.

Surprise!  Anti-climax!  It didn’t end there.  Arturo gave us an impromptu display of “circular breathing” in a virtuoso “cadenza” while Nicholas plucked the strings of the piano as per the harp.  Julian and Melvin then joined them to return once more to the main “chorus-motif” that led to the Intermission.

INTERMISSION

The second half of the show opened with the 1930s standard, Body And Soul. Alas, the “youth” of the ensemble showed again in his piece. Nevertheless, they got to the end without major mishap.

Mia Amour, a Brancker/Tappin collaboration off Arturo’s album  Inside Out, was the second tribute to a lady for the night.  Pannist “Mexican” joined the fray in this one.  However, he seemed reluctant to venture outside the realm of triadic harmony during his solo.  There was just some sensitive interplay etween bass and piano.

Robert Nestor Marley’s Redemption Song was given third place.  Arturo’s reflective interpretation of the melody was given a semi-classical underpinning by the piano that segued to a “two chord jam”, then “one drop” reggae that culminated in a collage with Marley’s No Woman No Cry, with the bass and drums providing the impetus for a deviation to very soulful medley.

Putting the cap on the second half was Nicalypso from the pen of Nicholas Brancker.  This “high life” flavoured, witty string of R&B/Blues licks flowed smoothly like a child sliding down a banister.

Solo by Sax and piano followed each other into Ole Time Road March and the Nicholas Brancker production of Edwin Yearwood’s Pump Me Up.

Nicholas had by then switched to bass for this part of the medley.  By this time the audience was giving the furniture its “stress test”, swaying, or rocking to and fro. Lusty applause greeted this finalé.

POST SCRIPT

As stated at the beginning of this article, I had seen Arturo in Guyana just weeks prior to this performance, and I noted then that he had added “Hip-Hop”, complete with samples and effects, to his palette of styles.  He had promised a colleague that tonight’s performance would include some of the same.  When I asked about it, Arturo told me that he “did not want to risk it” because they were not hearing themselves clearly in the stage monitors.

I then remembered seeing bassist Julian, Nicholas and Arturo himself motioning to the sound booth at different times asking for more of this, more of that in the monitors.  On further investigation, I discovered that the monitor amplifier had been off for the entire evening.

In all fairness to staff engineers Sheldon Harris and Abreu Penn, they were not the only ones on duty for this performance, so we cannot be sure from where the faux pas would have sprung.  On the other hand, the responsibility ultimately falls on the shoulders of the HLSCC.

All in all, it was quite an enjoyable evening.

Derry Etkins is a Musician/Educator and Woodshed Scribe whose career spans three decades.  He has been a Radio Presenter and Music Commentator in Guyana and Barbados. Currently, he teaches music at at the St. George’s High School in the British Virgin Islands.

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