Woodshed Entertainment Collective

Montserrat

___________

Guess which Caribbean island has the biggest Jazz event of the weekend?  OK, there is Jazz happening everywhere.  But would you have guessed that Montserrat is hosting Paul Lunga on Sunday, July 20?  I guess not.

Trumpeter Paul Lunga, known in his native Zimbabwe as the “King of the Jazz Horns” is headlining a cast of artistes including musicians, singers and dancers at The Night of Opera and Jazz at the Montserrat Cultural Centre. 

 Montserrat Cultural Centre 

The Cultural Centre, a $M2 gift from Sir George Martin to the people of Montserrat, was opened by the former Beatles producer in May of this year.  The 700 seat performance space is situated in Little Bay, which the residents plan to transform into a new urban center.

The concert will bring the curtains down on a week of recreational, educational and cultural activities held under the banner of the Annual Montserrat Calabash Festival.  Now in its third year, the festival was conceptualised to bring greater attention to the calabash and to draw more visitors to the island in this the slow tourist season.

The calabash is an inedible fruit that has had a central place in the heritage of not only of the Montserratian people, but that all of our Caribbean forebears.  The calabash was variously used as eating and storage utensils and musical instruments.  And artisans sourced it as a raw material for ornamental artifacts and decorations.

The other performers on the bill are saxophonist Tony Chambers out of North Carolina and some classy locals like poet Shirley Spycalla, Beth Brewer, McLoyd White and the Cultural Dancers.

Paul Lunga has performed with Jazz icons Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim among others; and for audiences in England, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United States.  However, on Sunday night, he will play for a proud people who, in spite of a country devastated by the Soufriere Hills volcano, can find the inspiration and the resolve to lift themselves out of the ashes.  And what better way to do so but to celebrate their culture, heritage and history by making that vital connection with the African motherland.  

Just added…

Beuna Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer

Ibrahim Ferrer biography

_______________________________________________

Jill Scott’s The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol.3

Sakésho’s “We want you to say…”

Arturo Tappin’s “Inside Out” 

 

“I’ll Dance Till De Sun Breaks Through” with Various Artists of the 1898-1923 period playing Ragtime, Cakewalks & Stomps

Back tracks:

Herbie Hancock’s Great Sessions Box Set

Modern Jazz Quartet: The Complete Last Concert

Najee’s Theme 

Al Jarreau: This Time

Earl Klugh: Wishful Thinking

Branford Marsalis: Trio Jeepy

Maynard Ferguson Plays Jazz For Dancing

Kenny Burrell: Blues The Common Ground

The Best of Keith Jarrett

Dinah Washington: The Bessie Smith Songbook

Swinging the Blues (1923-1929) by some of the pre-eminent Big Band leaders of that day

Jimi Hendrix: Blues               

Take 6: So Much 2 Say

Grover Washington Jr: Soul Box & Secret Place

Otis Rush: Ain’t Enough Comin’ In

Joshua Redman: Moodswing

Fourplay’s 1991 recording: Fourplay

See this Music page for more of what I am listening to…

And I would not mind it if you would share what you are listening to.  I’ll post them up here.  How about that!

Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands’ Jazz-oriented saxophonist Gary Ebanks of such bands as Intransit, The Gary Ebanks Quartet/Trio and his new outfit Triggerfish, landed an award for Artistic Excellence at the Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF) annual awards ceremony held on Thursday , June 26, 2008.  Ebanks’ award was in recognition for his work at developing the Jazz genre and his own personal growth as a musician in the British Dependent Territory.

Ebanks joined a host of awardees in the fields of dance, theatre, Art Education and Visual Arts.  Other awards given were the Heritage Awards for traditional music and writing, the Cultural Heritage Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the promotion and preservation of Caymanian Cultural Heritage, the Volunteer of the Year Award in part for Language Arts, the Sponsor Award and the Chairman’s Award for support given to the Cultural Foundation.