Jazz on the Hill 2008, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

… a birds eye review

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It is not easy being a die-hard Jazz fanatic who has to prepare for and travel over the waters to a festival on Virgin Gorda.  As close as VG is to Tortola and as short as the ferry ride is, the stress of getting there over two days and recording the proceedings is exceedingly high.

 

One of the biggest stress factors is the ferry itself.  One cannot afford to be late for the 06:00 o’clock because there is no alternative means of travel.  A J-Fan like me must, therefore, be well on time.  But when he has to work till 04:30 then rush off to the suburbs to change into his signature shorts and tees, then rush back to town for the 06:00 o’clock, timing is of the essence.  As a result, it is a mad rush into town ahead of the ferry departure time.

 

I boarded Speedy’s ferry boat with no more than a minute or two to spare before the regularly scheduled time, only to find out that I was in fact twenty minutes early.  For some reason, the ferry did not pull away from the Road Town Ferry Terminal until 06:20 p.m.

 

The evening’s proceedings at Jazz on the Hill was late in getting starting too, a whole hour late in fact.  That was the undoing of Night 1 on May 16, 2008.  Based on how the festival was run last year, it should have ended no later than 11:30 p.m. to give the commuters time to catch the return.  However, the show ran past midnight and ran straight into bad weather.  The rains came down in torrents at approximately 12:15 a.m. and cut out the final act – the North Carolina Central University Jazz Ensemble - after three renditions.

 

It was a pity that the NC Central University Jazz Ensemble could not finish its set.  And to think that when that orchestra struck the first note, it was clear that this majestic big band had finally put some hard swing into the Jazz on the Hill.  The festival had arrived.

 

Sherry Winston and Friends 

This is not to say that there was no real Jazz on Night 1.  Flautist Sherry Winston and Friends had entertained beforehand with a warm set of Smooth Jazz covers and originals backed by a cohesive unit comprising of piano, bass and drums.

 

Winston, ever the performer would not be confined to the stage.  On two occasions, she walked through the audience, half way up the hill, serenading her friends who had camped out on blankets, lawn chairs and the like on the grass and on boulders scattered all over.  (VG is home to huge boulders, some several stories high.)  All the while, the band chugged on, propelling the leader like they were on jet fuel or something. 

 

A Jazz band for me must have a strong rhythm section of bass and drums at least (no sequencers for me, thank you) for these two can carry a song even without a melodic instrument that the piano is.  If the bass and drums cannot lock horns, the song dies.  No question.  Well, Winston’s bassist Steve Clarke and United States Virgin Islands drummer Michael Thompson found some common ground on the hill and made some magic while they were there.

 

I am afraid that the MD’s did not live up to the standard they set at the second edition of Jazz on the Hill last year when they were fronted by saxophonist Drexel Glasgow.  As hard as MD’s drummer Natimba Turnbull worked on Night 1 this year, he could not carry the band on his own.  Had bass player Mussa Muhammad been half as energised as Natimba was, their outing tonight would have been much more satisfying.

 

MD Jazz 

MD’s does classic vocal Jazz.  It would follow then that the singer has to be at the top of his game.  This goes without saying.  David Gee, who doubles on guitar, was nowhere near the top of his game.  His singing was flat and uninspiring, which brings me to my recommendations for the band.

 

The MD’s cannot progress on the festival circuit without revamping its personnel for such dates.  Constituted as they are now, they do not have much of a problem in small settings.  But for the big stage, the band has to attract number one, a pianist with decent chops for comping and “rhythmning” to support Gee and two, a strong vocalist with decent Jazz pipes, an attitude and a personality to front the band.  The MD’s cannot present themselves again at Jazz on the Hill in the same vein as they did on Night 1.

 

I will go even further to suggest that the MD’s go outside of the British Virgin Islands for a guest pianist and singer if it is at all impossible to draw these talents from within the territory.  (I know what I am saying because this is what the musicians themselves would say.)  In short, the MD’s have to raise the level of their performance drastically to avoid the risk of being shut out to make room for fresh faces in the future.

 

Night 2, May 17, 2008 

Catching the ferry boat on Saturday evening for Jazz on the Hill, Night 2 was no less stressful than yesterday.   

 

The ferry pushed off for Virgin Gorda fifteen minutes earlier than was the case yesterday.

 

Unlike Night 1, Jazz on the Hill got started only half an hour late on Night 2.  Still for all, the programme overshot the midnight hour and caused me to board the ferry for the return sail to Road Town before the headline act was through playing.

 

And guess which of the bands I had to leave behind?  Élan Parlé.  As much as I was eager to see Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project, it was Élan Parlé that had my attention.  Unfortunately, the ferry operators could not wait till the end of the show as promised.  I had to go, leaving behind a proper introduction to the members of the band and a possible interview for this blog.  But what could I do?

 

Night 2 was nonetheless the pick of the two night affair, by far.  Just think about it, the NCCU Jazz and Vocal Jazz Ensembles put forth their full sets of immaculate orchestration, outstanding soloing by ladies on baritone, tenor and alto saxophones and gents on trumpets, saxophones, guitars, electric and upright basses and a drummer with a beat in a bottle.

 

In another world, the Big Band Jazz set would have been enough mental stimulation for one person.  But the NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble was still to come.

 

Their vocalise was so refreshing to my ears.  I had not listened to much vocalise lately and had not been privileged to watch it done live in some time.  Coincidentally, I had spun New York Voices in the background at the office just the day before, without realising what the NCCU had in store for me.  And I had to explain the nonesense syllables of ”scatting” to my colleague across the divide.  As for live vocalise, the NCCU referenced Jon Hendricks whom I had seen in concert years ago.

 

Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project 

Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project changed the beat around with their Latin Jazz inflections replete with a suite of four conga drums and the Cajon, a wooden box that the percussionist plays by sitting atop it and beating the face off it.

 

CJP took the liberty to reinterpret some Classic Jazz, Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments“; material composed from a Latin Jazz sensibility, Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia“; and the easily malleable Brazilian Jazz piece “One for Tom“ of Antonio Carlos Jobim.

 

Élan Parlé 

Then it was time for Élan Parlé to come to the stage to cap Night 2 with their blend of Calypso-Jazz.  Calypso-Jazz is not contextually configured to swing as Jazz is supposed to.  But then Jazz is no longer definable – and has not been since the first few decades after Ragtime and Dixieland morphed into the formative Jazz of Louis Armstrong and progressed through to the ‘Swing Era’ of the forties and fifties and the ‘Bop Era’ of the following two decades.  Thereafter, the fusions with rock, R&B, Latin, Brazilian and, yes, Calypso took hold. 

 

Élan Parlé has, like a number of other exponents of the Calypso-Jazz, has succeeded in formulating a method of syncopation that demands a facility with Jazz improvisation for no other reason but the fact that this is what Jazz is essentially about.

 

Band leader Michael Low Chew Tung, affectionately called ‘Ming,’ uncannily stood down on the piano, preferring to let flautist David Bertrand and pannist Mikhail Salcedo take the spotlight, which they did with remarkable flair.  Trust a pan man to whip those thin sticks all over and around the face of the pan while playing the contortionist.  But do not expect – in fact be totally surprised as I was – to see a recorder being used as a solo instrument in a band of any kind, let alone a Jazz band.  For heaven’s sake, David Bertrand pulled out a recorder and made me fancy seeing more of this unlikely instrument on display again.  

 

Bassist Sean Friday got one chance to steal the spotlight.  He came to stage front, thumped the hell out of that blue axe for a minute or two before retreating to the back to hold down the low end of the rhythm section.

 

Without attracting too much attention, drummer Richard Joseph kept metronomic time in between the fills while Ming played the Zen and calmly tickled the ivory to set the tone.

 

For the uninitiated, do not equate Calypso-Jazz with bacchanal music, which it might be if you were listening to the work of Andy Narell for instance.  Élan Parlé for its part rode the waves of authentic Jazz composition at Jazz on the Hill 2008.  While anchored on the smooth calypso beat, the music of Élan Parlé lends well to deep instrumental structures and is a moving vehicle for extensive extemporaneous expression.  This is what we got from them on the Hill.  You can’t get any Jazzier than that.

 

 

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This was a bird’s eye look at Jazz on the Hill 2008.  Detailed reviews with photos of the band repertoires to come…