HLSCC Summer Music Fest, the beginnings of a Jazz Showcase?

VI (Bri)

The H. Lavity Stoutt Community College closed the 2007/2008 music series on May 31, 2008 with the HLSCC Summer Music Fest that featured the College Woodwind, its Flute and Brass Ensembles, the Jazz Band and the Concert Chorale.

Quite naturally, my interest was in the Jazz aspect of the Music Fest. Thus, apart from the Jazz Band, my attentions were drawn to the Brass Ensemble and the Flute Choir.

The Brass Ensemble performed under the direction of Arthur Selwood who is also the Music Director and Director of Bands at the Elmore Stoutt High School.

The Ensemble split its four-song repertoire in half between the Classics and Jazz. The two Jazz pieces were arranged by the director himself, the first much like a quadrille with an element of improvisation on top, the second with a defined calypso lilt.

The Flute Choir presented the audience with more contemporary fare from James Horner and Will Jennings’ “My Heart Will Go On,” the Love Theme from “Titanic” and two songs by trumpeter and composer Bert Lochs.

”My Heart Will Go On” was undoubtedly, the smoothest of the three renditions, thanks to the solo work of Sasha Lake on flute and Felix Liu on violin. There was none of the weak notes and tentativeness that I had heard in the previous renditions from the Brass Ensemble.

“Cool Tune” by Lochs, though short, was finger snapping music. “Gettin’ Latin” by the same composer sounded more like a calypso to these ears.

The Jazz Band rounded off the evenings’ recital with an interpretation of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish,” “A Night in Tunisia,” the Dizzy “Birks” Gillespie and Frank Paparelli standard, and “Sweet Georgia Brown.”

”I Wish” was written in 1976 by Wonder who tonight was channelled by Drexel Glasgow for his tenor saxophone solo. The song was immortalized on Wonder’s hit recording “Songs in the Key of Life.”

”A Night in Tunisia” although written for the Earl Hinds band in 1942 is probably more widely associated with Charlie Parker and Art Blakey. No Dizzy here. Instead the trumpet solos were taken by Akeem Adonis, Emery Ché Pemberton and Esau Vanterpool. Other individual contributions were by Terrell Donovan on trombone; Jayvon Rhymer and Jermaine James on alto sax; and Dylan Penn on drums.

”Sweet Georgia Brown” brought the piano into play for this grand finalé, which was fantastically orchestrated with sonic horn riffing on each side of precise breaks. For this one, faculty Member Shelly Urquhart stated the theme with electric bassist Alton Bertie providing some heft with a pronounced bass line. The soloists on this one were Glasgow, once again, and soprano saxman Jeremy Vanterpool.

At close to 80 performers taken from the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College’s music programme and the wider BVI community, the Summer Music Fest has demonstrated that talent abounds in the territory and at a remarkably high level of competence at that.