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Maestro Sean Thomas of the Jazz Alliance of Trinidad and Tobago (JATT) went for the jugular again Thursday night, November 12 at Drink! Wine Bar. This show dubbed Live Thursdays – “Intimate Sessions V” had drummer Thomas chugging behind (or would that have been ‘in front‘) of bassist Bj Saunders, keyboardist Wayne Guerra, alto saxophonist Natalie Wie and vocalist Bruce Greenidge.
Live Thursdays – “Intimate Sessions V” at Drink! Wine Bar, Junction Rosalino and Robert was the second item in a
packed November calendar, the first Jazz Movie Sundays showing of Louis Armstrong’s “Satchmo” at Drink! Wine Bar on the 1st.
Saturday morning, November 14, Thomas was back on the bandstand at the Storytelling Room of the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago with tenor pan player Mikhail Salcedo. They were the ones who provided the rhythms to the stories Auntie Theo told the pre-teens who had gathered at Hart and Abercromby Streets in Port of Spain for the hour-long show.
A week and a half following Rhythm Stories on Wednesday, November 25, Thomas returns to Aura for another stint, Jazz @ Aura – the Music of Michael Jackson – Jazzed Up. On this outing, Aura Restaurant & Bar will be privy to the Sean Thomas Quintet of Thomas (drums), Jeffrey Pataysingh (guitar), Wayne Guerra (keyboard), Bj Saunders (bass) and Antonio Flores (percussion) and three vocalists in Timothy Newton, Bruce Greenidge and Nyol Manswell with the possibility of a guest appearance by the most recent Digicel Rising Star winner.
For more information visit our website at www.jazzalliance.org or call 632-3061 or 689-4298
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Christophe Jenny (bananierbleu.com, musicmetis.com) reports that “Destination Guadeloupe” returned to New York City from November 18 with a serving of Jazz, Gwoka, Zouk.
The Caribbean Jazz of Kryolio was the main course on November 21 at Zinc Bar. Zinc Bar also hosted François Ladrezeau, but on November 20.
Source: Le Festival « Destination Guadeloupe » retourne à New York pour sa deuxième édition, et s’étend. Du 18 au 22 novembre, auront lieu expositions, dégustations et concerts autour du gwoka, du jazz et du zouk. C’est ainsi que Joël Nanin exposera ses créations à la Casa Frela Gallery le 18 novembre. Le 20 novembre, François Ladrezeau se produira au Zinc Bar, tandis que Jeff Joseph investira S.O.B.’s en compagnie du groupe Panik. Le jazz caribéen sera particulièrement bien représenté par Kriyolio le 21 novembre, emmené par Marc Bernos, Annick Noël, Georges Juraver… toujours au Zinc Bar. Le 22, chez S.O.B.’s, all stars antillais avec Luc Léandry, Joëlle Ursull, Jocelyne Labylle, accompagnés par l’incontournable Panik. Ce sera également l’occasion de goûter aux spécialités du Chef Georges Césarin, spécialement venu de ses cuisines du Casino du Gosier. A ne pas rater si vous êtes déjà dans la grande pomme! (Christophe Jenny)
More here…
World renowned Steel Pan Jazz recording artist Andy Narell joined forces with calypso legend Relator to explore the role of Jazz in vintage calypso. Together, they performed classic compositions by the late Grand Master Lord Kitchener and other great Calypso pioneers, supported by a group of world-class Latin-jazz cats such as Jonathan Jurion and Thierry Fanfant from the French West Indies.
Narell and Relator’s special guest at this London date was Trinidadian trumpeter Etienne Charles. This was Caribbean Jazz at its finest!
It was PanJazz UK Presents Calypso Steel Jazz at Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London, England, Sunday, November 08, 2009 from 18:30 GMT.
Source: panjazzuk.com
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Anguilla’s Tranquility Jazz Festival celebrates birthday number seven with four days of top-notch Jazz and other improvisations at the usual venues, CuisinArt Resort and Spa for the main course and Johnno’s in Sandy Ground for dessert.
At the top of the international food chain are Grammy award-winning Jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, Rachelle Ferrell, another Jazz singer who has also found some success in the pop arena, the grayed pianist Ahmad Jamal whose rolling fingers on the grand could not be more colourful and…AND…Elio Villafranca.
Enough could not be said of one opening act, a local Anguillian Jazz artiste who will rout the consciousness of even the most cynical and passive of Jazz naysayers who might head to the Cuisinart for anything but the Jazz. Jaine Rogers’ mid-range vocals, crisp and crackly like walking on twigs, will evoke emotions of travails and yearning in the attentive that will belie her age and her recent appearance on the landscape as a bona fide recording artist. She is sure to get “Under Your Skin.”
But as for Tranquility Jazz Festival, Straight No Chaser, the jury verdict is unanimous, “Guilty” for a darn great party.
More here…
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The Welcome message on the official site of the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival 2009 reads:
“The Dominican Republic Jazz Festival is a festival full of rhythm, flavor, and color that each year is wrapped in the fragrant air of the North Coast of the Dominican Republic. It is a unique experience to have the opportunity to enjoy our festival, where the music vibrates on the lively beach of Cabarete.”
The beach at Playa Cabarete underwent a seismic shift for three consecutive nights starting Friday, November 06.
Leading the pack on the Friday night was the Ania Paz Jazz Ensemble led by the pianist/composer from Lima, Peru who now resides in the DR. The Paz Ensemble charmed the crowd with their Afro-Peruvian and Caribbean Jazzstylings that took the spotlight away from the Holograma Quintet with Wilson “Chembo” Corniel.
Also making an appearance at Cabarete was Antonio Sánchez, Fellé Vega + Un Folclore Imaginario, The Marco Pignataro Quintet and José Alberto, aka “El Canario.”
As is the wont of a well-rounded Jazz Festival, there were Clinics, Seminars and Workshop and Youth Concerts.
More here…
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by Production One
edited by Israel
Southerner, Vaughnette Bigford, will be the fifth Songbird in the series SONGBIRDS…live at Aura Restaurant & Bar on Wednesday, November 04 2009.
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!
Hailing from South Trinidad, Bigford’s professional entry onto the jazz circuit came at the 2004 Steelpan & Jazz Festival (formerly Pan Royale).
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.
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.
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.
More here…
> The 14th Annual Bermuda Music Festival is not a Jazz festival. But when multi-Grammy producer, composer and arranger Quincy Jones is headlining with some of his “Friends” for three days straight, the WEC has to stand up and take notice.
The BMF, which by the by was streamed live in part on the first night, Thursday, October 29, lit up the Bermuda skyline at the Keep Yard, Maritime Museum, Royal Naval Dockyard, Sandys with Wyclef Jean and Erykah Badu.
On Friday, October 30, Quincy’s Friends were Kenny Rogers, Michael McDonald, James Ingram and Q’s god-daughter, Patti Austin. Austin, who last earned herself a 2009 Grammy for Avant-Gershwin, has successfully crossed back and forth between chart-topping pop hits and Jazz over the decades-long span of her career.
BMF09 drew the curtains down on Sunday, October 31 with comedian Chris Tucker doing impersonations of Michael Jackson and six-time Grammy recording artist John Legend.
Naturally Seven, an R&B a cappella vocal group that Q has taken under his wings, opened all three nights of the festival.
Siedah Garrett was thrown into the mix somewhere along the line.
Quincy Jones’ Friends are essentially artists with whom he has collaborated over the years. Unfortunately, the Q does not seem to have any Bermuda Friends. At least, no mention was made of any of them as far as we could tell from the Woodshed.
Sources: caribbeannetnews.com, bmf09.com
> 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).
More here…
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Full details on the Frontpage
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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.
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.
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.
More here…
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The ‘Harlem-Kingston Express‘ rolled into the Allen Room housed in the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center on October 2 and October 3. At the wheel was Jamaica’s piano great, Monty Alexander using the double-band concept, which Alexander described for himself as “everything from the jungle to the bush.” There was the Jamaican reggae side and the Modern Jazz side that featured Trinidadian trumpeter Etienne Charles among others.
More here…
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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.
Among the Barbados cast are noteworthy Caribbean Jazz acts in the persons of singers Rosemary Phillips and Kellie Cadogan. Cadogan does a half hour set of Jazz, R&B and original material on Saturday 26. Rosemary Phillips shows up on Sunday 27.
More here…
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Once again, the HLSCC’s Auditorium was transformed into an extraordinary worship experience, Saturday, September 19, 2009.
The “Gospel in a Mello Tone” (GMT), a local group of talented British Virgin Islands musicians led by Drexel Glasgow, presented a night of worship in songs, dance and the arts, as “GMT presents Praise Hymns.” The musical styles of Jazz, Latin and the contemporary applied to hymns and sacred songs we formed the heart of the night’s experience.
The words of Psalms 150:1, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” was the vision on which this year’s worship experience was again based. This night of worship was not proposed as entertainment, but a night of reflection and sacrifice to God. Therefore, GMT anticipated that hearts would be blessed, souls saved, and the afflicted healed by the presence of Almighty God.
The event was held at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College’s Auditorium commencing at 7:00 p.m. sharp, Saturday 19th September, 2009. Admission was FREE but an offering was collected.
The Gospel in a Mello Tone invited the whole family to join them for the extraordinary worship experience.
Review here…
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Get Ready, Get Jazzed as the Jazz Alliance of Trinidad and Tobago heat things up with four events starting at the Drink Wine Bar on Thursday, September 17 2009 and ending @ Aura, Thursday, October 01 2009, both in Port of Spain.
The Intimate Session Series is Event 1 on September 17. Featured performers are Theron Shaw (guitar), Douglas Redon (bass) and Sean Thomas (drums).
Jazz @ Aura is Event 4 on Sunday, October 01 2009. On this occasion, Shaw, Redon and Thomas are joined by singer Patti Rogers and pianist Dave Marcellin. The resultant Sean Thomas Quintet may be complimented by visiting international Jazz artists.
In the middle of Events 1 and 4 are Jazz Movie Sundays (Event 2) on September 20 and 110 Jazz (Event 4) on September 27.
The place where the music, people and the ambiance will come together for Event 2, the showing of The Movie, Bird, is Drink Wine Bar. One week later, on September 27, 110 Jazz and Calypso Lounge is host to 110 Jazz with the Sean Thomas Quintet.
These are some of the places where the music, people and the ambiance will come together in Trinidad over the next month.
More here…
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The 21st Century Band of Dion Parson and Aruba’s Izaline Calister were just in Holland sweating it out before going on stage at The Pure Jazz Movement. The 21st Century Band helped Kick Off The Pure Jazz Movement at the Theater aan het Spui (Spui Theater) in The Hague on Saturday, September 12, 02:00pm Caribbean time. Calister was one of those capping off the Movement on Sunday 13.
Calister, who is taking a break from promoting her new album Speransa, fronted the Peter Beets Trio for a set of contemporary arrangements of music from George Gershwin’s famous opera, Porgy and Bess, that she and Beets put together for the Movement.
By the end of the two-day event, The Pure Jazz Movement will have put 150 artists on five stages at eight Locations around The Hague.
More here…
Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba was engaged with his trio at Birdland in New York through September 12. This run, which began on Tuesday, September 8, put the trio through two sets nightly, one at 08:30 and the second at 11:00pm.
His latest passion is the development of a solo piano program to upgrade the verdancy of Cuban rhythms with a contemporary slant all his own.
More here…
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Martinique Jazz pianist, Mario Canonge, took his brand of Jazz, Biguine, Bèlè and Gwo Ka to the Tokyo Institute, Japan on Thursday, September 10. The centerpiece of Canonge’s musical rendezvous in Brasserie were selections from his Rhizome CD. Accompanying him on this excursion were Linley Marthe on bass and Sardjoe Chandler on drums.
Jacques Schwarz-Bart is on a similar mission to Canonge’s. No, he was not in Japan; he was on at Jazz à La Villette in France, Friday, September 11. What I actually meant was that Schwarz-Bart’s tour de force is the creation of a hybrid of Jazz and Gwo Ka – the powerful, roots drum music of Guadeloupe.
Schwarz-Bart presented the album live at 14:00h eastern (20:00h in France).
More here…
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The summer of Free Latino Concerts in New York City and Puerto Rico wound down on Sunday, August 30, the second day of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, with a performance by the Afro-Caribbean group Papo Vazquez Pirates Troubadours at Tompkins Square Park, New York. In the middle of August, it was the turn of the PR Latin Jazz fans to partake of the 5th International Festival of Latin Jazz – another free event – at the Center for Municipal Services and Urban Garden in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico.
The connection between these two freebies is Papo Vazquez.
Papo Vazquez‘ penchant for and skill at fusing Afro-Caribbean – principally Puerto Rican – rhythms with Progressive Jazz opened up opportunities for him to play his instrument, the trombone, with a range of artists.
Nonetheless, his voice goes beyond the ‘Bone’ to being a Jazz and Classical music composer.
Vazquez was not a part of the 5th International Festival of Latin Jazz, but that was alright. The fans and the student musicians who attended the free symposium, workshops and live performances from August 13 – 15, 2009 were taken care of by a competent roster of Latin Jazzers.
This years festival was dedicated to the memory of Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, and Tony Bennett.
More here…
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The main events of the 3rd edition of the Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival 2009 are set for September 4-5 at Cas di Cultura, Aruba. But the Warming-up, as a lead in to the annual outdoor festival, began on Monday, August 31.
This year, Caribbean Sea features Smooth Jazz saxophonist, David Sanborn and the Curaçao-born Izaline Calister at the top of the bill. They are being supported by local Aruban acts.
Headliners from past festivals were Michel Camilo, Praful and Randal Corsen, Ploctoons, Moonbaker, Cubop City Band and Paoli Mejias.
More here…
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RUTH OSMAN to appear next on SONGBIRDS…live at the AURA
More here…
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The Smooth Jazz Sundays series continues on Sunday, August 30, 2009 at Martin’s on Woodford Street, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Trinidad celebrates Independence Day on Monday, August 31, so it is fitting for Élan Parle and the Clifford Charles Quartet to do an “Independence Edition” of Smooth Jazz Sundays.
Guesting with Ming and Charles will vocalist Kern Summerville and pannist Sherwin Cooper.
That is Smooth Jazz Sundays “Independence Edition,” 30th August 2009 @ Martin’s on Woodford Street in Newtown. (Turn left at the American Embassy off the savannah then left on Woodford; Martin’s is on the the right.)
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Caroline at Corner Bar
Trinidadian Songbird, Caroline Mair, closed her summer of Jazz in Trinidad for 2009 at The Corner Bar August 25, 2009 with what she called a celebration of “life-love-music and all that good stuff.”
Mair featured DEAN WILLIAMS on guitars and DJ ANDROID on turntables.
This was her last gig before returning to London.
More here…
The AT&T San Jose Jazz Festival
This festival was filled to the brim with acts, big and small. But from the Caribbean Jazz perspective, we singled out for mention the John Santos Sextet who performed on the Latin Jazz Stage on Sunday, August 09, 2009, 2:00 pm.
Santos, a four-time Grammy nominee, is arguably, one of the leading Afro-Latin percussionists in the world today in addition to being a respected and recognized record and event producer.
Santos has studied, performed and recorded with the foremost Afro-Latin and Jazz masters of our time.
More here…
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Biguine Jazz Festival, Martinique
Switching to the French Caribbean island of Martinique, the Biguine Jazz Festival 2009 entered into a three-day splurge starting August 09, 2009. During that time, singers and musicians brought to life a fusion of styles, the essence of the island’s culture.
Into its seventh year, Carrefour de la Musique créative des Outre-Mers has consistently attracted their dedicated patrons to massive concerts in various towns around the country.
One of the ways in which this is being pursued is by bringing French Guiana and Guadeloupe to the festival in order to more closely foster the development of a new generation of creative musicians.
The longstanding practitioners of Biguine Jazz like Falfret and Paco Charlery as well as Dominique Bougrainville were expected to perform.
More here…
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To ALL S.T. Jazz fans
S.T. Jazz Incorporated Limited is proud to be associated with The Jazz Alliance of Trinidad and Tobago. JATT would like to thank all Jazz listeners for their continued listenership towards Jazz Music and look forward to your support towards JATT. Those of you who are not yet listeners of Jazz, JATT is here to help you Listen, Learn and Play Jazz Music. Check newsletter below for details.
ST. Jazz
More here…
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Read Nigel Campbell’s review here…
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Read Ming’s review here…
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Trumpeter Etienne Charles celebrated the release of his new album Folklore with a listening party and CD signing Monday, 03 August 2009 at Satchmo’s, 42 Ariapita Ave, Woodbrook, Port of Spain from 19:00 – 22:00.
More here…
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This past Sunday, August 02 2009, Trinidad’s Elan Parle played Martin’s Piano Bar on Woodford Street, Port of Spain. Elan Parle inaugurated Smooth Jazz Sundays with music from the band’s soon-to-be-released Jazzalypso CD.
Ming’s First Person Account here…
Guitarist Clifford Charles will smooth things out again at Martin’s next Sunday, August 09.
Elan Parle plays "JAZZALYPSO"
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Jazz singer, Vaughnette Bigford, and saxophonist Anthony Woodruffe Jr., gave of their time and talent Saturday, August 01 2009 at a charity show to benefit the United Way of Trinidad, and by extension, the NGOs who provide support to the vulnerable elements of the Trinidad society. Simply Helping Our World: An evening of Cocktails, Culture & Couture, the brain child of corporate donor, PCS Nitrogen was organised by its in-house PCS United Way Trinidad and Tobago Fundraising Committee.
SHOW was a billed as a multi-faceted charity extravaganza hosted at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom in Port-of Spain.
Bigford and Woodruffe Jr. and Friends performed to the backdrop of fashion illustrations by the students of the Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design.
(Sources: newsday.co.tt, trinidadexpress.com, guardian.co.tt for photo credit)
More here…
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Jazz @ Aura Restaurant & Bar, Trinidad, July 29
FIND YOUR AURA!
“Experience the Music @ Another Level”
The Launch of the Jazz @ Aura took place at Aura Restaurant & Bar, 51 Cipriani Boulevard, Port of Spain, Trinidad, on July 29 2009. This three-hour inaugural Jam Session was a collaboration between Jazz Alliance of Trinidad and Tobago and S.T. Jazz Inc.
The featured musicians for Jazz @ Aura were Errol Ince, Clifford Charles, Ken “Professor” Philmore, Candace Alcantara -vocals,Vaughnette Bigford, Douglas Redon, Raf Robertson, Sean Thomas.
R to the Power of 3, Trinidad, July 25
Guyana-born Ruth Osman surprised Marielle Barrow, host of Trini Smooth (Saturday 18 and Sunday 19, 03:00 pm) on wmjxfm.com with her depiction of her spirituality, as expressed in her music, as “Jazz with God.”
Some of that would have been enjoyed again at R to the Power of 3 at the new Daaga Auditorium, UWI (University of the West Indies) Trinidad, July 25 2009 at 08:00 pm.
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Bigford then took a step back at Jazz in July on the weekend of July 25 and 26 to Cheryl Pepsii Riley and band featuring Trinidad drummer, Dean James. She was part of a strong supporting cast of Trinidadian artistes including Mungal Patasar and Pantar, Jazz fusion artiste R’kardo St’Von, Jazz vocalists Glenda Collens and Pattie Rogers, and pannists Dane Gulston and Nigel Supersad led by guitarist Theron Shaw.
More on these stories here…
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Trinidadian trumpet phenom, Etienne Charles, launches his brand new CD release ‘Folklore’ from Tuesday, July 21 through 25 at Dizzy’s Club Cola 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.
More here…
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GAYAP 2009, St. Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago is here!. Friends of St. Joseph Convent teamed up with Island Productions & Promotions to present this Jazz-centric event at The Nazarene, July 18, 2009.
This inaugural fundraiser for the namesake school packed the Bamboo Sanctuary in St. Joseph with a mix of local and regional Jazz artists.
Up on stage was guitarist Michael Boothman, sitar playing Mungal Patasar, a Trinidadian of Indian heritage, pianist Dave Marcellin, Caribbean Jazz star in the making, Vaughnette Bigford, electric guitarist Clifford Charles, pannist Mikhail Salcedo and Relator, fresh from the release of the seminal ‘University of Calypso‘ collaboration with Andy Narell.
Right up under the Trinidadians were Guyanese flautist Ruth Osman and Barbadian sax lion, Arturo Tappin.
Osman, who has made Trinidad home, was expected to put on her poet’s hat in addition to her most obvious skill as a musician and writer.
With no time to spare, Tappin was on a flight out of Trinidad Sunday, after GAYAP, headed for Montserrat’s 4th Annual Calabash Festival, which would has been underway from July 11.
Tappin joined returning headliners from last year, trumpeter Paul Lunga and saxophonist Tony Chambers, for a gala evening on July 19 at the Montserrat Culutral Centre.
So that was GAYAP for you, a Smooth Jazz experience on July 18, 2009 at The Nazarene, a bamboo sanctuary next to Ortinola Estate, Acono Rd., Maracas Valley, St. Joseph, Trinidad.
More here…
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Gospel-Jazz pianist, Daniel Bishop and Friends were confident going into A Taste of Heaven 1 at the CLR James Auditorium located at the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies in St. Joseph, Trinidad on Saturday, June 20.
Speaking with Marielle Barrow, host of Trini Smooth on wmjx 100.5 fm hours before the show, Bishop described the sound he hoped to produce as “something new and refreshing.”
Citing the Smooth Jazz groups Yellowjackets and Spyro Gyra as some of his major musical influences, Bishop explained that he was inspired to draw on the emphasis that these outfits place on melody.
Speaking to the apparent contradiction of his drawing from Smooth Jazz rather than Gospel to germinate his Gospel Jazz, Bishop lamented the state and standard of music in the church right now.
Daniel Bishop and Friends was Bishop on keyboards, Sean Friday, David Bertrand, David Richards, Tamba Gwindi, Gideon Bishop, Genia and Reisha St. Hilaire, Juline John and Chris ‘Tambu’ Herbert. Marvin replaced Dean Williams who was out state.
More here…
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Grenada-born keyboardist, Eddie Bullen, put forth his talent for a charity event at the Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W., Toronto, Canada on June 14, 2009 to assist students living in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto. Dubbed Jazz at the Drake, this Jazz and Blues event featured Bullen’s 16 year old son, Quincy, said to be a child prodigy on the keys.
Bullen wears several caps as a Jazz musician, Pianist, songwriter, arranger and producer.
He has garnered a Juno award, Canada’s equivalent to the Grammy. Bullen also got several Canadian nominations in the Smooth Jazz category between 2005 and 2008.
More here…
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The Jazz Band, led by André Braithwaite, in a previous performance
(Image courtesy, HLSCC)
Subsequent Post: A bit about the HLSCC Summer Music Fest, BVI
Previous Post: HLSCC Performing Arts Series’ Summer Music Fest, Saturday, May 31, 2008
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On Friday, May 08, 2009, Jazz elder Clive Zanda paid a visit to Satchmo’s on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook. The Clive Zanda Trio for this gig was Peter Shim, self-described on-call drummer sitting in for Richard Joseph, who was on duty with Élan Parlé, and bassist Russel Durity.
Peter submitted the following first-person account to the Woodshed:
It was a blast drumming for Clive at Satchmo’s.
Peter swears by Zildjian 6″ & 10″ Splashes, 14′ & 16″ Fast Crashes and the 20″ K Custom Dark Dry Ride
Clive opened with a 12 bar blues improv, which morphed into a ’straight-ahead’ jazz swing and back again.
The thing I love about Zanda is that he never plays a song ‘verbatim’ so to speak. A ‘Zanderization’ occurs…he goes left, I follow…add to the stream…now I’m asking for it…Zanda Time.
Zanda will take a song through a myriad of rhythmic expressions, be it Kaiso, Afro-Latin, Blues-shuffle, Samba and so on. The reward for me is creating a ‘feel’ with the elements given to me by the other musicians. A cohesiveness occurs, an aural power manifests and everyone gets pulled into its vortex – adding, changing, creating. This is definitely where I love being.
Drummer on call…
Peter Shim
Zanda changed company on Tuesday, May 12 for an assault on a repertoire of Jazz Standards, Folk music and Calypso at The Corner Bar on Ariapita Avenue. He was not the leader of that band though; Sean Thomas was.
Drummer Thomas of ST Jazz Inc. Ltd. invited Zanda to be the guest of honour for ‘A Spiritual Journey Through Jazz’ with a trio outing at The Corner from 10:00 pm to midnight Tuesday 12. Douglas Reddon was the one thumping the ‘Low’ (I just wanted to talk like our French friends do for a moment).
More here…
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Three days into the month of May, Who is R’Kardo St’Von? Part Deux, came off at Casa de Ibiza on 163 Tragarete Road, POS, Trinidad.
St. Von is a vocalist who does Jazz. And it is Jazz that he brought to the Casa de Ibiza on Sunday, May 03 with the backing of folks like pianist Chantal Esdelle and guitarist Theron Shaw.
This show was presented by Ricardo Mendoza.
updated on May 07, 2009
Parson, a native of the United States Virgin Islands, and Gordon were the guests of The Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay where they teamed up to discuss The History of Caribbean Jazz and Food: two defining Caribbean Cultural aspects from April 24 through 26, 2009. Gordon, a well-schooled trombonist and a close buddy of Parson’s, was in fact sitting in with Parson’s 21st Century Band.
Victor Provost, Pat Worsham, Essiet O. Essiet, Peter Pollak, Wycliffe Gordon, Dion Parson and Carlton Holmes
More here…
Collens closed the series on April 25. Trained in vocal performance and opera, she cut her teeth in the 2005 and 2006 editions of the multimedia ‘The 3canal Show.’ (Source: Trinidad and Tobago Guardian)
More here…
That roster went up on Sunday, April 11 when élan parlé pulled another CD out of the can. Twelve tracks full, Jazzalypso was presented at Martin’s Piano Bar on 85 Woodford Street Newtown, Port of Spain. EP performed live from 06:00 pm.
The Theron Shaw Experience lent support as the undercard.
More here…
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The Jolly Roger, a popular eatery situated on the west coast of the big island of Tortola, British Virgin Islands, has brought back the Bud Light True Music Series. The series commenced on January 09 and 10, 2009 with Dan Myers and Levi Briton. Myers plays the harmonica, mandolin and violin while Breton does the vocals and doubles on the acoustic guitar.The “jump-swing-rockin-boogie-blues-billy music” of Hudson (Harkins) and the Hoodoo Cats struck the set of The True Blue Series on April 10 & 11. (Source: BVI Limin’ Times)
More here…
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March is shaping up to be a month on the ‘Jazz Greens.’
On Sunday 08th, the UVI (United States Virgin Islands) Jazz Ensemble performed at Jazz on the Green, a 20th anniversary special to raise scholarship funds for the university. This took place at the St. Thomas Golf Course, St. Thomas, USVI. (See A1 Jazz Calendar for details).
One week later, on March 15, the action switched to the “the wider green” outside Jamaica House, the official Spanish Town residence of Jamaica’s Prime Minister. There, the Rotary Club of Spanish Town had a fundraiser of its own. And guess the name of it? Why, Jazz on the Green, of course.
More here…
update 4 on March 27, 2009
On Sunday, March 29, the Jazz got greener still when the seventh edition of Production One Ltd.’s Jazz Artists on the Greens 2009 came alive at the UWI Centre for Creative and Festival Arts, U.W.I. St. Augustine, Gordon Street, Trinidad and Tobago.
Jazz Artists on the Greens was conceptualized to expand the scope of the musical palette for high profile Jazz concerts in Trinidad and Tobago by promoting primarily local and Caribbean artistes with the addition of a smattering of international names for good measure.
This year, Production One lined up an anchor band called the JAOTG Quintet
Also from Trinidad was Blue Culture.
There were a couple of songbirds too, mind you. Do the names Vaughnette Bigford and Caroline Mair ring a bell – or pluck your heart strings?
The before and after-parties were jumping too. One of them that we knew of was Emo Jazz Jam Experience, an after-party organized by drummer Sean Thomas’ S.T. Jazz Inc. Sean attracted some of the foreign and local artists who appeared at Jazz Artists on the Greens for an 11:00 pm Jam Session on Festival night, March 29.
Chantal Esdelle and Moyenne was also at the Jam. However, they had their own pre-party of sorts two days earlier at Alice Yard, 80 Roberts Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain.
In fact, the Alice Yard gig was a double bill (triple bill, if you want) with Phillip Nanton who performed a dramatic monologue and dialogue entitled Island Voices to the artwork of Vincentian painter Caroline ‘Bops’ Sardine.
For those wanting still more excitement, they would have gone to the Moyenne Sessions at the Corner Bar on Tuesday, March 24. Moyenne plays the Corner Bar every Tuesday after that.
And if better could not be done, and you missed the parties and Jazz on the Greens, then Tobago Jazz Experience is the place to be from April 23 – 26, 2009.
I guess that is what it is all about.
More here…
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On Tobago Jazz Experience
update 2 April 06, 2009
The Plymouth Jazz Festival in Tobago, Tn’T is the first big casualty of the global economic meltdown. The major sponsor of the event, CLICO, collapsed this year under the weight of a US$8146 million loss over the past two years. And to think that CLICO had statutory fund surpluses for three years running, from 2004 to 2006. Compounding matters further, interest from potential patrons abroad was less than satisfactory thereby casting doubt on the viability of the event. This was being blamed squarely on the economic crisis gripping the world and by extension the Caribbean region.
Unable to continue their commitment to the festival, CL Communications Ltd., the promoter of the festival, has pulled out forcing the cancellation of the event for this year at least.
Plymouth Jazz Festival was scheduled for April 24 – 26, 2009.
However, all may not be lost. It is not inconceivable that an alternative, but smaller event, may be organized for the same time to save face and keep the festival alive, somewhat. So said Oswald Williams, Tourism Secretary in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).
Not to be cynical and overly insensitive to the plight of a hitherto successful company that is CLICO, it must be said that while Plymouth Jazz may have been a boon for the service industry on Trinidad’s sister island, it was for the most part a prostitution of the Jazz theme. The festival built a shameless reputation of plugging itself as a Jazz Festival without exhibiting even a meagre semblance of tokenism in patronizing the rich and verdant Jazz practitioners that the twin-island Republic has birthed.
In simple English, Plymouth Jazz was never really a Jazz Festival.
More here…
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One day before Herbie Miller’s ‘In Search of the Lost Riddim’ on February 26, the lights go up on the 42nd Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho. The theme of this four-day festival is ‘World Rhythms of Jazz.’
And on the very day of ‘Lost Riddim,’ U.I. is going to become infected with ‘Island Fever – Grooves from Brazil and the Caribbean.’ Representing the Caribbean on this the second day of the festival is ‘Monty Alexander’s Jazz and Roots,’ which I suspect is Monty’s double-band – one part Straightahead Jazz band, one part Reggae-Jazz band, working it simultaneously.
Back to Wednesday, February 25 for opening night, two all-star bands have a ” horn blow-out” planned in an exploration of Dizzy Gillespie’s canon. Dubbed ‘Latin Rhythms meet Dizzy Gillespie,’ one band is being led by John Faddis while Jackie Rizo fronts the ‘Jazz on the Latin Side All Stars.’
More here…
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In Search of the Lost Riddim
Jamaican Jazz Fusion: A Concert and Conversation
Curated by Herbie Miller
Cedric Brooks (saxophones), Ernest Ranglin (guitar), Wayne Batchelor (string bass), Desmond Jones (drums), Cecil “Sonny” Bradshaw (trumpet and piano), Orville Hammond (piano), Larry McDonald (congas), and Douglas Ewart (reeds and percussion), leading innovators of Jamaican Jazz will, on the evening of February 26, come together to perform for the first first time on the Harlem Stage at Aaron Davis Hall, The City College of New York at 150 Convent Avenue, 135th Street, New York City.
These eight Jamaican Jazz musicians will treat their Harlem Stage audience to a musical conversation highlighting the ongoing relationship between the Jamaican and American Jazz cultures.
More here…
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> Berklee College of Music’s Africana Studies/Music and Society initiative has planned a night of Caribbean Jazz for Thursday, February 19, 2009 at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston. The Jazz as Culture, Language, Being, and Music series will show off the College’s Bob Marley Ensemble, an Afro-Cuban Ensemble and the Steel Pan Ensemble.
The Steelpan Ensemble will draw its inspiration from Trinidadian composers Ray Holman, Lennox “Boogsie” Sharpe, and Earl Rodney whose compositions will be presented in a Contemporary Jazz vein, as well as in Calypso and pop.
The Ensemble will have a Trinidadian musician at its helm. His name is Ron Reid, associate professor of contemporary writing and production at Berklee College.
More here…
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> Musicians from twenty countries including Barbados, Bermuda in the Caribbean and Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina in Latin America are currently scattered around eleven locations in Havana and Plaza America Mall in Varadero, Matanzas, Cuba for the 25th edition of Jazz Plaza International Festival 2009.
Organized by the Cuban Institute of Music and the National Center of Concert Music under lead promoter Jesús “Chucho” Valdés, Jazz Plaza runs from February 12 – 15, 2009.
Bermuda will be represented by Ming (drums), fronting the UNIT Band.
More here…
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> updated on February 09, 2009
The Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts 2009 is very much on the air. The festival, which encompasses a range of artistic lines, got going on January 08, 2009 but the first Jazz episode of the festival was on Friday, February 06. On stage at the City Hall Theatre was The Empire Brass Quintet, which was in for two different types of shows, one a mix of Jazz and Classical music, the second all Classical. The patrons at the Jazz concert on Friday heard stuff like George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” and Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean A Thing.”
One fifth of the Brass Quintet is Bermudan tuba player Kenneth Amis. Amis, a long-standing member of the Quintet, returned home with the band armed with a special piece commissioned by the Bermuda Festival to commemorate his country’s 400th anniversary. The Scent of Paradise was performed on Friday – and on Saturday too when the Quintet gave an all Classical concert at City Hall.
The next scheduled Jazz act for the BFPA is another Bermudan Craig Lemont Walters. Walters is not unlike Amis in that he splits his talent between Jazz and the Classics. The difference between them is that whereas Amis blows, Lemont pipes. The man is an Opera and Jazz singer. He is based in Germany where he has plied his trade for more than twenty years.
For his February 10th show, Craig Lemont will restrict himself to Jazz vocals.
More here…
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> HLSCC Concert Series Resumes with Jazz Showcase
He will be accompanied during his performance at the College by Eduardo Zavas on piano, Gabriel Rodriguez on bass, Gadwin Vargas on Conga, Raul Maldonado on drums, and Norberto Ortiz on saxophone.
Friday’s concert will start at 8:00 p.m.
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The Berklee Performance Center at 136 Mass Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts will be host to saxophonist Joshua Redman’s “Double Trio” on January 22, 2009. Redman will be on tour in support of the double-trio album Compass (Nonesuch), which will be sprung from the can on January 13. The Berklee date will be one-seventh of an initial seven-city swing featuring the “pair of trios,” as Redman described his concept. (Source: thepheonix.com)
More here…
A fortnight later Jamaican Jazz pianist Monty Alexander will officiate at Scullers, located at Double Tree Guest Suites Hotel, 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, January 30 and 31, 2009. (Source: thepheonix.com)
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Holland America’s new ms Eurodam sailed out of Samana, Dominican Republic on Monday, January 26, 2009 with a boat load of Blues artists led by Taj Mahal & The Tuba Band, Irma Thomas, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeshi, John Hammond, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Holmes Brothers, Kinsey Report, and on and on…30 Blues acts in all.
Destination? Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
Local Bluesman MJ Blues lit up the party at noon on the day to set the mood for the Kinsey Report, which took to the stage one hour later.
More here…
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The legendary Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes will headline the five-day Panama Jazz Festival with Wayne Shorter, John Patitucci, Brian Blade and Danilo Perez in January 2009.
The festival under-card will be Puerto Rican saxophonist Marco Pignataro and his Quintet featuring bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Drummond, Panamanian saxophonist Jahaziel Arrocha, flutist Hubert Laws and bassist Jimmy Haslip among others.
The brainchild of Boston-based Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez, the festival runs from January 12-17. Perez founded the Panama Jazz Festival five years ago, serving as its Artistic Director from its inception.
More here…
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Imagine that. Imagine the possibilities that the Jazz idiom offers the creative and the daring.
Imagine Trinidadian trumpeter Etienne Charles’ music being used as a soundtrack to a live art painting event.
Mark Wiener, an abstract painter from New York, will on Thursday, December 18 be painting live to Etienne’s Afro-Caribbean rhythms and straight-ahead Jazz at the Roger Smith Hotel in mid-town Manhattan.
More here…
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Anguilla, British West Indies
update 7 on November 24, 2008
The Anguilla Tranquility Jazz Festival is back on the block starting on Thursday, November 06, 2008. This straight-up, ‘Straight, No Chaser!’ Jazz Festival, the only genuine all-round Jazz Festival in the Caribbean, is flooded with a high energy roster of star-studded Jazz artistes taken from the top echelons of the art right here in the Caribbean and beyond.
Talk about trumpeters, Nicholas Payton and Arturo Sandoval; Jazz singers, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Patti Austin; pianist Michel Camilo; and saxophonist Dean Frazer.
But amidst these high-rollers are a couple of Anguillian stars in Roxanne Webster and Jelani Banks.
Webster and Banks actually made their mark in 2007 as members of the ‘Morlens Ten‘ in the Morlens Music Studio Concert Series before coming to the fore this year.
More here…
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update 2 on November 04, 2008
The Trinidad and Tobago Steelpan Jazz Festival revved up and raced headlong from the media launch in October to the Festival Finale on November 01, 2008. The Steelpan Jazz Festival was launched at the Kam Wah Restaurant by producer Ainsley Mark, Chairman of the Queens Royal College Foundation, a thirteen year-old charitable trust, established to assist the namesake college with its programmes.
This TT$6 million event got going in earnest on Tuesday, October 21 with a Photo Exhibition at the National Museum. Entitled ‘Steelpan and Jazz: the Trinidad and Tobago Experience,’ the exhibits stood through to the end.
More here…
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Here are the nominees for Best Latin Jazz Album, the winner to be announced at the 9th Annual Latin Jazz Grammy Awards on November 13, 2008 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The awards ceremony will be broadcast on the Univision Network from 07:00pm ET/PT.
The complete list of nominees for Best Latin Jazz Album and all other categories can be found here…
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posted on September 14; updated on October 08
The San Fernando (Trinidad) Jazz Festival was back on top of San Fernando Hill from September 17 through 21, 2008. It seemed just like yesterday that the SFJF lowered the curtains on the 2007 edition.
The festival, which sounded off in earnest at various locations in South Trinidad on September 17, was officially launched at Club 110 Jazz and Calypso lounge in South Trinidad on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 with the help of Michael Low Chew Tung (Ming) protégé Candice Alcantera.
Alcantera, who records on Low Chew Tung’s Parlëmusik label was backed up by Élan Parlé, Ming’s Calypso-Jazz experiment. She performed eight songs withthe band, starting off with her version of David Rudder’s “Spirit of Music,” which by the way can be heard on ‘Kindred Spirits,’ a parlémusik 2001 compilation produced by Ming and his band.
Sticking with the covers, Alcantera offered up material from such such artistes as Nina Simone (My Baby Just Cares), Sade (Sweetest Tabou) and Antonio Carlos Jobim (One Note Samba).
On the night, Élan Parlé played the role of opening act to Alcantera, it seemed. Regardless, the Club 110 crowd was fired up nicely with “Outta da Blue,” a play on the classic Miles Davis title “Out of the Blue” and “Cantaloupe Island.“
The San Fernando Jazz Festival headliners were keyboardist Joe Sample and the Crusaders, Dominica’s Lady of Song, Ophelia Marie appearing at the festival for the second time, and Dennis Smith and his Ensemble with singer Marsha Charles, aka Lady Adanna.
But on D-Night (September 17), it was the Errol Ince Quintet that kick-started the musical joyride. The Quintet was fronted by Lady Adanna whom Jolanda Charles of the Trinidad Guardian described as having soothed the hill top crowd with her renditions of ‘At Last’ and Grover Washington’s ‘Mr. Magic.’
Trinidadian Jazz crooner Mavis John was one of a number of celebrities who watched Joe Sample’s Crusaders (Sample (keyboards); Wilton Felder (sax); Wayne Henderson (trombone); Forest Robinson (drums); and, Sample’s son, Rick (bass) with guest accompanist Ray Parker Jr. (guitar) from their perch in the VIP section upstairs the San Fernando Hill administration building.
The various venues for the event were Club 110, Trade Winds Hotel, Atherly’s by the Park and San Fernando Hill.
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August 26
The word out of St. Lucia is that Luther François’ brand new CD “Castries Underground” was launched on August 15, 2008. The LRF (Luther’s initials) Soundworks Inc. production features the saxophonist fronting some of the Caribbean’s most accomplished musicians, plus. That line up comprises of keyboardist Frankie McIntosh (St. Vincent), drummer Sean Thomas (Trinidad), and percussionist Charly Chomoreau-Lamotte (Guadeloupe).
The Collective has opened a door of communication with Luther who has promised to fill in the blanks in regards to availability of the recording and background notes on the release.
More…
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July 08
The Gospel of Jazz will take front and center at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, British Virgin Islands this Saturday, July 12 as part of a night of worship in song.
The show, dubbed “Gospel in a Mello Tone,” an obvious take on the Duke Ellington classic “In a Mellow Tone,” is based on the theme “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” taken from Psalms 150.
The group of musicians and singers who are up to sing the praises on their instruments and with their voices is led by tenor saxophonist Drexel Glasgow. They will present a repertoire of hymns, sacred and gospel songs in various styles of music, Jazz and Latin included.
The GMT band is Glasgow (tenor saxophone), Darren Vanterpool (electric bass), Randy McDowell (acoustic piano and keyboard), Threcio Phillip (drums), Dylan Penn (percussion) and Warren Olliviere (guitar).
Also on the bill is BVI soprano saxist Dalan Vanterpool and Katch Dis Vybes Productions from Atlanta, Georgia.
Audio and video recordings of this live event will subsequently be marketed.
Review here…
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July 03
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 last Thursday’s (June 26) Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF) annual awards ceremony. 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.
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June 19
The Bahamas “Jazz Summer” just got hotter this past weekend as the Ivory Global event went into sensory overload at the National Center for the Performing Arts and other venues. Jazz Summer was staged from Thursday, June 12 to Sunday, June 15.
One of the featured performers was guitarist Ronald “Boo” Hinkson of St. Lucia. Hinkson has been making music for three decades. As everything else, being a Caribbean artist, he did not start off being a Jazz musician although he had a penchant for Jazz from little. Rather, he grew into Jazz after his dance band days with the then popular Tru Tones were over.
Boo Hinkson has since been making the rounds of Caribbean Jazz festivals, especially St. Lucia Jazz at which he has opened for George Benson and Kenny Burrell. His music has also taken him outsideof the region to Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
Local Bahamamian talents including saxophonist Phillip “Doc” Martin and vocalist Naomi Taylor were billed at various venues throughout the weekend.
Taylor was at first reluctant to become a solo artist. She preferred the relative safety of the choir format. However, her desire outshone her shyness and she sought to hone her singing skills withthe assistance of private vocal tutoring and a stint with Jazz bassist and bandleader Adrian D’Aguilar of Bahamas’ Jazz Etcetera.
Ronald “Boo” Hinkson performed at a gala event held at the NCPA on Sunday, June 15. Also on that ticket was the Washington Jazz Orchestra.
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update 2 on June 12
The Annual Jamaica Ocho Rios International Jazz Festival 2008 is on again, believe it or not. This 18th edition of the festival was started in 1991 by Jazz musician Sonny Bradshaw as a one-day event called the Ocho Rios “Mini” Jazz Festival. Bradshaw had long been worried that Jazz was being drowned into the background in Jamaica. So when his wife Myrna Hague suggested a Jazz festival to redress this, Bradshaw jumped to the idea.
The very first programme was held at the Carib Inn Beach in Ocho Rios as a one-off festival that ran under the byline “Greatest Names in Jamaican Jazz.” Within just three years, that experiment mushroomed to eight days and expanded out of Ocho Rios to Kingston, Montego Bay and Negril.
The 18th Annual Jamaica OchoRios International Jazz Festival 2008 kicked off on June 01 with the “Women in Jazz” series at ‘The Verandah’ in Kingston and then at the Kingston ‘City Hotel’ on Friday, June 06.
The ‘Women in Jazz’ are Myrna Hague, Marjorie Whylie, Kathy Brown, Ouida Lewis, Karen Smith and Mary Isaacs.
Isaacs and Ouida also appeared as two parts of a trio of acts that performed at “Jazz and Coffee in the Mountains” on Friday 06 and Saturday, June 07. Anyone who knows me well would visualise me at Forrest Park, Mavis Bank. Why? Because you can often find me sipping my favourite cup of Blue Mountain Coffee to the strains of Jazz. Jazz, Coffee and me go hand in hand.
Jazz & Coffee in the Mountains flyer
Myrna Hague is a vocalist in the Jamaica Big Band directed by her husband Sonny Bradshaw. She has won Jamaica Music Industry Award for Jazz a number of times in addition to several other accolades. Hague has appeared with Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin, internationally renowned Jamaica pianist Monty Alexander, Jamaican trumpet icon Dizzy Reece and saxophonist Branford Marsalis from the Marsalis clan.
A Jamaican Hall of Fame inductee, Marjorie Whylie is a composer who creates a “pastiche of indigenous Jamaican folk, African polyrhythms, European Art Music, and Classic Jazz” to quote her bio on All Music Guide. Apart from performing solo, Whylie fronts the Whylie Rhythms, a band that I have had the pleasure of seeing live in concert at the Paint It Jazz Festival, the precursor to the Barbados Jazz Festival, some years back.
Then on Tuesday, June 10, 2008, Seretse Small had his say at Christopher’s Jazz Café in Kingston.
Small is celebrating 21 years as a professional guitarist. Being Jamaican, he has split his musical personality between Reggae and the style that he made his name by at festivals in Jamaica, St. Lucia and Grenada, Jazz.
A well schooled musician, he is a graduate of the Jamaica School of Music on the one hand and Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music in the United States on the other.
He has one recording already in the bag – a solo guitar outing entitled ‘The Silo Sessions’ – and another in the making with his own band, Seretse and the True Democrats. On drums is Wendell Lawrence, bass, Carl Gibson, and Ozou’ne on keys.
18th Annual International Ocho Rios Jazz Festival, June 7th-15 2008
18th Annual International Ocho Rios Jazz Festival 2008 Performers
18th Annual International Ocho Rios Jazz Festival Performance Schedule
Jazzpoint Media release 01- 07 May 2008
“Jazzlegends” is the 2008 theme of an event which has evolved out of five successful Jazzpoint experiences. In the inaugural year (1999) a leading newspaper reporter wrote about Jazzpoint poolside setting and stated “This is no ordinary concert.” The ongoing uniqueness of Jazzpoint is enhanced by continuous improvement in the use of Jazz club formats that encourage active interaction between musicians and their audience. Previously highlighted Jazz clubs have been The Fox & the Crow – Cuba, Snug Harbor – New Orleans and The Velvet Lounge – Chicago.
Former Jazzpoint themes were Latin Jazz, Caribbean Jazz, Jazz Syncopation and Calypso Jazz. The current theme Jazzlegends is based on a concept of recognizing linkages between Harlem and Trinidad and Tobago. (The) Clive Alexander Trio and Jason Baptiste Quartet would be featured from 8.00 PM on Saturday 17 May 2008 – Clifton Hill Club and Raf Robertson and friends plus Errol Ince supported by Leston Paul and friends would be featured from 6.00 PM on 18 May 2008 at Naparima Bowl.
Jazzpoint
music to make you think
Jazzpoint
music to make you think
Cayman Jazz Fest 08, Grand Cayman
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Are you a Caribbean Jazz writer, Jazz musician, a producer of Jazz music, or a promoter of Jazz events? Well, the Jazz fans will be travelling all summer long and would like to know where the gigs are. Place your schedule on the WEC Jazz calendar...You can also share your reviews and analyses of Jazz music too; become an author and get your props...Additionally, the Collective is now accepting Caribbean Jazz recordings (CD's and DVD's) for review on the site. Go to the "Me" Page for e-mail contact info.
9 responses so far ↓
Harold Homer // March 8, 2009 at 5:39 am |
Further update on Tobago Jazz…
It is a pity that your exhortation to the producers of the Plymouth Jazz Festival “to use their time wisely to arrive at a formula that is true to the Jazz that sits in the middle of its name” will neither be heard by them nor if it is, would it be taken into their consideration. And, I say so, because I am convinced that the driving force behind the promotion group has insisted on several occasions that their formula is/was correct.
The good news, if any can be gleaned, is that in seeking to salvage the situation and prevent an absolute failure of the single, largest revenue-earner for the island, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has moved to establish a THA-produced Jazz Festival Season that will seek to convert some of the traditional fringe events into the main Festival.
Pan Trinbago with its Pan Jazz in the Yard presentations, and which has over the past two years carved out the Wednesday and Thursday night spots, will be the THA’s highlighted shows for those nights. These shows will take place at the Redemption Sound Steel Orchestra Pan Yard.
Friday night the Festival will move to what will now become the main Festival stage located at the internationally acclaimed Pigeon Point. THA has retained this night for itself and, word on the ground has it that the opportunity will be used to feature some local, but unfortunately not-so-Jazz, performances.
The Pigeon Point Stage will on Saturday night be turned over to the group, Production One, which has been producing Caribbean Jazz concerts on the sister island of Trinidad since 2003 and took a significant step by presenting a predominantly Latin Jazz show during the Plymouth Jazz Festival Season last year. Production One will this year again present a mix of local and international Jazz performers.
On Sunday evening, the THA will use the main stage at Pigeon Point to present the festival’s main act George Benson.
If the THA, or better yet the “converted fringe events”, prove to be successful, it could mean not only success at saving face but it could lead to a weaning away from the stifling C.L. Communications Ltd. dominance that some in the local community have been railing against for some time now (especially since they had flat out refused to include any Jazz).
There may be a Jazz Festival in Tobago yet!
Israel // March 8, 2009 at 11:38 am |
We just have to keep our fingers crossed that this salvage operation fares well enough to encourage the THA to keep the Festival for itself.
And the idea of allowing established stakeholders like Pantringo and Production One in on it bodes well for the kind of inclusiveness that I think only St. Lucia Jazz has perfected.
Vaughnette // March 8, 2009 at 10:11 am |
Thanks for the information Harold. I have been hearing snippets about the proposal for the period so your information is welcome.
Nigel Campbell // March 17, 2009 at 6:11 pm |
Hi Minchie,
I see that the old gang is back. Harold Homer, Vaughnette and yourself. First off, let me tell you and link you to our website for Jazz Artists on the Greens 2009 in Trinidad on 29 March 2009. http://www.jaotg.org
Additionally as Harold mentioned, we are going to launch soon, our dedicated website for Jazz Artists on the Greens Tobago at Pigeon Point. We are focused on Latin and Caribbean Jazz. When details are final I will send you the link.
Thanks for keeping the flame of Caribbean Jazz alive.
Israel // March 18, 2009 at 2:01 pm |
I got to say man, I went awol there. I have kicked myself enough in the rear end so you can save your steel toe boots for trudging.
Yes, I am really happy that, as always, adversity has bred opportunity. I am speaking of the demise of Tobago Jazz and the rise of the Jazz Phoenix.
Nigel Campbell // March 25, 2009 at 5:26 pm |
Minchie,
I have uploaded the dedicated website for the Tobago edition of Jazz Artists on the Greens.
From there we have Facebook links and YouTube links
Enjoy, and keep up the good work.
Israel // March 25, 2009 at 5:49 pm |
I’ve got that Nigel. Now let me see how I can highlight it to move the JFans to the site.
Whitmore John // April 12, 2009 at 6:25 pm |
I am a jazz historian and former jazz radio host (13 years) from Trinidad, presently living in the US. I would like you if you can to please check out this show on Tuesday, April 14, 2009. I will be a guest on Brother Ah’s (Robert Northern) show “The Jazz Collectors” on WPFW from 8.00pm to 10:00pm. The topic will be “Jazz Musicians of Caribbean Descent.”
Web address: WPFW
Peace!
Whitmore
Israel // April 13, 2009 at 2:42 pm |
I take it, Whimore, that you meant, Tuesday, April 14 and not Monday 13 (You wrote Tuesday 13).
Obviously, you have sensed that I have a huge interest in covering Jazz artists of Caribbean descent, wherever they are.
Thanks for the invite. I will surely give the show a listen.
But wait, how about getting an audio recording of the show, which I could upload it to the blog site for future reference.
I would also like to invite you to take to heart the mission of this site, to be a ‘Collective’ of Jazz writers and musicians. If you do, you will feel free to submit content for publication here in your own good time. Wouldn’t that be cool?