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

Sherry Winston blew a fine breeze at Jazz on the Hill 2008

VI (Br.)

Performed on May 16, 2008

St. Mary’s, Virgin Gorda

There is something to be said about artists, up on stage, being able to connect, eyeball to eyeball if you will, with their audiences down below. The Jazz on the Hill audiences assembled at St. Mary’s School on Virgin Gorda have tended to be far removed from the main stage, up on the gentle hillside that have become the grounds of this unique May festival.

To my mind, Connecticut based American flutist Sherry Winston felt that disconnect so badly that she took to the grounds straightaway on her opening rendition to serenade the crowd up close and personal. The vehicle for this was Stevie Wonder’s “Past Time Paradise.”

Back up on stage, Winston mined her second CD, Billboard Top 10 Love Madness for “Song for my father” by Horace Silver. Gushing as she did about her lucky find, bassist Steve Clarke, she let him loose on stage. The result was a wicked solo that justified, at least in my mind, her claims of this man’s facility on his chosen instrument.

Winston uses her music as a motivational tool. Part way through her set, she put a profound exhortation out there: “All of you have a special dream…(a) purpose; live for that dream. You have to make that your reality.” In high demand at company events in the United States, Winston gets ample opportunities to share that philosophy. However, it would take another three songs, (“Morning Star“ from CD number 4, “Life is Love and Love is You“; Barbadian bassist Nicholas Brancker’s composition “Love Is…”and a dedication to the “Island Woman…” both from CD 3) before delivering that special message to her patrons.

With that, Winston introduced vocalist Laurie Ann Williams to us. Williams was an unknown entity to me. But the fact that she had etched performances with the likes of Maysa, Ledisi and Regina Bell to her resume, put me to shame.

Winston was very generous to Williams, letting her do three vocals on the trot, “Joy“, a funky salvo from Love is Life, “To Be With You“ and Stevie Wonder’s “Another Star.“

While “Joy“ and “To Be With You“ firmly established Williams’ credibility with me, it was her scatting on “Another Star” that solidified her rep.  Give her the props!

At the close, Winston reclaimed her space with “Symphonic Rock Suite No. 3“, a Latin serving that was a boon for bassist Clarke and drummer Mike Thompson.

Then it was back to the grassy knoll to autograph CD’s and mingle.  Sherry Winston may have come to Jazz on the Hill with a band of four.  I can say to you that she departed the exotic island of Virgin Gorda with a band of many fans.

Sherry Winston band:

Winston (flute)

Steve Clarke (bass)

- Clarke has opened for Pieces of a Dream

Richard Cummings (piano)

- Cummings has played with Diane Reeves and the BVI’s own, the late crooner Jon Lucien

Mike Thompson (drums)

- Thompson, a United States Virgin Islander, has backed up pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs, Harvie S and John Patitucci

Laurie Ann Williams (vocals)

3rd Annual Montserrat Calabash Festival 2008 winds down (updated)

Montserrat

updated July 24, 2008

___________

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

 

Trumpeter Paul Lunga, known in his native Zimbabwe as the “King of the Jazz Horns” headlined 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 last year.  The 700 seat performance space is situated in Little Bay, which the residents plan to transform into a new urban center.

 

The concert brought 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 were 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 played for a proud people who, in spite of a country devastated by the Soufriere Hills volcano, could 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.

 

Cathy Buffonge covered the Calabash Festival for Caribbean Net News.  In a piece entitled “Calabash festival highlights the best of Montserrat” published on Wednesday, July 23, she commented: “The last event on the calendar was a “Night of Opera and Jazz”, featuring exciting jazz performances by international jazz musician Paul Lunga of Zimbabwe on the trumpet, and prize winning saxophonist Tony Chambers of (North) Carolina.  Several local performers also took part.  Local band Black Rhythms was outstanding in backing up Mr Lunga’s jazz numbers.”

Jazz musican Paul Lunga

Photo by Pat “Belonger” Ryan for Caribbean Net News