Barbados Jazz Festival: 0 – Jazz’N Barbados: 1 — A Caribbean Context (updated with NATIONNews, January 27)

BARBADOS

First published on January 19, 2011; updated, January 22, 2011

Heard of the cancellation of the Barbados Jazz Festival, did you?  Yes indeedy, the BJF crashed and burned on re-entering the 2011 Jazzosphere.  The producers, GMR International Tours Inc. headed by Gilbert Rowe laid the blame gingerly on the festival’s main supporter, the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) for not being forthcoming.  But reports are that there was a conflict between GMR and the BHTA, which resulted in the eventual deferment of the festival. Whatever the problem – and we will go deeper into that – the festival is off for 2011.

Then there was the Cayman Islands Jazz Fest.  That one too hit the dirt.  Well, we understand Cayman’s position, having been dealt a serious blow by Hurricane Tomas, the downturn in the economy worldwide and the pressures being applied on Offshore Banking by the United States and most recently a former banking executive who worked in the Cayman Islands.

The Jazz Showcase in the BVI has also suffered, but for different reasons. Since past President of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, Dr. Michael O’Neal, retired from the institution, the “young people” went to the Jazz with a scalpel, succeeding in reducing the offering of three concerts per season to just one.

And In the past few months, the single Jazz station in the Caribbean, WMJX, Trinidad, went off the air.

Add to that the relegation of authentic Jazz in the surviving Jazz Festivals and you have a bleak future for The Jazz if something does not give.

Thankfully, St. Lucia Jazz is staid and is expected to hold fast.  The one year, 2009, when they drifted a little away from The Jazz, they got an earful.  In 2010, they reverted to the old formula. The prospects for St. Lucia Jazz look good.  Fingers crossed.

At this moment in time though, it is the Barbados Jazz Festival that lights up the bulbs at the Shed.

GMR’s Gilbert Rowe sat down with Kaymar Jordan, Editor-in-Chief at the Nation newspaper of Barbados in December to clarify the issues.  This followed the publication of an Official Press Release on the producer’s website. Asked what specific challenges he faced, Rowe placed the blame squarely on the economic recession.

However, that was a hard pill to swallow since in the same breath, Rowe claimed to have “managed to hold on to all our other sponsors,” which implied that it was only the BHTA that hit the skids and could not come up with their percentage of the sponsorship monies.  Either that or the BHTA was just playing hard-ball with Rowe and would not cut him a cheque early enough to give him the six months head start he needed to promote the festival.

In fact, Rowe would have us believe that the latter is true.  But why?  His explanation in the Nation interview was that the BHTA was only prepared to take responsibility for the international marketing of the festival, which they knew to be inadequate for an event the size of the Barbados Jazz Festival. For the matter, the BHTA supported the BJF with a cash infusion all seventeen years since the first edition in 1993.  Rowe made no bones about it; the Barbados Jazz Festival could not survive without tangible support from the BHTA.

And compromising the integrity of the festival by scaling the brand down from an international spectacle to a Caribbean or even Barbadian one was not a viable option for GMR.

The death of the Barbados Jazz Festival thus left a gaping hole in the Barbados Jazz calendar for the month of January 2011.

When a shoe loses a foot, there is always another foot to step in it. Enter Jazz’N Barbados.

Jazz’N Barbados mounted a major coup in drawing some major Caribbean Jazz acts from neighbouring St. Lucia, Trinidad and Venezuela to join their local Barbadian cast for five nights of Jazz, January 12 – 16, mainly in the outdoors.  It was like – how should I put it? – some sort of “Town Hall Jazz,” bringing the sound to the people where they are most comfortable, in De Street,  in De Hall, under De Mango Tree, on De Gap and De Second Street and in ‘De Woods’ (my coinage) of Naniki.  The one night that The Jazz was taken indoors, it was for a traditional concert under the roof of the Frank Collymore Hall in Bridgetown.

Jazz’N Barbados was pulled together by Limelight Inc. within one week – nine days to be exact – after Gilbert Rowe announced the cancellation of the Barbados Jazz Festival.  There to lend a hand was the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Authority (BHTA) that spurned Rowe’s GMR Tours because they would not provide the BHTA with the details of the contracts they were due to sign, presumably with BHTA money.  Some of those funds went instead to Limelight for Jazz’N Barbados.

“…[W]e’ve gotten a lot of logistics support from them…we’ve got a lot of guidance, moral support and a little bit of money.  Not a lot of money, but even the little bit of money that we received made a big difference,” Grady Clarke of Limelight told NationNews Mobile.

And the people trucked to the Mango Tree at Peronne Gap, Worthing, to take in Trinidadian music educator and pianist, Dave Marcellin & Friends at Jazz’N De Street on Wednesday, January 12, 2011.

The Thursday, January 13, was set aside for the sit-down types to savour The Malcolm Griffith Septet with Michael Cheeseman and the ‘Barbalucian’ (Ok, Drakes was born of Barbadian and St. Lucian parents, but lives and practices her art in Barbados) pianist Rhea Drakes and her St. Lucian band at Frank Collymore Hall.

On Friday, January 14, the fans trekked to Mahagony Ridge for Jazz’N De Trees to hear and see Barbadians Roger Gittens Big Band and Friends, saxophonist Arturo Tappin and songstress Rosemary Phillips.  Visiting the Ridge on the night was Trinidadian multi-instrumentalist Michael Boothman whose primary instrument these days is the electric guitar.

The next day, Boothman was ferried to the mecca of live music in Barbados, St. Lawrence Gap.  The name of this event? (You guessed it!)  Jazz’N De Gap.  The date?  Saturday, January 15.

Now, those of us who have been to De Gap are well aware that the live bands hardly ever unplug, taking the night owls through the night, literally to daybreak.  No wonder then that Jazz’N De Gap featured a fat cast that included Barbadian drummer Antonio “Boo” Rudder & Friends, Rudder’s compatriots David “Ziggy” Walcott on his tenor pan and Tappin at Hal’s; Mike Sealy Quartet, Ricky Aimey and Boothman at Paolo’s; the Barbados Community College’s BCC Ensemble featuring Kirk Layne and Reggae Fusion All Stars at the Reggae Lounge.  Returning home, so to speak, for this Jazz action was Trini pianist Raf Robertson.

YVETTE BEST filed this report for NationNews Mobile. We have reproduced it here unedited.

St Lawrence Gap was a jazzy zone Saturday night as Jazz’N Barbados made its fifth stop for the season. The parking lot between Paulo Churrasco Do Brazil and Sweet Potatoes was the central place for Jazz’n De Gap, where patrons gathered to hear some of the finest talent in Barbados and the Caribbean, and the developing talent out of the Barbados Community College. Under mostly clear skies, and with a cool night breeze blowing through, patrons were treated to selections from Boo Rudder and his group, the Ziggy Walcott Band, Raf Robertson and friends and Rickey Aimey and his friends. It was not the original concept where the gap was closed off and music playing from the various establishments and on the street, but fans had a delightful musical treat that took them close to 2 a.m. And for those who still had not had their fill, the vibe continued with a reggae fusion jam in Reggae Lounge with John King and his group.

Clifton Henry of NATIONNews.com also had something to say…

David “Ziggy” Walcott one of the best, if not the best, steel pan player on the island, was met by screams of approval from both locals and visitors.  He did not disappoint.

Songs like Never Too Much by George Benson and Through The Fire soon had everyone in a dancing mood.  Following would be David Rudder’s Bahia Girl, and a Mighty Sparrow medley that included The Lizard, Melda, Drunk And Disorderly, Jean And Dinah and Big Bamboo.

Walcott would eventually rock the street with Rihanna’s current No. 1 selection Only Girl In The World.

There are no more adjectives that can aptly describe Arturo Tappin’s musical genius.  Badd by Michael Jackson, Independent by Neo, Green Light by John Lennon and Roll by Alison Hinds were among his servings  in a most spectacular performance.

Cadogan (on mic), Luther (sax) Photo, Lennox Devonish

The Jazz fans would have had a busy time of it on that Saturday – I can tell you – if they would have had any chance of taking it all in for home-grown C4 Kaiso Jazz Fusion, a quartet from the Barbados Community College (BCC) and a St. Lucian contingent comprising of the Luther Francois Quartet (with Luther’s brother Ricky on drums and Barbadian singer Kellie Cadogan) and Blue Mango, a group of Lucian and Martiniquan musicians, disturbed the peace at the Naniki Amphitheatre of the Lush Life Nature Resort in St. Joseph, Barbados, from 1:00 till 06:30.

YVETTE BEST of NationNews Mobile was on tap and filed this edited report.

The hills, up north, came alive with music as the first day of Jazz At Naniki – A Caribbean Jazz Festival, started in St Joseph… The Luther Francois Quartet, with singer Kellie Cadogan, was among the acts that serenaded the audience…

Actually, Jazz’N Barbados served up a two-day menu of Jazz at Naniki in parallel event with their Jazz’N this and Jazz’N that all over the place. Saturday’s course was the first serving.

Come Sunday, January 16, the Elan Trotman Quintet and Arturo Tappin out of Barbados assembled with Trinidadian bassist David “Happy” Williams for the second go round the Jazz buffet, held within earshot of Naniki Restaurant.

The fanatic who would have imbibed The Jazz at Naniki would then have had to Jazz’N up Second Street, Hole Town, like bats out of hell to catch Trinidadian elder pianist Robertson, Aimey, Walcott, Tappin and Venezuela’s Ernesto’s Salsa Band featuring Trinidad’s Rellon Brown on trumpet.

Now that Jazz’N Barbados has staked a claim for an expanded event in January of next year, it will be interesting to see how it coalesces with a possible return of the Barbados Jazz Festival.

Other resources: Jazz coming to the street, some Jazz’N Barbados artiste profiles