Real Jazz to Plymouth Jazz Festival: “Knock, knock, I’m here” (updated with link to TnT Blog review of JAOTG)

           Tn’T

updated: May 18, 2008

Caribbean Airlines’ David Saunders told the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday following ‘Jazz on the Beach 2008’ that the company co-sponsored with Mt. Irvine Hotel that his company facilitated 26,750 passengers in getting to Tobago over the Plymouth Jazz weekend.  Saunders, in thanking his staff for the extra effort they put in to achive a 100 percent on-time record, boasted that “every single standby passenger, no one was left behind.”

My question is this: how many of these thousands actually saw any Jazz at all.  Did they head out to see Whitney Houston crash and burn or did they make it a point of duty to go to the real ‘Jazz on the Beach,’ the ‘Tobago Jazz Caravan,’ ‘Pan Jazz in de Yard‘ and ‘Jazz Artists on the Greens.’        

I guess not.  Newsday reporter Vashty Maharaj wrote in an April 27, 2008 article that the crowd for Jazz on the ‘Beach’ was “small but appreciative.”  Tony Bell went to ‘Jazz Artists on the Greens‘ and had this to say on this blog, “Best ever for this bunch (Production One/Jazz Artists on the Greens) in terms of quality of music.  Small audience though.”  Another blog reader, Trinidad Jazz Singer Vaughnette Bigford concurred.  She wrote, “This show was great.  Simply great, great cast, great music.  It was just the perfect night, except of course for the attendance.” 

The producers of the outfests should not be daunted though for when it comes to Jazz, it is always an uphill climb to build and sustain an audience.  But the task is made so much easier when the quality of the programming is first class.

Take for instance Pan Trinbago’s Pan Jazz in de Yard Reloaded held on April 23 and 24, 2008.  Nothing less than quality would have been expected from the backing band for the event led by Clive Zanda.

 

Clive Zanda (photo courtesy of guardian.co.tt) 

The Clive Zanda Quartet was the evening’s highlight (Trinidad Guardian‘s Desiree McEachrane) with a  set of driving Calypso-Jazz renditions including a Quincy Jones arrangement of ‘My Favourite Things,’ ‘Yard Fowl,’ ‘Every Time Ah Pass and ‘Ole Lady Walk a Mile and a Half (And Te le le).’  

In announcing to the crowd that he has a “responsibility to search for new talent in the pan tradition,” Zanda introduced Akinola Sennon on double second pans.  The duo duelled with intensity, testing the improvisational skills of the young pannist on the uptempo ‘Yard Fowl’ and the classically tinged ‘Old Lady Walk a Mile and a Half.’

Prior to that, Tony ‘Pan Jumbie’ Williams – backed by theClive Zanda Quartet – and Tobago’s own John Arnold and the Kariwak Players had set the pace for Zanda’s command performance.

Following, Kalabash from Toronto, Canada and Trinidad’s Anthony Pierre accompanied by Cuban Joaqun Nunez-Hidalgo changed the flavour of the festival by throwing in some Samba and Latin sensibilities respectively into the Calypso for a different take on Pan-Jazz.  

Annise Hadeed with David Rudder’s ‘Sweet T&T’ and Rudy ‘Two Left’ Smith with ‘Summertime,’ ‘Body and Soul,’ and ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ mellowed the mood for a while to allow the crowd to catch its collective breath for ‘The Paganini of the Pan’ Liam Teague.  Teague revived the spirit with Grover Washington Jr’s ‘Mr. Magic’ and Rudder’s ‘Hammer.’

Day One was closed by NFM Pantasy featuring pannist Duvonne Stewart.

Night Two could be said to be one for the singers.  Garvin Walters, lead singer of Caribbean Inxs mixed it up with Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry.’  Petunia Thomas-Williams and Derrick Patience fronted the RBTT Redemption Soundsetters steel orchestra, the house band for the pan theatre where Pan Jazz in de Yard was staged, on a James Ingram crooner. 

Next up was the powerful vocals of Marilyn Williams and the irrepressible Mavis John who provided the nostalgic element for Pan Jazz in de Yard Reloaded by virtue of “How Can I Love Again,” “You Are What Love Is,” “Education” by the Mighty Sparrow (recorded indelibly on Mavis Sings CD 8888), “Jazz In De Calalloo,” and “The Carnival is Over” by Lord Kitchener.  However, the vocals were not absent on Night One.  Judy Balfour had done Sade’s ‘Smooth Operator’ and with Lynnette Louis, Ella Andall’s ‘Bring Down the Power.’

These Trinidadian voices were separated by Earl Brooks at the top of the evening, Ken ‘Professor’ Philmore in the middle and Clyde ‘Lightening’ George and the Steelin’ Jazz Quartet at the end.

The weekend preceding Plymouth Jazz,  the Tobago Jazz Caravan rolled into Pigeon Point, Heritage Park, Charlotteville in north-east Tobago with pure Jazz grooves thanks to bmobile.  The featured acts were Mungal Patasar and Pantar, Michael Boothman, the Sean Thomas Quartet, Patti Rogers, Caribbean Inxs, Kay Alleyne, Jackie Johnson, Xcel, John Arnold and the Kariwak Players, Princess Adanna and Xtreme.

Karl E. Cupid of Newsday’s Tobago Bureau dubbed Mangal Patasar and Pantar “the spotlight” of that weekend.  To Cupid, Pantar’s was a mesmerizing 40-minute performance in which the audience was captivated by Patasar’s fusion of sitar and steelpan along with tabla, guitar and saxophone.   

Guitarist Boothman was also in top flight, choosing to reinterpret some R&B hits rather than go the standard route.  That job would be left to the Sean Thomas Quartet whose lead vocalist Alice Daniel channelled the spirit of yore with the standards, ‘Georgia On My Mind’ and ‘Stardust.’

In turn, guitarist John Arnold and the Kariwak Players fast-forwarded to the present on a Reggae-Jazz theme.  Vocalists Lynette Louis and Judy Balfour entertained. 

So did Kay Alleyne, Digicel Rising Star 2007, Garvin Walters of Lindon Rowley’s Caribbean Inxs and Princess Adana.

I suppose I would be correct in concluding that Tony ‘Pan Jumbie’ Williams made his pans sing too.

All of this Jazz action in Trinidad and Tobago is making my heart sing – where my vocal chords would surely fail me.   

 

__________________________________________________

Previous Posts: Pan Jazz in de Yard Reloaded, Tobago

                                     Jazz Artists on the Greens, Tobago

Source:                  Tobago Jazz Caravan

 

Review from outside the Shed: Still High from Jazz