The “Majesty” of Calypso-Jazz by Raf Robertson: CD Review

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

There are times when I worry that in the Caribbean Jazz musicians’ quest to find a happy medium to visit calypso or reggae classics, whatever, he gets carried too far away from the fundamentals that make Jazz what it is. As they try to please an audience who has not paid much attention to or developed an appreciation for Classic Jazz and its precursors, the artists omit syncopation, inventive counterpoints and swing. This can be a problem for the authentication of Calypso-Jazz as a recognized sub-genre.

In spite of the best efforts of the forefathers of Calypso-Jazz – Clive Zanda, Luther François and company – the style has not yet broken sufficient barriers internationally to qualify as a sustainable idiom. Question: How many Caribbean Jazz acts are being called upon to headline major festival franchises or tour established Jazz clubs around the world? My point exactly!

The success of Etienne Charles in the last three years has made a dent on the scene to be sure. But that is just one notch in the totem pole. Where do we find the artists to create the next one?

I do not have the foresight to know who the next upstart will be, whether it will be a fresh face or a familiar one. I cannot tell whether Raf Robertson will serve in that role or if he wants to in the first place. What is certain in my mind is that given Raf’s pedigree as a pianist and keyboardist, he has put out a document in “Majesty” that has raised the bar all that much higher for the seasoned campaigners, let alone newcomers.

“Majesty” by Raf Robertson

[Thunder Dome Sounds 2011]

I take it that Raf’s goal on “Majesty” is to put forward another case for the establishment of a Calypso-Jazz standards songbook. Nothing new here. So what then?

Here is the essential difference in my estimation. “Majesty” is more of a conceptual band record than a vehicle of self-promotion for the leader. The superseding elements, therefore, are the arrangements of the six calypso classics to be found here dispersed as they are with a seminal Clive Zanda contrivance and the leader’s own singular idea about how the two styles fit.

With Kitchener’s “Margie,” Raf goes so far as to offer glimpses into the possibilities for the instrumental explorations written into it – a scat confrontation and an A cappella design are in order.

And as if to demonstrate how the primal instincts of a displaced people might have inspired the growth of the calypso idiom, Ras Shorty I’s “Endless Vibrations” is laden – not overburdened – with Marthadi’s pronounced percussion. Add to that a busy drummer in Larnell Lewis whose myriad overlay of patterns from snare to toms and back again are a perfect foil for the almost seamless tonality eschewed by Raf’s keyboard piano and his co-producer, Eddie Bullen’s keyboard. Amidst all of this musicality, neither keyboardist gets in the way of the other.

Yet there is no pretension as to whose date this is, Raf’s. Herein lies no better testament of how Raf conceives his work: concept is greater than the individuals presenting it.

Sticking to that theme, “Forward Home,” taken from the pen of Andre Tanker, speaks to the modern form of reverse migration, home to Trinidad, not Mother Africa. And unlike the forced migration from Africa that bred this Caribbean civilization, the one described in “Forward Home” is voluntary; whereas slaves coming to the West Indies was migration into bondage, ‘forwarding home‘ again is akin to regaining a lost identity, recapturing true freedom.

You see this paradox, encapsulated in “Majesty,” is not just about the music. A bigger story emerges as you immerse yourself into the cloud. That being the case, sonority for Raf becomes increasingly important in setting the mood of the pieces, recorded in Trinidad, Miami and Toronto and mixed in Bullen’s Thunder Dome Sounds studio in Toronto.

Enter Grant Langford whose saxophones on “Forward Home” and “Life is a Stage” (Brother Valentino) is critical to that sound, which makes “Majesty” work. His is by no means an all-out blowing session. To the contrary, Langford’s role is mainly to colour the harmonic and melodic palette of the arrangements. He does so with aplomb and verve.

Raf is ever-present for the length and breath of the CD, but he assumes individual ownership on three tracks, Clive Zanda’s “Fancy Sailor” (a test piece for the Calypso-Jazz genre if ever there is one); “Slave” courtesy the Mighty Sparrow and “Endless Vibrations.” In all instances, Raf outshines himself. But make no mistake, the pianist’s brilliance comes through on the entire date.

This recording is characterized by the historically relevant rhythmic and vocal approaches to Calypso. The singers play their role – a major one at that – Raf choosing not to divest of the lyrics of songs he covers, except for Sparrow’s “Melda.” Now, although those variations appear all the way down the playlist, Raf succeeds in tying the tracks together into a total band concept, never allowing any one of them to become displaced as an oddity. Hence the flow of the CD serves to sustain interest thus making “Majesty” one continuous hit parade.

And the surprises do not end there. Make “Majesty” a must-have in the Christmas stocking and be treated to the “Majesty” of Calypso-Jazz like you have never heard it before…ever.

Raf Robertson's "Majesty", Thunder Dome Sounds

Jazz Artists on the Greens, Tobago: review contributed by Harold Homer

       Tn’T

The first annual Jazz Artists on the Greens, Tobago edition, was staged by Production One Ltd. at Canaan Bon Accord Recreation Grounds, Centre Street on Thursday, April 24  2008.  A precursor, and antidote, to the Plymouth Festival that weekend, JAOTG was one of two attempts to put the Jazz in Plymouth.  The other was Pan Jazz in de Yard Reloaded, which started a day earlier than JAOTG and went up against it on April 24th.

The attendance at the JAOTG “…suffered because the group of people who would have been interested in this type of show was NOT in Tobago (for the “jazz” festival)” according to Trinidad Jazz singer Vaughnette Bigford. 

Audience or not, the “…show was great…great cast, great music.  It was just the perfect night…”said Bigford. 

Tony Bell was at the show too.  He came away with the view that Production One was at their best in Tobago “in terms of quality of music.”

Harold Homer had even more to say in this contributed piece on Jazz Artists on the Greens in Tobago.  

Competing for an audience, made up of mostly Trinidadian holiday-makers, who were in Tobago to attend the Plymouth Jazz Festival on the weekend of April 25th through 27th, and facing well-publicized competition from Pan Trinbago’s same night “Pan Jazz in ‘D’ Yard – Reloaded”, Production One Limited’s first edition of Jazz Artists on the Greens – Tobago was held (on) 24th April 2008 at the Bon Accord Recreation Grounds.

Blessed on the night with excellent weather for an outdoor event, the show’s content lived up to Production One’s usual distinctive, organizational brilliance in all aspects, except audience attendance.  From the first note, which was played promptly at 7.00 p.m. by the island’s well-rehearsed Euphonics Steel Orchestra, through Tobago’s Kariwak Players, Cuba’s Bellita and her Jazz Tumbata, Nilson Matta’s Brazilian Jazz Voyage and a grand finale that featured Trinidadian Sean Thomas on drums, Bajan vocalist Marisa Lindsay, New York based Grant Langford on saxophone and accompanied by Nilson Matta (acoustic bass) and Klaus Mueller on piano, the show maintained its advertised schedule.  Change-overs were smooth and in spite of the foibles of the emcee, were happily painless for the small, but appreciative, audience.

 

Marisa Lindsay accompanied by Nilson Matta (b), Grant Langford (s)

(Photo by Vaughnette Bigford)

With an audience that included a few local jazz regulars and some tourists, JAOTG – Tobago proved that good jazz is good jazz, anywhere and at any time.  After the first on-stage act – the Kariwak Players under the leadership of John Arnold – Bellita and her Jazz Tumbata (a group of versatile troubadours), which is comprised of Lilia Exposito Pino (aka Bellita) on piano (and African drum), her husband, Miguel Antonio Miranda Lopez, who is the only known artiste to play jazz music on the electric bass with one hand while maintaining afro-latin percussion on bongos, congas and high-hat with the other (and cow-bells with his foot), her daughter Glenda Lopez Exposito on flute, Emir Santa Cruz Hernandez on saxophone and clarinet and Alain Ortiz Samada on drums, held the audience in rapt attention during its entire allotted forty-five minute set.

Just when it was thought by some members of the audience that things could not get much better, Nilson Matta’s Brazilian Jazz Voyage Quartet, with Klaus Mueller on piano and Mauricio Zottarelli on drums and rounded out by featured, world-renowned trumpeter Claudio Roditi, treated them to some of the finest jazz to grace the country in a long while.  With pieces ranging from Brazilian Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “A Felicidade” to some of his own compositions, Matta struck out boldly to demonstrate his versatility on the upright acoustic bass.  He is an undoubted master at his craft and amply illustrated why he continues to be first call for many of the U.S. prime Jazz musicians.

The curtain-closing act, which comprised an eclectic aggregation of jazz professionals, each with wide-ranging performance exposure to some of the better internationally known jazz greats, was able to sustain the show’s high energy.  The Latin-Jazz lead established by the Cubans and reinforced by the Brazilian Voyage was complemented by the Sean Thomas Ensemble of saxophonist Grant Langford, Nilson Matta on acoustic bass, Klaus Meuller on piano and Thomas himself on drums.

After the audacious treatment of three well-known jazz pieces in which all instrumentalists demonstrated their renown, leader Thomas invited the up-beat female Barbadian vocalist, Marisa Lindsay to join his group on stage.  Immediately taking charge of her audience, this twenty-eight year old showed why, in addition to her youthfulness and enthusiasm, she is described as a naturally charismatic, deep, soulful, sensual woman. 

Using her wide vocal range to full advantage, she playfully toyed with members of the audience as she energetically belted out three beautifully delivered renditions.  This young lady has lots of sugar, spice and talent and will certainly be going places.

On a weekend in which Tobago was all abuzz for the Plymouth Jazz Festival, Jazz Artists on the Greens was certainly “the appetizer that rivaled the main course”!  Asked whether, in light of the commercial challenge posed by their first attempt in Tobago, they would be back in 2009, all members of the Production One team emphatically replied in the affirmative.