Jazz in July: An Amazing Weekend of Jazz

Trinidad

Jazz in July: An Amazing Weekend of Jazz

by Ronsta Joseph

Designed as a part tribute to late kaiso legend Carlton “Lord Blakie” Joseph, Jazz in July at Queen’s Hall on the Weekend of July 25th and 26th was, to me, the premier Jazz event of 2009.

From an amazing local cast, to a changeover time yet to be matched by many of the more popular events and productions, this show was a shining example of the kind of quality for money that should be derived at events of this nature and stature.

Mungal Patasar opened the show with his unique brand of exotic excellence, while the amazing “fire sticks” Dane Gulston with his pan tricks and antics, wowed the crowed with steelpan splendour.

The Diva herself, Glenda Collens, and her band Medea left both those in the audience and backstage literally glued to her performance, as she belted out amazing standards and rearranged versions of musical favourites that worked to keep patrons completely enthralled.

R’kardo St’Von set the pace on the Saturday night with complete rhythmic flamboyance.  Accompanied in part by Ms Jermaine Wilson, R’kardo proved why he is known in the industry for his versatility and style.

All in all, Saturday’s performances led patrons intending to attend only one night of Jazz literally fishing for Sunday night tickets. This group of performers really kept the audience alive and captivated from start to tail end, which made for a notable start to what turned out to be a marvelous weekend for all in attendance.

Sunday however, proved to be the bigger night with regards to filled seats as it featured the ever beautiful, ever talented, Cheryl Pepsii Riley and her band.

Not to be outdone by her foreign counterpart, the sultry and ever stylish and talented Vaughnette Bigford opened the evening on a note that kept patrons’ expectations on a high throughout.

Nigel Supersad, new to the big stage, but by no means any less effective, turned out an immaculate performance on pan that opened the appetite of those waiting in anticpation for the weekend’s headline act.

Guitarist Theron Shaw headed an amazing quartet that served as accompanists to the local acts for both shows.  However Shaw showed his true worth as a musician when he gave a divine solo rendition of Lord Blakie’s 1962 Road March hit “Maria” at Sunday’s show.  That performance brought the Blakie fans throughout the building to their feet.

By the time Cheryl and her full band took to the stage, patrons redeemed all that was promised in the preshow hype surrounding her first visit to Trinidad.  To put it mildly, the audience was in absolute awe as this multi-talented performer and her very competent and eclectic band of musicians, perfected their task of entertaining and fulfilling the expectations of those in attendance.

“She must come back” has been the constant cry of those who were fortunate enough to bear witness to this incredible event.  “What a complete and awesome cast” and “you guys should take this show on the road” were also included in the post show comments made to the promoters of Jazz in July about this amazing weekend of Jazz.

The Victory International promoters and the team certainly outdid themselves by pulling off a stellar production.

Parliamentarian Chanra Sharma, who incidentally was the winner of a door prize donated by Cascadia Hotel (one of the sponsors for Jazz in July), also publicly hailed praises to the Victory crew on stage for a stellar job on their first musical production and also expressed his desire to make a financial contribution to assist the group in their continuing efforts to promote such events.

With complimentary wine and hors’ d’oeuvres adding to the class and tasteful ambiance set by Victory, the many patrons who missed out on this event, truly missed a great tribute to a musical icon as well as a well thought out showcase of Jazz in all its elements.

We most definitely will not miss Jazz in July 2010.

“dis is we ting…and we luv it bad”

Ronsta Joseph is the offspring of musical icon Carlton “Lord Blakie” Joseph and one of the promoters of the group “Victory International.”  She is on a mission to promote our region’s gift of culture, talent and style in all its shapes and forms to the world.