‘Jazz on the Hill’ is on again May 16 & 17, 2008 starring Élan Parlé (Tn’T)

updated May 15, 2008

St. Mary’s School, producers of Jazz on the Hill inaugurated this seminal two-day Jazz Festival two Mays ago to raise funds for the education of their students.  Ably supported by the VG business community, a strong cast of Jazz characters led by Barbadian saxophonist Arturo Tappin was flown in for the last one in 2007 – quite out of the blue.  I never saw it coming.

All of sudden, there was Jazz on Tortola’s sister island and this J-Fan was riding the turquoise waters that separate the islands headed for the Hill.

The blow out session last year was undoubtedly Tappin’s set.  He wreaked havoc on the tenor saxophone in front of a band of all-stars peopled by the likes of ace Barbadian bassist Nicholas Brancker, emerging Trinidadian Jazz trumpeter Etienne Charles and his compatriots, pan showman Dane Gulston, guitarist Scott Galt (Galt was raised in Barbados), keyboardist Miles Robertson, son of elder Jazz statesman Raf Robertson and the technician on skins, Bajan James Lovell.

The rest of the itinerary was fair to good, but for me it was a good enough start for a fledgling festival.

The second edition this weekend promises to be even bigger still I suspect.  Coming to town will be (check this out) Élan Parlé from Trinidad, the current Jazz capital of the Caribbean, if you ask me.    Élan Parlé, led by Michael Low Chew Tung (Ming) is Sean Friday (bass), Richard Joseph (drums), David Bertrand (flute, wind controller) and Mikhail Salcedo (steelpans).

  

           Ming                              Sean

Élan Parlé describes itself as a “music ensemble that blends Caribbean rhythms with global music influences to create Caribbean/World fusion.”  More particularly, the band anchors its contemporary Jazz styling with Jazz improvisations that lend a fresh perspective on “the musical and cultural traditions of Trinidad and Tobago.”

In fulfilling that quest, Élan Parlé has so far released five recordings on CD since banding together in 2000.  Under their belts is Tribal Voices, Caribbean Renaissance, Songs for Wayne, “5” The Ming -Toy Project and most recently Wejouvaynation (2007 Parlemusic).

 

This award-winning group has been on the festival circuit for years, having appeared at Jazz and music festivals in Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Vincent and at home in Trinidad and Tobago where they also produce other artists under their banner production company Parlemusic. 

The British Virgin Islands eagerly awaits Élan Parlé on Saturday, May 17, 2008. 

Also on the bill for Jazz on the Hill is saxophonist James Smith of St. Thomas.  James Z as he is affectionately known, moves easily between Smooth and Contemporary Jazz, R&B, Funk and Quelbe/Scratch, the folk music of the United States Virgin Islands.  James Z has been performing for 30 years both as a solo artist and as backup for international stars across divergent genres from reggae to several shades of Jazz. 

He learnt to play the saxophone at age 7.  Maintaining an interest in the instrument, he continued to work at his craft through junior and senior high school before gravitating to the Jazz club circuit in New York and various stages in Atlanta (Georgia), South Beach (Florida), St. Thomas (Virgin Islands) and Tortola, British Virgin Islands. 

James Z can now boast of having performed with the great organist Brother Jack McDuff and having shared the stage with George Benson and Earth Wind and Fire. 

Back in the U.S. Virgin Islands, James Z can be heard normally at the Marriot French Man’s Reef.  However, at this time, he is taking a break from that kind of work to concentrate on his first solo album to be released within the next year.

Saxophonist James Z. Smith will strut his stuff and display his chops at Jazz on the Hill on Friday, May 16, 2008.

Also down to appear at Jazz on the Hill is Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project featuring Martinique percussionist Nicol Bernard on Saturday, May 17, Sherry Winston Band of New York on Friday, May 16 and the North Carolina Central University Vocal & Jazz Ensemble on both nights.

The Caribbean Jazz Project is Samuels, Massimo Biolcati, Arturo Stable, Bill O’Connell, Bertram Lehman and Bernard.

  

 

The Jazz Slide: Jazz on The Hill 2007

(slide mouse over images for captions) 

All Photos courtesy of Reynold Corum/GIS (Government Information Service, Government of the British Virgin Islands)

related posts: Act 3 – Arturo Tappin ruled at Virgin Gorda’s Jazz on The Hill and Jazz on The Hill, Act 2 – Tortola’s MD Jazz

Steelpan Jazz Sold Out Saturday 16th

Steelpan Jazz at the House of Jazz at Lincoln Center featuring headliners Robert Greenidge (pan), Ralph MacDonald (percussion) and David Rudder (voice) has come and gone.  This event, organised by Abstract Entertainment Inc. (AEI), took place in Lincoln Center’s Allen Room in New York this past Saturday, June 16 to a full house crowd, sold out to overflowing – outside.

Each of these top draw artists performed select compositions from their extensive repertoires to highlight the steelpan since this was a celebration of the one instrument to have been invented in the twentieth century, and most importantly, in the Caribbean island of Trinidad. 

According to the website of “When Steel Talks,” MacDonald performed the unforgettable “Just the Two of Us.”  (I still own a well preserved cassette recording of that track from Grover Washington Jr.’s Winelight album (1980).  

Greenidge was the pan soloist to carry the torch for the pan.  However, he was admirably supported  by a cast of Caribbean Jazz icons in the persons of Nicholas Brancker (bass), Arturo Tappin (sax), Etienne Charles (trumpet), Scott Galt (guitar) among other notable extra-regional practitioners of the Jazz music genre, Buddy Williams (drums) and Onaje Allan Gumbs (keyboards).

 

Read the official press release on Steelpan Jazz at this link>

If exposed to or aware of any independent reviews of Steelpan Jazz, do share in Comments