Amina Blackwood MeeksMichael Reckord, Contributor
AT REDBONES the Blues Café on Wednesday night, the Kathy Brown and Friends Quintet delighted a garden-full of people with sparkling jazz under the stars.
Ending at midnight, the two-hour-plus programme, not including a half-hour break, offered the toe-tapping, head-bobbing audience 15 tunes. These included Jamaican compositions - How Could I Live?, Get Up, Stand Up, and By the Rivers of Babylon - and standards like One-Note Samba, Poinciana, and Take Five.
One unexpected highlight was a song by the talented Josette La Hee, who delivered a soulful Summertime. At minutes to midnight, after bassist Donald Waugh had bade then goodnight, the crowd insisted on "one for the road," as one man put it. The band thereupon delivered another standard, Ain't No Sunshine.
Outstanding instrumentalists were Brown, whose fingers, flying over or caressing the keyboards, evoked a variety of moods, and the always-satisfying trap set artiste Desi Jones. Making up the rest of the quintet on the tree-covered, pepper-light decorated garden stage were drummers Djenne Greaves and Matthew Maharaj.
The quintet brought some freshness to all of the pieces, but there were a few truly memorable ones. The Brazilian number Macumba, for example, which climaxed the first half of the gig, featured an extended drum segment. Even Brown played congas for a while.
In that tune, and later in Take 5, Jones let loose as only he can and, with drums sticks like a 100-mile-an-hour whirlwind delivered virtual sound storms. At another time, he took part in a drum duel with Greaves, which also drew appreciative applause.
A between-sets interview of the café owner, Evon Williams, proved revealing. There's much more to Redbones than is initially apparent. "It's more than just a bar and restaurant," said Williams. "It has become a cultural oasis."
He had good reason for saying so. The complex also contains a non-commercial gallery, for which no commission is charged, which exhibits not only art and photographs but furniture, too. Every six weeks, the exhibits change.
Coming up in mid-December, said Williams, is an evening of words and music dedicated to Noel Coward's works. Featuring Kathy Owen and Cindy Breakspeare, it will be directed by William Lampert.
Williams said on the last Wednesday of each month, the café features contemporary literature. At the end of this month, those who have read at those evenings over the year will take part in an awards function. Judges Trevor Rhone, Amina Blackwood-Meeks and Mervyn Morris will decide on the 'Best Poem', the 'Best Presentation' and the 'Best Poet'.
Saturday evenings, Williams said, were devoted to the showing of interesting movies while the 'big event' annually for the café was the Redbones Blues Festival. It takes place in three locations, at the café in Kingston, in Ocho Rios and in Negril. It will next be held on Labour Day 2003.
