Members of the ice-skating troupe which performed at 'Broadway On Ice' over the last weekend. The show was held at the Ward Theatre in Downtown Kingston and was one of the first steps taken towards the rehabilitation of the ageing institution. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer THE 13TH staging of 'Jamaica Ocho Rios Jazz Festival' was launched at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston last Thursday evening. This year the organisers of the festival announced that they plan to live up to the tagline 'June is Jazz Month'.
Although there will be eight days of concentrated activities, the organisers say they will also highlight jazz events throughout the month.
As such, festival activities will start on June 1. Dubbed 'Jazz Month Day', June 1 will feature a 'Jazz Brunch' at Boon Hall Oasis, Stony Hill, St. Andrew. The brunch will offer an 'all you can eat' buffet along with complimentary Real Rock beer in the afternoon.
Patrons will then be treated to live jazz every hour on the hour. The featured artistes for this event are Marjorie Whylie, Myrna Hague, Desi Jones, Sonny Bradshaw, Byard Lancaster, Mickey Hanson and Nambo Robinson.
The core of the festival then arrives on Saturday June 7 with a 'Jazz Dinner' at Glenn's Jazz Club in Tower Isle, St. Mary. The dinner will feature the likes of the organ duo Trudy Pitts and Mr. C as well as Peter Dames on blues piano.
Sunday June 8 brings the annual 'Opening Day Jazz' at the Almond Tree Hibiscus Lodge. This year the cool surroundings of the lodge will be the festival village. Opening Day Jazz will feature the Philly Jazz Invasion, which includes the likes of Barbara Walker, Rufus Harley and Son, George V. Johnson and Byard Lancaster. The afternoon-long event will also feature the Overboard and Friends Band of North Carolina and the Jamaica Big Band, which will also feature The Skatalites' Lester Sterling. The Jamaica Big Band will engage in the first part of the ska revival theme, which will be continued by Fab Five on the final day of the festival.
ALL ACROSS THE ISLAND
The festival also intends to go further across the island than last year. Sonny Bradshaw, the festival's director, noted that though Ocho Rios is the festival's base, the music will be taken all across the island, stretching from Montego Bay to Tower Isle. Although most of the activities take place in Kingston and the north coast, this year the festival will make its way to the Jamaican south coast. Bradshaw noted that though the festival had previously made a stop on the south coast, this year's would be the first such in a long time.
Bradshaw argued that rather than simply have the people come to the festival, the festival intends to continue to take the music to the people, which explains the multiple venues. In this vein the tradition of public concerts during the week will be continued. This year they will take place during lunch time at Island Village, Ocho Rios, St. Ann.
The festival will also be attempting to bring back some of its older features. One of these is the jazz motorcade which will take place on Saturday. The motorcade will start with a free public concert at Faith's Pen, St. Ann, featuring the Alpha Boys' School Big Band. Café Aubergine will be the next stop for the motorcade before it journeys to Glenn's Jazz Club for a jazz dinner.
In a somewhat similar vein, patrons can get the jazz vibes flowing for Opening Day Jazz from Chaser's Café in Kingston. The café, situated in Liguanea, will feature jazz during the breakfast hours. From there patrons can take the 'jazz mobile' down to Ocho Rios for 'Opening Day Jazz'.
The festival will also be catering to the gospel crowd by having a jazz gospel concert. The concert, dubbed 'Gospel and Jazz', will also take place at the Almond Tree Gardens. Myrna Hague, Miss Skulley, Rajan T. James, Kingsley Etienne and the Hayes Community Brass Band will perform at this concert, which will be in aid of the Voluntary Organisation for the Upliftment of Children (V.O.U.C.H.).
AWARD SHOW
The final two concerts for the festival will be the 'Jazz Concert and Awards' and the 'Closing Father's Day Concert'. The Concert and Awards show will take place in Kingston this year, at the Jamaica School of Music. The award show will be put together by The Friends of Jazz and will feature performances by Lorraine Klassen, The Uni Big Band (Switzerland), and Whylie Whyrhythm.
The 'Father's Day Concert' will feature the Butler University Vocal Jazz Ensemble, the Jon Seiger All Stars (a Louis Armstrong tribute band), the Curtis Fuller Super Band, Fab Five the Antelope Valley Big Band, the Dean Fraser Afro Jazz-tet, Lorraine Klassen and Kingsley Ettienne.
