By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
The Maurice Gordon Quartet jazzing up the patrons at 'Free Your Spirit' in the Emancipation Park, New Kingston on Tuesday. - Carlington Wilmot /Freelance Photographer
JAMAICANS OF all shapes, shades and sizes strolled into Emancipation Park in New Kingston on Tuesday evening just before sunset, expecting to be treated to the sounds of jazz at the United States Jazz Ambassador's 2003 concert.
Forgetting their reputation for being late, people piled into the venue with almost all the seating taken before 6:00 p.m., the scheduled start time.
Regular joggers, strollers and walkers refused to have their evening routine's interrupted and continued with business as usual. Many of them would later join the audience.
The park, looking no worse for wear and showing no signs of the New Year's day trauma, seemed to eagerly welcome to the attention. Although many people visit it regularly, this level of crowd is not an every day occurrence.
While most people remained seated during the programme, people occasionally dashed across the street to get ice cream or some other refreshment to help the music go down on the warm afternoon.
A few minutes into the concert, the weather threatened to prove unco-operative. A few dark clouds floated overhead, pushing up the humidity. However, the audience refused to have their end of day groove dampened. Thus, although a few fat drops sent worried looks at the sky (possibly accompanied by silent chants of rain, rain go away), no one made any move to seek shelter. Having its bluff called, the cloud cover eventually dissipated.
The concert, put on by the Embassy of the United States of America in association with Radio Mona FM 93, was dubbed 'Free Your Spirit'. This year's jazz ambassador was the quartet Jazz Sabrosón.
It was up to the Maurice Gordon Quartet, however, to get the groove started and this they did quite well. The quartet was a wonderful blending combination of experience and youthful talent. Maurice Gordon, on guitar, and Harold Butler, on keyboards, brought the experience. They were complemented by Randevon Patrick on drums and Duane Livingston on bass guitar.
The quartet performed for approximately an hour, playing a combination of works written by either Harold Butler or Maurice Gordon, with a few other pieces thrown into the mix. From Butler's repertoire the quartet played Jamaica West Indies, Spirit of Trane, and Serita. Serita featured a bass solo which highlighted that Duane Livingston is certainly a talent to keep two eyes on. Butler displayed his own prolific skills during the impressive celebration of the stylistic imagination of John Coltrane in Spirit of Trane.
Gordon selected pieces from mainly from two albums, Irie Moods and Jamaica Flora, to show his own compositions. The evening began with Blues for Ernie and Irie Mood, Jamaica Flora, and Raggamuffin Blues later followed.
The quartet also played the lovers' rock classic, Love Me
Forever, before ending their contribution with Gordon's Moving with Your Love. They ended to enthusiastic applause.
The jazz ambassadors played a combination of traditional Cuban rhythms, the blues and, of course, Latin jazz. The talented group featured a healthy helping of their original compositions as well as re-arranged classics. The quartet features Miriam Sullivan on string bass, Jainardo Bastisa Sterling on congas and vocals Steve Bloom on guitar and Antonio de Vivo on trapset, congas and vocals.
Original compositions played included Sullivan's Untitled and de Vivo's Sweet Sweat and Romerito. Jazz classics included Short Story, Coltrane's 26-2 and Summertime. However, Summertime had been stretched beyond all but lyrical recognition as it was transformed by a traditional Cuban rhythm.
As with all else, the evening finally came to an end. While many hurried to their cars or the nearest bus stop, others stayed to just pass the time and enjoy what the park had to offer.
