- Adrian Frater
Beres Hammond teams up with Maxi Priest at the 'Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival', Montego Bay,, St. James.
AS HE did two years ago, reggae's premier crooner Beres Hammond stole the spotlight on Thursday night's opening night of the 'Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival', in Montego Bay, eclipsing all and sundry with a performance which will be long remembered by fans of his throaty love ballads.
However, had Beres, who solicited high class support from fellow reggae stars Marcia Griffiths and Maxi Priest, had not been at his brilliant best, he would surely would have ended up playing second fiddle to the acoustic guitar-playing wonder, the charismatic India Arie, who sizzled in her debut performance in Jamaica.
While Beres, who closed the show, showed off his versatility by moving smoothly, almost effortlessly, from riveting love songs to his unique style of up- tempo dancehall mix, the commanding Arie held her own with her mature lyrics, which were delivered with the poise of a seasoned crowd-pleaser.
Hitting the stage at precisely 12:58 a.m., the usually elegant Beres Hammond, clad in matching white shirt and pants with his trademark semi-dark glasses and black hat stamping the authentic Beres look, immediately got the crowd going as he signaled his arrival with the well-loved phrase "No disrespect... No disrespect."
With the crowd singing and dancing along, it was all musical magic as Beres delved into songs such as One Dance, She Loves Me Now, Come Back Home, Tempted to Touch, Queen and Lady and Double Trouble. After reminding the audience that "I grew up in a time when the music was good", he elicited deafening screams as he sang a series of love classics, inclusive of Otis Redding's Dock Of The Bay and Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On.
After another segment of his own songs, with songs such as Rock Away, which had some couples locked in each other's arms while other fans rocked and grooved in solitude, the excitement went up several notches when Beres invited veteran songbird Marcia Griffiths to join him on-stage. It was all sweetness as the two voices blended superbly on the song Never Have To Worry.
As smoothly as Marcia left the stage, in strolled a trim-looking Maxi Priest, who, at the insistence of Beres, delivered two of his classics, inclusive of the chart-topping Wild World, which had the ladies screaming out his name. After combining with Beres on the song How Can We Ease The Pain, he too departed, leaving Beres to end another memorable one-night stand with fans when he closed his set with Let Them Talk and Ceasefire.
EXPLODED
India Arie, clad in a flowing orange-looking garb with sprinklings of light brown, exploded on to the stage in a blaze of glory. After a flowing start with the song Headed, which was complemented by the peeling sound of her acoustic guitar, she grabbed an instant reaction from the crowd when her crisp voice embraced the pulsating lyrics of Bob Marley's Natural Mystic.
With the crowd in her corner, the Grammy nominee proceeded to dazzle the fans as she talked with them, smiled with them and soothed them with her crafty lyrics. Songs such as Interested, Talk to Her and Taboo all evoked memories of former R&B star Tracy Chapman. However, when she unleashed Al Green's Love and Happiness, it was clear she was a bonafide star in her own right.
The energy kept flowing from India Arie as she belted out songs such as God Is Real, Redemption Song (which she said Ziggy Marley taught her to play), True Colors, which she concluded by showing her skills with a silver flute; Truth and the classic Little Things before making her exit with, Brown Skin.
With the crowd screaming for more, India Aire returned to close her dazzling set with a soulful rendition of Ready For Love as her encore. She did not return when someone tried to induce her to do so by calling for her reggae-flavoured song Video.
Of the earlier acts, R&B diva Nancy Wilson, who is celebrating in excess of 40 years in the music business, Mile High and the Jamaicans Dean Fraser and Friends and jazz star Maurice Gordon, all combined to set a lively early pace, exciting the audience, which had converged on Annie Palmer's old Cinnamon Hill haunt with good music.
Nancy Wilson, whose white pants suit blended regally with her greying hair, was quite professional in her delivery of songs such as Moon Dance, My Foolish Heart, Sleeping Bee and How Glad I Am, which had the crowd screaming for more. Mile High, which opened the show, also dabbled in the R&B line but blended it with a taste of funk and jazz.
As is now customary, 'sax man' Dean Fraser delivered an instrumental treat as he and his friends went through a collection of local hits inclusive of Ras Michael's None A Jah Jah Children No Cry, and a string of Bob Marley hits, inclusive of Small Axe, Africa Unite and Redemption Song. Maurice Gordon also touched a number of Jamaican classics, especially from his album Jamaica Time.
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