MONDAYS MAY be the most hated day of the work week, but this week the annual Jazz in the Sculpture Park series made it a lot
easier to bear.
The concert took place in the Caribbean Sculpture Park at the University of Technology and is a part of the 14th annual Jamaica Ocho Rios Jazz Festival.
Monday night's concert, hosted by Chris Young, featured an eclectic blend of performers. The park, with its growing number of sculptures, provided a relaxing atmosphere under which to enjoy jazz and much more.
The 25-member Chamber Folk Choir of Northern Caribbean University started out the evening with their blend of drama and music. The students had provided a blend of Jamaican and Chinese folk culture, ending their performance with 'Poinciana'.
With the choir's departure, the Desi Jones Jazz Quartet took over the stage. The quartet featured Desi Jones on drums, Jon Williams on piano and violin, Dale Haslam on bass and Rupert Bent Sr. on guitar. The quartet delivered an exciting set that soon had the audience 'whooping' and clapping in their seats.
The quartet's first set of songs featured 'Somewhere', 'All The Things You Are' and 'Coming Alive'. However, the audience really came alive when Williams replaced the piano with the violin to deliver a jazzy rendition of the mento song 'Peanut Vendor'. Williams delivered a performance as sweet as peanut cake and just as textured and the audience ate it up. The enthusiastic applause which followed the end of the song demonstrated that the audience fully appreciated Williams' skills.
From that point it only got better. The rest of the band's performance included several solos, including some of Jones legendary pieces which had the audience enthralled. At the end of their performance, Young summed up the experience.
"Wow!" he said. "I think that's one of the only things we can say right now." The
audience agreed.
Ginetta's Vendetta, another quartet, brought the night to a close. Led by trumpeter and vocalist, Ginetta, from whom the band gets its name, the quartet delivered a fusion of jazz and pop pieces. The saucy band leader wielded her trumpet and sexuality with equal dexterity, and had the audience cheering her along for both. "If I couldn't play I wouldn't dress like this," she laughingly told the audience, and their response to her solos suggested that they agreed that she can play.
Ginetta's Vendetta began their performance with their rendition of 'Summertime', before moving into one of Ginetta's original pieces 'It's My Life'. Ginetta peppered the performance with anecdotes between pieces. She lamented the loss of all her CDs to customs, and so gave out stickers instead.
"Thank you for your beautiful weather and your jerk chicken," she told the audience. After mixing Miles Davis and Michael Jackson with 'Human Nature', the quartet went on to play 'My Funny Valentine' before finally ending their set with 'Watermelon Man'.
