Michael Reckord, Contributor
Boris Gardener. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
"A FABULOUS evening," is what silky-voiced MC Michael Anthony Cuffe promised patrons occupying the 300 chairs set out on the lawn of 9 Wiltshire Avenue for Sunday's 'Jazz and More' concert. A fabulous evening is what they got.
Cuffe might have been referring to only the performers Harold Davis & Friends, vocalists Diamara, Pam Hall, Maria Myrie and Boris Gardener, and the Kathy Brown ensemble but, as the concert's title suggested, there was more.
The delightful ambience was no small part of the 'more'. Providence provided a cool evening with a full moon in a cloudless sky. A spreading poui tree on the lawn provided branches for the hanging of lanterns, which offered soft illumination.
The Optimist Club of Barbican Pines, the presenters of the show, provided large amounts of delicious food for the patrons during the break in the entertainment. And fine artist Paul R. Blackwood had an exhibition of 13 beautiful paintings on the lawn, together with several prints, for the visual enjoyment of those present. Blackwood, who, over the past 25 years, has exhibited in the wider Caribbean, the USA, Canada and Europe, displayed mostly nature scenes, which were not out of place in the garden setting.
The ebullient Davis and his band started the musical part of the evening and after he had sung a jazzy version of the Drifters' hit On Broadway, Cuffe introduced the 'shy' Diamara, a relative newcomer to professional performing.
Diamara told The Gleaner she started singingin church, but if future audiences give her the enthusiastic reception she got on Sunday, all self-doubt should rapidly disappear. In fact, one highlight of the evening was her rendition of the self-penned Our Love, a haunting love song about defiant loving. Seretse Small's sensitive accompaniment on his guitar added to the pleasure the song gave the appreciative audience.
Brown, whose medical and musical careers Cuffe said he was watching with interest to see which would eventually win, came on next with her group. Conga man Djenne Greaves featured strongly in the four quick-tempo items the band delivered, which included 'Poinciana', a South African jazz tune, Brown's original 'Mission', and a jazzed up version of Marley's Could You Be loved.
After a half-hour break, Hall who, we were told, has a new CD, Testament, on the shelves, raised the evening's emotional level with impassioned renditions of I Was Born a Woman, You Don't Know How Glad I Am, Broken-Hearted Melody, and the Nina Simone classic My Baby Just Cares For Me.
In her set, Myrie was bouncy, chatty and sexy, especially in a duet, Mercy, Please, with Small. The other duet she performed, with Davis, With You I'm Born Again, was calmer, but still full of feeling. An energetic medley of Feel Like Jumpin, There's a Land I Heard About, and Steppin Outa Babylon ended her segment.
The lanky, mellow-voiced Gardener, the final singer, took the audience on a stroll down memory lane with a variety of songs. The Englebert Humperdink ballad Misty Blue was followed by Percy Sledge's While the Choir Sang; then came Johnny Ace's Forever, My Darling, Roger Whittaker's song of war and departure. The Last Farewell, and The Wisdom of a Fool followed.
The evening ended at 10:30 p.m., with Gardener's rendition of I Wanna Wake up With you.
