Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
LEFT: Dwight Pinkney (right) joins Dwight Richards (left), Chris McDonald (on keyboard) and Denver Smith (on drums) to perform the song "Feel So Good". The occasion was the launch of Dwight Richards and Friends Album, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, on Monday. RIGHT: Entertainer Dwight Richards with Guardsman's Sonja Sutherland (left) and music lover Jane Burrowes at the launch of Dwight Richards and Friends Album "Sudden Impact". - PHOTOS BY WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
YOU KNOW all about the powerful voice he possesses. And now fans of Dwight Richards will get a fair sharing of his talents with the trumpet.
Richards launched his first trumpet album, Sudden Impact, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Monday. Friends, fellow musicians and fans of the dreadlocked singer/trumpeter came to witness what was a launch, but turned into a jam session.
The people who know him best took little coaxing to speak about the man. Sonny Bradshaw, who Dwight calls his 'musical father', remembered the days when Richards was just playing the brass instrument in the Jamaica Big Band. But then the talented youngster from Manchester asked to sing. Bradshaw let him and that was that.
PROFESSIONALISM AND TALENT
President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Beverley Lopez, who attends the Stella Maris Church where Richards ministers in music, lauded him for "combining professionalism with talent." She also applauded his ministry to inmates in the prisons. Quote of the night belonged to Monsignor Richard Albert who said, "I've known Dwight before he had dreadlocks and when I still had hair," he crackled.
But enough of the speeches, this album launch had to have some music, and once Richards and Friends got going, it was a party. They performed songs from the album starting with the title track; Richards playing as he emerged from the back of the room. There were a few guest appearances, including from Dwight Pinkney who, like on the CD, joined in the single Feel So Good.
Richards is a former member of the Bare Essentials Band and has toured with artistes such as Jimmy Cliff.
