Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Seretse Small (left), Robert 'Dubwise' Browne (second left), Oral Brown (second right) and Nigel Kennedy perform at Christopher's Jazz Café, The Quad, New Kingston, on Tuesday evening. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

The blues went 'Dubwise' in the voice of guitarist, Robert 'Dubwise' Browne, and the music of himself and his band of 'Friends', at Christopher's Jazz Café, The Quad, New Kingston, on Tuesday night.

And it did so to an appreciative audience, those in wide blue chairs close to the musicians, while the long bar hosted the stand-up, more talkative, crowd, helping the joint live up to its tagline as a meeting place for the most sophisticated people.

Impressed

Browne, who has the album, Birth,to his credit, went for the blues in the second of three stints for the band, came on after Marjorie, who impressed with "my version of Baltimore".

"As you can tell, I am a guitar player and not a singer and it is hard for me to sing after such a beautiful voice, but I am going to do it anyway," Browne said. And they went into it, a drum solo from Oral Brown coming with grimaces and smiles at the end. On Stevie Ray Vaughn's Pride and Joy, Ossie Lewis stood to properly address the Korg keyboard set up on top of the baby grand piano he played for most of the night, the fingers of his right hand dancing and the left intermittently darting to the controls to change pitch and sounds.

After a break the band returned with a one-song change from Nigel Kennedy to Glen Browne on bass, Seretse Small moving from host to guitarist as he joined in the action. Marjorie came back for Crystal Gayle's Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue. She brought out a couple to dance, the pair swaying close to each other and her. More was demanded and Marjorie went uptempo with the request to "sway me now".

Then it was all about the band. Small played extended solos in exchange with Browne, who sat on a high stool for most of the third round. Monty Chung gave the official welcome at 10:30 p.m., Lewis was in the thick of a gospel medley that included When The Saints Go Marching In and a plea for some of that old time religion and Brown's head went up and down, then side to side and did a forward bobbing motion as his sticks flew.

A stir

There was a stir as deejay Shaggy entered Christopher's and three couples came out to twirl to a Latin beat, which transformed into Sly and Robbie's interpretation of Mission Impossible on a drum solo. Browne stood for the final Could You Be Loved, for which he went to electric guitar and, appropriately enough, gave an electrifying delivery.

It was not quite over, though, as Mark Kenny, producer of Digicel Rising Stars, took over the baby grand and went Knocking on Heaven's Door, complete with singing. And Shaggy was called into action to deliver It Wasn't Me on the rhythm to Willie Williams' Armageddeon, Browne's guitar filling in for Rik Rok's voice, as the night came to an end shortly after 11:00 p.m.