Who took the jazz out of Tobago Jazz Festival?
February 6, 2008
No genre of music attracts more snobbery and divisive opinion than jazz.
Woe betide the casual fan (is there such a thing?) that tries to tell a hard bop head that this trad stuff really is worth a listen. I should know; I am that hard bob head. So I was particularly piqued when I saw a press release announcing the line-up for the 2008 Tobago Jazz Festival.
The problem with the line-up is that there don’t appear to be any jazz acts headlining. Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Whitney Houston… not completely without their charms but forgive me if I missed their jazz years.
Other acts: Smokey Robinson, Shakira and En Vogue. Still no jazz then.
Previous line-ups: Sir Elton John, Gladys Knight, LL Cool J, India Arie, Stevie Wonder, Sting… is anyone spotting a pattern here?
Does this lumping together of all ‘Music of Black Origin’ as jazz irk anyone else? Because that’s what seems to be happening here.
Can anyone else name a music festival trading under such false pretences? What’s next? Sting plays Monsters of Rock? Whitney Houston at the Verona Opera Festival? Actually that might be quite cool. But it sure ain’t jazz.
Matthew Hampton, features editor
Nathan Midgley
Comments (1)
I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Hampton's comments!! It would be more honest to call it a Music Festival instead, featuring various kinds of music (except Jazz) because that is precisely what it is.
There have been several artistes (Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole, OJays etc.) who have performed in Tobago that I have been delighted to see and hear regardless of the genre and would love to see them again. But the patrons who have a genuine appreciation of Jazz especially "Straight Ahead" Jazz continue to be disappointed. There are no Wyntons or Blanchards or Westons or Hargroves or Brubecks or Burrells or Hancocks........I could go on!!
While I enjoyed Sting's performance in 2006 (who's repetoire consisted mostly of "Police Era" songs, I much prefer his "post Police" releases which continue to reflect his maturity as an artist.
His recordings/performances with "side men" such as Branford Marsalis, Chris Botti and Christian McBride or as a guest on Herbie Hancock's "Possibilities" have only served to deepen my respect for his talent.
Unfortunately, we don't always want our artistes to grow up and even though Rod Stewart's most recent recordings (American Songbook etc) are delightful and also reflect his maturity, my guess is he won't be performing any of those songs because they're "classic" and we ain't having that.
Bottom line - if Jazz is what you really want, do not go to Tobago, because the Jazz was never in the Tobago Jazz Festival to begin with.
Instead try Panama in January. Its continued growth could be attributed to the fact that both the festival's founder (Danilo Perez) a three time Grammy nominated musician and educator coupled with the support of the current Minister of Tourism (Ruben Blades) an actor and Salsa star in the U.S for many years appear to have successfully managed to blend Culture and Commerce, go online and view the calibre of musicians who have performed there over the past five years.
Alternatively you can go to St. Lucia in May (though their emphasis on "Straight Ahead" artists has diminished significantly over the past nine years.)
Posted by C.A.J.C. Clarke | February 14, 2008 8:30 PM
Posted on February 14, 2008 20:30