HOW?DO you like your jazz? Served up in a smoke-filled room, like in the good old days when the boys stopped in for a jam to lose themselves in rhythmic patterns that speak to the highs and lows of everyday living?
Or would you prefer to have your jazz hovering on the periphery of tinkling glass and chatter, consigning the artistes to the background somewhere, and be the beneficiary of weak and automatic applause between breaks?
Naniki Amphitheatre, nestled in the belly of rural St Joseph, offers you both – minus the tobacco-scented room, of course; but it can also deal a cruel blow to the soloist whose music does not cultivate that gravitas to counter the expansive and overpowering environs.
As a first-timer to Naniki, one cannot help but be overwhelmed by the natural beauty and rugged setting off the beaten track. And, at the same time, one can’t help but be struck by artistes trying to connect from a far-flung stage across the empty greens.
Such a struggle on Sunday was pianist Neil Walker’s; he would have much preferred to be at arm’s length from his listeners.
Walker found himself having to hard-sell a message – from his repertoire of Caribbean folk songs – with which his audience should have been familiar, instead of captivating listeners with his keyboard stylings and unique arrangements of songs like John Belly Mamma and Murder In The Market, among others, from his Caribbean folk song CD De Folk Music In Me.
We hope to hear Walker in a cosier setting.
The mood changed drastically as Archie Alleyne’s sextet Kollage took control – not with assault force, but fluid soaring horns, focused double bass, non-intrusive keys, and steady drums bridging the divide between audience and stage. One felt jazz.
The synergy among members of Kollage was spot on. Thanks to drummer Alleyne, tenor sax Jeff King, pianist Stacie MacGregor, trombonist Chris Butcher, trumpeter Alexandra Brown and double bassist Artie Roth.
Internationally acclaimed drummer Roy Haynes, with David Hazeltine on piano and David “Happy” Williams on double bass, brought the evening to a boil. Haynes, a man of small stature, with a set to match his reach, stands tall in the mind of the jazz connoisseur. His effervescent bobbing style and sensitive use of the sticks, though, draw in the most ordinary of jazz lovers.
From his vivacious playing Haynes certainly leaves a lasting sound impression with that downbeat!
