CLASS: Al Jarreau and his percussionist Arno Lucas perform the bluesy Lost And Found. (Photos: Michael Gordon)

It was the most fitting of climaxes to the 2003 BET/Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival at the Wyndham Rose Hall grounds, with standout performances from all the acts billed, plus some brawta, to boot.

Four different musical traditions were on show, but in the end, they all created a menu of superb fare. It comprised a mix of Courtney Pine's Afro-Caribbean Jazz fusion with Monty Alexander, who has one foot planted solidly in the musical heritage of his homeland and another in the finest traditional jazz and swing traditions; plus Angie Stone's authentic soul and Al Jarreau's freestyling jazz/R&B/pop.

It's hard to tell just by looking but at 63 years of age, and still recuperating from recent surgery on his spine, Al Jarreau is still rocking with the best of them. That's something he intends to keep doing, as he told members of the media after his performance, "until I can't do it anymore". Hopefully, that won't be anytime soon.
Backed by a superb combo, Jarreau was totally on song. In an hour-long set, he spent much of his time rendering tracks from his latest album, All I Got, released in September last year, while mixing in some of the old favourites.

Angie Stone put a little soul into the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival which ended SAturday at the Wyndham Rose Hall grounds.

Among the latter set were songs like Sad And So Distracted, After All, Morning Mist - which he dedicated to the lost crew of the space shuttle Columbia, and Roof Garden. The songs on All I Got seem to all be classic Jarreau; superb, thoughtful poetic lyrics, wonderful melodies and arrangements, articulated by a voice that has more colours than a chameleon or a rainbow and more expressiveness than a painting by Picasso.
These included tracks like the very beautiful Jacaranda Bougainvillea, which he composed for the people of the "new nation" of South Africa, following a visit to that country. He described post-apartheid South Africa as "a nation of hope where all colours can live together".

Among the new songs was Lost And Found, a duet with British rocker, Joe Cocker, done in grand style with Arno Lucas, percussionist and former frontman of the late 1970s/early 1980s group Crackin'.
Some felt that Jarreau didn't do enough of his older, familiar material but that did not detract from a great performance.
The tragedy of the Columbia disaster, inevitably, made its presence felt. Angie Stone, before she got into her smashing debut performance in Jamaica, asked for a moment of silence from the very large audience, in memory of the seven astronauts who died in the mishap.

With that done, it was time to rock. Stone, regarded as one of the leaders of the neo-soul movement, threw down her brand of soul in a performance that harked back to the glory days of Aretha Franklin and Millie Jackson, but re-interpreted in her own style, in a contemporary context. She did songs from the two albums that she has so far released, Black Diamond and Mahogany Soul and with few exceptions, the audience, pressed up against the stage, sang right along with her.
Style, a rich dark voice - despite what appeared to be a slight case of hoarseness - a laid-back, earthy approach, strong lyrics and a tight band, all contributed to a lovely performance. Of particular delight was the lovely four-part harmony she created with her three back-up vocalists, who were an integral part of her presentation.

Stone told the Observer, following her set, that she had not realised that her music was so popular here and that she had been pleasantly surprised at the response by the audience.
I did not see most of Courtney Pine's performance, unfortunately, and only caught the last 10 minutes or so with the fiery saxophone player and bandleader sashaying out into the audience and serenading the audience. The audience also went wild, as the artiste - who is of Jamaican parentage, advertised by the Jamaican flag wrapped around his head - demonstrated his ability to sustain a note, on his tenor sax, courtesy of the technique of circular breathing. This he did for at least three minutes, as he closed the set on a high note, literally.
It may be a case, despite what was stated earlier, of saving the bets for last but no matter. Monty Alexander delivered a performance that was filled with his great artistry, class and one that reflected, as said, the traditions of Jamaican folk, reggae and ska, from which he has emerged. Backed by his supporting trio of musicians - Robert Thomas Jnr (hand drums and percussion), Hassan JJ Wiggins Shakur (string bass) and Quentin Baxter (drums) - Alexander, in one of his infrequent visits home, seamlessly wove traditional jazz/ragtime and ska with reggae and a dash of the stylings of the classics.

It was a well-thought-out set. After kicking off with Cannonball Adderley's Work Song, he went on to numbers like Monty's Groove, a superb piece of laid-back jazz/reggae that Alexander did with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare; the brilliant classically-influenced Rodrigo Concerto de Aranjuez, as well as a suite of songs made popular by Frank Sinatra, who was a major influence on Alexander's career. That suite included Fly Me To The Moon and You're Just Too Marvellous, which heard Alexander dusting off his surprisingly decent vocals.
In all of this, Alexander showed his prowess on the keyboard, a skill that has oftentimes been likened to the legendary Oscar Peterson. His dexterity, improvisational skills, innate sense of colour and musicianship was a joy to experience.
Nowhere were Alexander's artistic sensibilities more in evidence than on Hope, a piece he composed, in hope for world peace. Composed almost in sonata form, it began with a solo piano classical entry, shades of a Chopin nocturne, then as the rhythm dropped into a Nyabinghi drum-type beat the piano floated above it, embellished by Thomas' exceptional work on the bongos and Asian bells. As the song moved to its close, in diminuendo, the rhythm was like a heartbeat. Screams and waves of appreciative applause was just reward.

Marley's Redemption Song, always amenable to re-interpretation, was also metamorphosed into a joyous, glorious celebration of hope.
A special treat for the audience came in the form of Alexander's wife, Italy-born Katarina, who performed two numbers. The first, a love song entitled Ecstasy, sung in Italian, was a very relaxed, expressive ballad while the other was a beautiful track called River Rolls On, with lyrics by Brian Jobson. Alexander closed with a powerful, expansive interpretation of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Alexander said, shortly into his set, that it was an honour to be playing in the land of his birth. The honour, in fact, was ours for being able to be there to listen to him.
And as for the brawta, that came in the form of a surprise performance by Dave Stewart of The Eurhythmics and the great Jimmy Cliff, who performed a track called The City, from Cliff's forthcoming album.
All told, the 2003 BET/Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, was, if not a financial success, it most certainly was an artistic one.

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