IMAGINE the power and dazzling mastery of a big band performing Bob Marley’s Rebel Music (3 O’clock Roadblock), a medley of Jamaican folk tunes that predates, and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music as well as standards made popular during the early 1930s. Such extraordinary, varied musical serving was provided by the Peter Ashbourne-led E-Park Band on Sunday at the Jamaica House Jazz on the Green put on by the Rotary Club of Spanish Town.

“We going to bow to a tradition, the big band tradition, and do a song called In the Mood. Except that, we are going to do it slightly different. We also like New Orleans music. So we are going to try to put the two things together and see if you like it,”Ashbourne told patrons of the well-attended event.

Having been serenaded with the song popularised by the American bandleader Glenn Miller in 1939, that later became one of the best-known arrangements of the big band era, patrons were now fully in the mood for all that the E-Park ensemble had to offer.

Basking in the moment, its distinguished Jamaican director/pianist/violinist prepared the audience greater things to come. “I have to introduce the next song. This is another bow to another tradition. This time it’s the Jamaican tradition. If you are a band on stage you have to do a Bob Marley tune. So here is our Bob Marley tune. I particularly like this one… 3 O’clock Roadblock.”

The musical outfit of Atty Lewis (synthesiser), Dean Fraser (barritone sax instead of his usual alto sax), Everton Gayle (tenor sax), Ian Hunt (alto sax/flute), Romeo Gray (trombone), Vivian Scott and Hopeton Williams (trumpet), Desi Jones (drums), Glen Bowne (bass), and Samuel Bebevivian (guitar), under the direction of Ashbourne, truly made an impact, not only on ‘Roadblock’, but also on its tribute to Duke Ellington, Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso and Tommy McCook featuring Dean Fraser playing the Skatalities’ standard, Dick Tracy.

Stepping out from his role as a lecturer at the Edna Manley College School of Music for this gig, Michael Sean Harris presented an adventurous stint with tunes that blended jazz and the contemporary.

At times teaming with Karen Smith on the Brook Benton/Dinah Washington’s You Got What It Takes, his electic mix covered the Beatles’ 1966 release from the album Revolver, Got To Get You Into My Life and For Good. In her own right, Karen Smith sparkled with her tribute to the queen of soul Aretha Franklin on Natural Woman, Say A Little Prayer and Respect.

That was just the closing set of an afternoon of alluring music in the laid-back, easy-going environs of the green lawns of Jamaica House.

The musical climate was long set by The Green House Effect imposed by Desi Jones and his band of musicians consisting of Jon Williams, Dale Haslam, Chris McDonald and Rupert Bent Jr, as well as musical selections from Gladdy’s Wild Bunch Disco.

In homage to her West Indian roots and her love of American jazz, Kiralina approached her second stint in Jamaica with an expansive vision that reflects her rich and varid influences. The Canada-based singer, who was tastefully refined in vocal styling and glamorous grooming, wonderfully performed such numbers as the unforgettable Duke Ellington’s 1931 composition It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), her souful original You’ll Never Know, God Bless the Child, A Change Gonna Come and Through the Fire.

Elegantly attired, Keisha Patterson was a picture of the sophisticated lady that she sang about. Reflected in her refined vocal texture as well as in her personal appearance, she created a groove-driven, smooth presentation in her delivery of Cole Porter’s Day and Night, Girl From Epanema, then the jazz standard originally composed as an instrumental in 1932 by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills to which words were added by Mitchell Parish called Sophisticated Lady. The way in which Patterson climaxed her presentation with the Etta James’ classic At Last, it wouldn’t be surprising if from here on ‘sophisticated lady’ became her stage name.