Playlist (November/December 2018) | Music reviewsª

Pillar Jonathan Scales Fourchestra 

(Ropeadope Records)

The steelpan and its sound have become almost the cliché of Caribbean fantasy and escape, but in the hands of musicians with a determination to move away from that old trope, the music can challenge listeners to re-imagine the unique timbre of this creole invention and its canon. North Carolina native Jonathan Scales revels in odd metres and radical time signature changes to produce music for the instrument that can be complex, intriguing and ultimately funky enough for listeners to bop their heads. On this new album, the bass guitar serves as a fulcrum for a rhythmic chase as the steelpan matches it on some tracks like, “This Is The Last Hurrah”, or plays counterpoint standing in awe of the superb musicianship of the likes of Oteil Burbridge, Victor Wooten and MonoNeon on “Fake Buddha's Inner Child” and “The Trap”. Scales's musical hero, banjoist Béla Fleck guests, showcasing the adaptability of the steelpan in musical settings born outside the archipelago.

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1. These reviews appear in the November/December 2018 issue of Caribbean Beat magazine.

© 2018, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

Island Jazz Chat: Episode 1 - Rudy 'Two Left' Smith

Jazz in the Islands magazine is proud to announce the launch of its podcast series Island Jazz Chat, featuring conversations with Caribbean jazz and pan jazz musicians based in the islands and the diaspora. In our premiere episode, editor Nigel A. Campbell chats with steelpan jazz pioneer, Rudy "Two Left" Smith. Listen below, and subscribe for future episodes of the podcast.

• Programme Date: 1 November 2018
• Programme Length: 00:24:38

CLIVE ZANDA IS HERE! Proof of Concept

Liner Notes for the Clive Zanda vinyl album reissue on Cree Records (2017, CLP1220)

The album Clive Zanda Is Here! With “Dat Kinda Ting” Calypsojazz Innovations is the end result of a journey taken by Clive Zanda to show the parallel between extemporaneously created calypso, (“extempo”) and improvised jazz. The album is a sophisticated example of songcraft and trio playing that was, at the time, the pinnacle of all those early experiments—primarily being tackled by the local dance bands—to expand the musical vocabulary of island music by incorporating influences beyond the shore.

The idea for the album evolved out of the relationship between pianist and architect Clive Zanda and the late Scofield Pilgrim, Latin teacher and jazz enthusiast at the revered Queen's Royal College (QRC) in Trinidad, who formalised the QRC Jazz Club there in the early 1960s.

1965/66 QRC Jazz Club executive. Scofield Pilgrim, centre. was the founder and mentor. Photo courtesy Anton Doyle

Their conversations and connection towards an intellectual understanding of the bridge between these two New World music genres, calypso and jazz, led to a body of work that has influence and appeal more that forty years after it was recorded.

Clive Zanda’s path from a child from the “countryside” on the West Indian island of Trinidad taking piano lessons from a relative through to the early recognition that a career in music was a difficult if not impossible choice economically in the islands, continuing through his sojourn in the UK balancing architectural studies with a side line as a jazz musician to his ultimate return to Trinidad, threw up opportunities and lessons in how to navigate the tricky and serpentine music business to either legendary success or temporary fame only to be rescued decades later by foreign music entrepreneurs seeking something exotic and cool.

With this reissue by Cree Records of Germany, the re-evaluation of this original “proof of concept” of kaisojazz—the vernacular for calypso jazz—can take into consideration whether Caribbean music has legs, whether Caribbean music has merit, whether Caribbean music is entertaining and enjoyable for the ages.

Playlist (September/October 2018) | Music reviewsª

In The Moment Larnell Lewis 

(Self Released)

Toronto is a multicultural paradise, more so for a number of artists and a second generation from the islands. Drummer Larnell Lewis, of Kittitian heritage is the premier drummer in the city, landing a job with Grammy winners Snarky Puppy and collecting a couple statuettes for himself. On this, his debut album, he calls on his Caribbean diaspora friends and his Snarky Puppy bandmates to add to this novel referencing of jazz from the perspective of a black North American jazz musician who is not African-American, freed from conjecture and obligations of jazz heritage. That freedom allows Lewis to explore rhythms and harmonies that suggest New Orleans (“Beignets”), gospel jazz (“Rejoice”), Latin jazz (“Coconuts”), fusion (“Change your Mind”), bebop — the solo on “No Access” is a drum masterclass — and tropical World Music (“Essence of Joy”). Memories and moments of Lewis's life are freed to inspire this joyous set of ten sparkling tunes. Dexterous and divine!

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1. These reviews appear in the September/October 2018 issue of Caribbean Beat magazine.

© 2018, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

Playlist (July/August 2018) | Music reviewsª

Believe Kellie Cadogan 

(Self Released)

Bajan songstress Kellie Cadogan oozes charm on this album, with songs that flirt with the sonic qualities of soul-jazz and gospel. This long-in-gestation project includes half of the ten-song album composed by Cadogan, who, with these tunes, displays an ear for contemporary popular songcraft. You can make a range of comparisons: from the sound of a reborn Anita Baker to an intimate acoustic Ella Fitzgerald duet. Songwriting and performance aside, Believe acts as a calling card for a performer who can thrill with a voice that signifies more than just a tropical hotel lounge entertainer, but a singer in touch with a wider palette of sounds. The title tune hangs on a set of lyrics that reflect a positivity and faith that act as a kind of spiritual testimony. The juxtaposition of these original songs — uplifting odes all — and twentieth-century jazz standards makes this album an interesting listen, and a pleasant reminder that Caribbean singers stride many worlds effortlessly.

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CooBago Jazz John Arnold 

(self released)

Tobagonian pianist John Arnold has a knack for writing music that finds its resonance in the heartbeat of Caribbean life. Songcraft more than execution is highlighted here on this nine-song album, with tunes running the gamut from modern piano jazz to contemporary jazz-influenced hip-hop. A longtime pinnacle of Tobago’s music scene and its jazz experience, Arnold continues with his approach of self-sufficiency in creating music that is an extension of the idea of the real Caribbean. Tobago sells itself as a laid-back paradise, the yin to Trinidad’s yang. That counterpoint to the energy of Trinidad’s music is reflected in the soft ostinato grooves of Arnold’s tunes — a repetition that isn’t boring, but that forces the ear to hear what is played on top of the groove. Funky piano and saxophone riffs help the listener discover the intended goal of the album: to define a cool Tobago sound in a sea of smooth jazz.

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Got A Light? Jeremy Ledbetter Trio 

(Alma Records)

Canadian keyboardist Jeremy Ledbetter is no stranger to island ears and aesthetics, having helmed the successful Caribbean Latin jazz ensemble CaneFire since 2005. With his new trio, featuring Larnell Lewis on drums and Rich Brown on bass — of Kittitian and Jamaican heritage, respectively — the West Indian cred is solid. Any fleeting ideas that Canada is a wasteland devoid of multiculturalism’s ethos of integration is abandoned on a first listen to this new album, featuring Ledbetter’s supple performance sharing space with that solid rhythm section. Lewis’s drums play inside and outside time signatures and showcase rhythm unhinged from the metronome-like quality of drum machines. It has to be so, as the nine tunes here echo the beat and harmonic sense of a rediscovered Caribbean transformed by virtuosity. The sound is hushed yet potent, the mood is languid yet dynamic. “Her New Wings”, sung by Eliana Cuevas, is perfection. This album is a revelation of possibilities.

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1. These reviews appear in the July/August 2018 issue of Caribbean Beat magazine.

© 2018, Nigel A. Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

Vaughnette Bigford...the New Standard

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On Saturday night, Vaughnette Bigford gave a performance at the sacred space, The Little Carib Theatre in Port of Spain that had an impact beyond mere words. The superlatives have been expounded on Facebook and elsewhere about her performance, the song set, the production, the guests. What has not been expanded upon so much is the seismic shift that has occurred in how we as an audience now expect local shows to be gauged.

To say that Vaughnette’s show has gone back to its roots, back to square one, would be to minimise its impact on a sold out audience. The tropes of her successful southern shows were all there: the range of songs from the jazz, local and World music songbooks (see song list below), the multiple languages flawlessly rendered, the hauntingly beautiful bass guitar and voice duo song (Putting Up a Resistance), the regulars shouting picong from the rafters! I have been to her Southern shows, Shades of Vaughnette, and have reviewed them for the newspapers here and here, and elsewhere. (Take your time, and read the reviews to get a sense of Vaughnette’s art.) I was there when she made the determined transition to the creole chanteuse who was born to shine and “owned” the local songbook of calypsos and 1970s island pop. Shit, I was there when she headlined Jazz Artists On The Greens - JAOTG in 2017 and graced the cover of my magazine, Jazz in the Islands.

In Trinidad, jazz is an adjective - a podcast interview

I recently participated in a podcast hosted by Franka Philip, called "Talk 'Bout Us" where we spoke on the topic of the Trinidad and Tobago jazz economy, and noted the faddishness of anything called "jazz" in Trinidad. Audio courtesy Trini Good Media

Programme Date: 9 June 2018
Programme length: 00:14:54