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International Jazz Day celebrations 2025, held under the theme ‘Jamaica Jazz Stylee’, showcased the brilliance of groups such as the Alpha Jazz Ensemble, Jazzetry, the JaMM Big Band, the Pau Nattykees Quintet, the Orville Hammond Quintet, and special international guest, David Murray and his Quartet.
As it did last year, the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre in St Andrew on Wednesday hummed with life at the one-night only festival of music, art, craft and food saw the merging of the weekly Hoillcrest Avenue-based Kingston Night Market with the Jazz Day festivities. The amphitheatre was near capacity as jazz enthusiasts filled the seats ready for another memorable evening, while those who came mainly to support the vendors and socialise were kept busy doing just that
One of the first groups to perform was Jazzetry, a set of musicians who came together just for that one night, although they have all worked with each other at some point. Poet Kacey Garvey was joined by musicians Zoey McIntyre on flute; Eljay Reid on piano; Rayon Wallace on guitar; Reuben Betty on drums and Emily Elliott on ‘cello and vocals.
Among the pieces performed by the group were War, Can we go Back and He Looked Beyond our Faults.
Elliott told The Gleaner that recently started collaborating with Garvey with their first joint gig being at F&B Downtown for their jazz night in October. She shared that her group wanted to send a message through their songs.
“It wasn’t just about entertaining and having fun ... we want that too. We also wanted to move the audience to think and look into who we truly are. We have all made our mistakes but it isn’t too late for us to make things right again. The final song was really a call to know what we need to do to build this nation. We hope that the audience took that in. Sometimes you may not get as big as an applause but the thought is there,” she added.
TRIBUTE
The Pau Nattykees Quintet paid tribute to Jamaican jazz musician, Harold McNair.
“Tonight was great!” Nattykees said enthusiastically. “I get to play great music with great friends like Jeremy [Ashbourne]. From Harold McNair we played Nomadic Joe, Affectionate Fink and The Hipster, that’s his classic. And then we did a jazz standard O Barquinho.”
Ashbourne, the drummer, said he was “happy to see Ranny Williams come alive”.
“I would encourage whoever is responsible for this to do more things like this because in a cultural powerhouse such as Jamaica, there is a lack. And people love it. Jamaicans love to come to free concerts. This set that we played was really to highlight the music of Harold McNair who is a not-very well-known saxophonist by Jamaicans. But he made a name for himself outside of Jamaica,” Ashbourne told The Gleaner.
The JaMM Big Band saw Ozou’ne Sundalyah playing the piano and directing. The rhythm section also included Maurice Gordon on guitar/bass; Collin Evans on bass; John Campbell on percussion; and Cliff ‘Bond’ Ellis on drums. With a six-strong brass/horn section featuring trumpet, trombone, clarinet and alto sax, and vocalist, Sandra Crawford, the JaMM Big Band delivered eloquently. Freedom Sound, Dog War, La Zorra, Maiden Voyage, A Child is Born, Baltimore, Many Rivers to Cross, Concrete Jungle, Rucumbine and Paul Bogle made up their set list, for which they received loud and long applause.
Sundalyah, however, always aiming for the highest, was not content with the delivery.
“When you aspire to be on top of your game, I tend to have the same expectations of persons I am working with. And when we put in the work, I expect the same level and higher on stage. I expect for people to pay attention. I expect for people to remember the arrangements, to focus on your notes. But, that aside, I think, given the circumstances, it was okay. People will say it was good and it probably was good for what I know we can do, it wasn’t where it ought to have been.
At 10:38 p.m., guest artiste, David Murray, took charge of the stage. Described as “a prolific recording artiste”, Murray has released more than 100 albums under his name and appears on scores of others. His quartet features himself on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Marta Sanchez on piano, Luke Stewart on bass, and Russell Carter on drums. They were classic.
The International Jazz Day event was made possible by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment & Sport, the UNESCO Caribbean Office, the Jamaica Music Museum and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission.
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