Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Left : Fingersnap - Guy Davies and David McAlmont; Right Down South with Francis Bailey and Mark Hall by Rae Wiltshire The curtains came down on the G-Jazz Festival concert -- not literally. The festival was held at the Theatre Guild's Garden Theatre. An event that transpired on December 11-14 2015 . The concert was mosquito free, thanks to three eucalyptus trees. The sky was black, a few stars were twinkling. "My friends that came loved that they could have laid under the stars and listened to the sweet melodies," Quinton Anthony said. Anthony was one of the many volunteers dressed in blue, who were shuffling around to get things done. "I haven't been to any jazz shows/concerts before, but I must say, that after this; I want to see more. The artists were amazing. They chose the right pieces to perform," Anthony said.  Vidyaratha Kissoon, was sitting on a red rug, where shoes were not allowed. He was zoned into the musicians, who took centre s...

It was late.. around or after midnight. Fingersnap was on stage. The jazz festival was ending. Woman next to me was a bit tired, and hungry. She had been cleaning all day. She said "Why dey doan play ting what people know.. ow it late.." I tried to say, sleepy as I was.. something always good to hear new things but I shut up.. earlier in the night the MC was happy that Charmaine Blackman sang Etta James' At Last - he said At Last Georgetown is clean again. The man was singing a song, I caught the words Grapefruit Moon. The closing song more or less , a kind of finale which was.. well sad , and that was perhaps the sadness that the festival was done, the music done, and we had to go home even though the breeze was cool and nice. And well I guess that the woman would have liked some rousing sing along kind of jazz, but not this haunting rendition.. which sounds to me better than the original by Tom Waits. (Here is Fingersnap in 2011 ) Something though, about...

Paloma looked at the skies and saw the stars. She said "the rain has finished. I am praying for the clouds to move.. and like my prayers are being answered" It did not rain again. I was soaked because I decided to walk through the heavy 6pm shower to get to the Theatre Guild .. could not think of any jazz music to play in my head though I am sure there is Jazz in the rain. I had been listening to Ruth Osman's Rain .. on Friday a group danced to it, and on Saturday another group did the flowetry performance around it. The Flowetry competition (Flowetry is something about rhyming wid motion or poetry wid music or sumtin.. ) started late. A lot of angst as expected, Guyana birthing six races, some live music and the rock band which did not realise that they had to do a poem but came to play.. and did their rendition of Nina Simone's Feeling Good which they arranged a few minutes before they performed. Blues in the Night Francis Bailey played his sa...

"So she can play the flute and sing?" the young woman asked in wonder as Ruth Osman started her part of the programme on the opening night. It was late .. way past my bed time.. but time did not matter really under the eucalyptus trees at the back of the Theatre Guild hearing the live music. Two young women said they did not normally listen to jazz, but they were enjoying the music  One young man said the show was good , he never really bothered with jazz either and he was there because of 'Doc'. Peanut punch was on sale and I finished mine some time around when Charmaine Blackman sang At Last Earlier in the afternoon, two men won the Jazz Dance competition, One of their dances was to Guyana born singer Nhojj's Love . I was blown away though by the Hamer family dancing to Ruth Osman's Rain . I heard that Kenrick Cheeks wowed the audience with his kathak/jazz performance. He got second. The music was good. Even if I have no ...