While some music festivals are singing the blues, the Jamaica International Ocho Rios Jazz Festival is set to swing into its 11th year of great straight ahead jazz. What the organisers say will be another exciting flowering of the art form kicks off tomorrow and runs until Father's Day.
The nine days of what has grown to become the region's best known exposé of jazz in its traditional form, opens at the Little Theatre with a show, billed "Nostalgia In Gold".
For the first time in its history the festival will include a non-jazz act, The Platters, which will be the featured act on tomorrow's line-up.
Supporting acts will include some of Jamaica's more gifted singers and players of instruments. Among them are the Jamaica Big Band celebrating 50 years under the direction of trumpeter/bandleader Sonny Bradshaw, the 70-odd year old founder of the festival; Canadian-based Jamaican singer Buddy Ilgner and songbird Karen Smith.
As has become the norm, following the opening show tomorrow night, events will be held in Ocho Rios, Negril, Kingston and Montego Bay. This year's lineup of artistes is a formidable one and features a number of musicians who have made the trek to Jamaica before. Among the other artistes who will be displaying their talents, in a by-no-means exhaustive list, will be jazz bagpiper Rufus Harley, trumpeter Terrence Blanchard. singer Irene Reid, saxman and flautist, Bobby Ramirez, organists Kingsley Ettienne and Joey De Francesco, saxophonist Byard Lancaster and master whistler Joel Brandon. Also making the trip are jazz groups, the Antelope Valley Big Band, the Uriparam Korean Cultural Group and the Washington High School Jazz Band.
Other local acts which will be on show during the festival include top-flight musician Marjorie Whylie, top guitarist Maurice Gordon, master pianist Harold Butler and saxophone maestro Dean Fraser and his quartet.
Bradshaw, whose vision it was to have an annual festival of this nature 11 years ago, is today vindicated. Gone are the days when in the face of strong competition from other high profile music events, naysayers used to whisper behind his back, "He is not going to make it" and "He is appealing to a limited audience which cannot sustain the budget needed for this kind of event."
With at least one of his major competitors no longer around (not lasting half the time he has even with a bigger budget) and while some are struggling, Splash sought to ascertain what Bradshaw's secret of success and longevity is.
"The secret is, we are in it for the music. That's it. We are all in it for the music. Me and my partner and my committee. We are in it for the music," he replied modestly.
And while admitting that the sponsorship level was far less then the other major music festivals, he attributed his success to perseverance as well as "innovative and creative management".
Reflecting on the last 10 challenging years, the noted bandleader said, "I feel honoured to have travelled the course and still be in the race. I'm very sad that the others are not with me because we could complement each other."
He then provided a wish list of what he would have liked to see happen with his brainchild even as he lamented the lack of media support.
"We wish that we would have more support. It is our music. We the black people invented it and it is a part of our culture. We would like it to be supported more by the media. I don't think we are getting enough. We have declared June jazz month for seven of our 10 years and we have not been noticed by the agent who would benefit."
What can the fans look forward to this year? "This year we'll be doing the same thing we have been doing for all of the 11 years. Providing the best of jazz, meaning progressive blues, contemporary jazz and any other form that has evolved over the years.
"But we leave popular music to those who are best able to promote it. We would like to encourage sponsorship for the product, which is one of the safest, cleanest and family oriented."
And what of the future?
"The vision is to have the music recognised every year both in the media and in places of live music," Sonny Bradshaw told Splash.