Among Caribbean music festivals the word "Jazz" has become a loosely used catch-all term encompassing a wide range of musical genres. At some Caribbean "jazz" festivals one could circumvent the island's entire coast, tred through the lush interior, jet ski along the azure seaside, even hire a private detective to prowl the main stage and still not find an authentic jazz artist! To offset those festivals that may have forgotten or perhaps never knew what true jazz is, there is the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival, acknowledged as the Caribbean's first Jazz festival. Yes, there are bigger, better-known jazz events throughout the region but there isn't a festival that honours jazz and it's serious musicians as thoroughly as the eleven-year-old festival in the town of "eight rivers" located on Jamaican's popular north coast.
It's not surprising the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival is uniquely committed to paying tribute to African American 20th century classical music: it's founder and director is Cecil "Sonny" Bradshaw, a proponent for the preservation of jazz and a stalwart figure in Jamaica's musical history. Born in Kingston in 1926, Sonny Bradshaw is the former president of the Jamaican Federation of Musicians, a position he held for 25 years; among other achievements during his JFM presidential tenure, Bradshaw initiated Jamaica's first music copyright act. Bradshaw is also a member of the board of the Jamaica School of Music and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission and the founder of "The Jamaica Friends of Jazz," an organization that facilitates radio and television exposure for Jamaican and international jazz musicians. An accomplished musician, Bradshaw plays piano, keyboards, trumpet, flugelhorn, clarinet, trombone and saxophone. He is the founder and leader/musical arranger of The Jamaica Big Band, which he instituted more than 50 years ago when the music of dance orchestras modeled after American big bands, playing swing and jazz (accented with an occasional Cuban rhumba, Trinidadian calypso or Jamaican mento tune) dominated Kingston nightclubs.
Bradshaw is also a pioneer in popularizing Jamaica's indigenous recorded music on the island's airwaves. "I did more work on radio for Jamaica popular music than I did for jazz," Bradshaw explains. "I did a radio program for five years called Teenage Dance Party that introduced Jamaica's music to radio, that was in 1958-59 (the genesis of Jamaica's ska era and the island's recording industry). It was the window for local music at that time. I also introduced local music charts to radio stations in Jamaica." Bradshaw also worked as a journalist for many years, his weekly column in the Daily Gleaner focusing on music news (primarily jazz) and commentary.
Commencing in 1991, the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival presented the "Greatest Names in Jamaican Jazz" in an experimental one-day event while attempting to enhance Jamaica's tourism by providing entertainment for the entire family. "My wife played a great part in starting this," recalls Bradshaw, who is married to singer-actress Myrna Hague. "Even though I had the idea for many years, she said 'Let's do this now!' We planned our first Jazz festival for Father's Day ten years ago because fathers weren't getting any attention! It was a one-day festival and it was the must successful day in the whole series so far."
In just three years The Ocho Rios Jazz Festival expanded from one to eight days presenting the greatest names in Jamaican jazz as well as the very best of international talent. For 2001, The Ocho Rios Jazz Festival has adopted two themes: "Nostalgia in Gold" and "Jamaica's Greatest." "Nostalgia in Gold" kicks off at Kingston's Little Theatre on Saturday, June 9th featuring legendary American R&B group The Platters (recently featured in a PBS television special.)