Saint Lucia's Jazz in the South: A celebration of Caribbean jazz music and musicians

Andy Narell is the patron of this year's edition of Jazz in the South. Photo by Dimitri Tolstoi

CASTRIES, St Lucia -- Jazz in the South, the component of the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival that focuses on Caribbean jazz and world music, will this year once again feature an impressive array of artists, with bands and performers from Trinidad, Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, Haiti and Martinique, plus two guests from Africa. The Festival runs between 30 April and 3 May.

This 15th edition of Jazz in the South is placed under the patronage of pan maestro Andy Narell, and it will feature the ‘University of Calypso’ project that Narell and renowned calypsonian Relator created in 2009, a project that explores the role of jazz in vintage calypso. On the CD released two years ago, they perform 15 classic compositions by Lord Kitchener, Lord Melody, Mighty Terror, Roaring Lion, Spider, and Relator, supported by a group of world-class Latin-jazz musicians who will be on stage in Saint Lucia on 1 May. "Oddly enough," Narell points out, "there has been very little interaction between calypsonians and small jazz bands since the ‘50s. Relator and I are drawing a lot of inspiration from the idea of picking up where Kitchener left off 50 years ago." The project has already been performed in London, Martinique, Paris and other locations, but not yet in Trinidad and Tobago. This is the first time that it will be performed in Saint Lucia. Andy Narell is the patron of this year’s Jazz in the South, and he sees this festival as a great opportunity to showcase Caribbean jazz and to bring musicians from the region together.

“Festivals are about tourism” said Narell at the launch of Jazz in the South on 16 February, “but they are also about the culture, about musical creation, and this is what Jazz in the South is doing, that is why I am supporting it”. Very special moments at this festival will include a new collaboration between Saint Lucian pianist and composer Richard Payne, Guadeloupean drummer Sonny Troupé, and Haitian trumpetist Jean Caze, as well as the collaboration between zouk giants Tony Chasseur and Gilles Voyer of Martinique.

Jazz in the South opens at the Coconut Bay Resort and Spa in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia (near Hewanorra airport) on Saturday 30 April, and ends on Tuesday 3 May with a series of workshops and master classes. Andy Narell’s and Relator’s University of Calypso will be performed at Coconut Bay on Sunday 1 May, in a grand show that will also include performers from Saint Lucia, Cameroon, Guadeloupe and Ivory Coast. In addition to the three main concerts, Jazz in the South will host a workshop for music teachers, a master class and a meeting of non-commercial Jazz Festivals from the region. Jazz in the South is organised by Labowi Promotions, a Saint Lucian community-based not-for-profit organisation dedicated to culture and development.