With the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), last month, announcing the cancellation of their annual Tobago Jazz Experience, the upcoming TJMW festival has inadvertently gained top billing as the only jazz event on the island this year.
Internationally acclaimed Barbadian Grammy Award winning saxophonist Arturo Tappin shares top billing with T&T’s very own Vaughnette Bigford and Elan Parle at the highly anticipated four-day-weekend event.
Veteran guitarist Michael Boothman, pianist Emile Fortune and Tobago-born vocal sensation Kay Alleyne are also set to appear, as are young singers Roze (Rosezanna Winchester) and Tobago’s rising star Kye De Vere. Co-organiser John Gill said when his team learned of the THA cancellation, they scaled up their production in attempts to fill the void in the island’s event calendar.
“The feeling is whether THA was doing a jazz or not we were doing our jazz. But, yes, one of the reasons for doing it in a bigger way is because we heard there will be no (THA) jazz. That’s why we went and got Arturo and people are already excited,” Gill said.
If needed, Gill said, his team, used to playing second fiddle to the bigger budgeted THA show, is fully prepared to step up as the only major jazz festival on the island. Read More
Mondezie, M. (2024, April 6). Tobago Jazz & Music Weekend grabs the spotlight. Trinidad Express Newspapers. https://trinidadexpress.com/features/local/tobago-jazz-music-weekend-grabs-the-spotlight/article_cbed7738-f47f-11ee-9bc0-9b192983825c.html
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