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Monday, July 6, 2009

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Bringing the heat By THEA RUTHERFORD ~ Guardian National Correspondent ~ thea@nasguard.com: Playing hop scotch across venues in Nassau, with one thrilling stop on picturesque Harbour Island, Jazz Summer — The Festival comes to the country with cool music and hot headliners, including trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval. The two-weekend Bahamian jazz fest begins this Friday, June 12 with a "Jazzy Day" in Harbour Island with the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Orchestra. The festival scoots across the aquamarine waters back to Nassau that night for a concert with Atlanta-based trumpeteer Joey Somerville and Irate at the Balmoral Club. Vaughn Anthony, brother of John Legend, plays under the stars at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas with Bahamian stars Bodine "Be" Johnson and Sammi Starr. And the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Orchestra returns to join the Saturday night lineup at the gallery. "We've included Harbour Island, probably one of the most beautiful islands in the country," said Roscoe Dames, CEO of Ivory Global Promotions, the company behind Jazz Summer, at a press conference announcing the event last week. Dames was flanked by officials from the Ministry of Tourism and the Department of Culture, representing governmental support for a festival poised to grow and have a significant impact on the country's economy. "This is truly our festival and the money and the revenue generated from Jazz Summer stays in The Bahamas," he said. An exciting follow-up to last year's festival and the earlier "Jazz Under the Stars" a few years ago, Dames said that Jazz Summer was "years in the making." While the first weekend of the festival promises a splash of venues and a wave of good music from a variety of local and international artists, the second weekend rounds the festival off on an even higher note. Arturo Sandoval performs at the National Center for the Performing Arts on the final night, Saturday, June 20. Local veteran musician Paul Hanna opens for Sandoval in a show that starts at 8 p.m. On Friday, June 19 the G-Note All Stars and Frydeh jazz up the Humidor beginning at 8 p.m. The flurry of performances that make up Jazz Summer comes with the enthusiastic support of the Ministry of Tourism, expressed by senior director of visitor experience, Geneva Cooper, at the press conference. "The Ministry of Tourism and Aviation is delighted to play a significant role in supporting Jazz Summer — The Festival," she said. "Mr. Roscoe Dames and his team at Ivory Global Promotions have been working hard to attract jazz lovers to our shores through this festival. We expect that this festival will bring a number of visitors to enjoy top notch musicians and performers. Once here we will have the opportunity to extend the Bahamian brand of hospitality to our special guests. Part and parcel of this is the sharing of our culture. Jazz Summer — The Festival can easily be seen as a cultural exchange through music as music is a universal language." Jazz Summer also comes with a host of sponsors, including Shakespeare in Paradise, a theater festival produced by Ringplay Productions and scheduled for October 5 - 12. Nicolette Bethel, a spokesperson for the event, highlighted the impact festivals like Jazz Summer can have on the economy. "During economic downturns, the municipal governments of the U.S. are beginning to invest in festivals," she said. "Festivals bring people to their city and provide enough revenue in a one week or two week period to help them drive their economy for the entire year." Dames expressed hope that local and visiting guests will enjoy what they experience. "My hope is that everyone enjoys" the festival, he said. My hope is "that the visitors that come down want to come back. The Ministry of Tourism sees some economic benefit from it for us as a country."