Dominican singer Michele Henderson gave a brilliant performance at Jazz on the Greens on Sunday. She was the high point of the evening, the tenth anniversary of the annual jazz showcase. The show, held at WASA grounds in St Joseph, featured five hours of good music and attracted a larger audience than last year's. The mood was mellow for the most part, with the two female performers on the cast, Henderson and Llettesha Sylvester, provided most of the sparks. The open-air show had a great atmosphere, with guests seated on chairs or picnic blankets, sipping wine and taking in the music. The producers gave each of the five featured performers an hour onstage, a decision that had somewhat uneven results. The seasoned acts did well, but the less experienced ones might have done better with shorter sets. Carlton "Zanda" Alexander opened the show, leading his band on the keyboards as patrons streamed into the ground. Backed by Russell Durity on bass, Anthony Woodroffe on sax, Makesi Joseph on drums and Akinola Sennon (who also did a solo number) on tenor pan, Zanda performed languid renditions of songs including calypso classics like Tension and Don't Forget Your Mother and Father.
Sylvester was next, flexing her warm, soulful gospel-trained voice on contemporary songs like Adele's Rollin in the Deep, Alicia Keys' I'm Ready and Jill Scott's One is the Magic Number. The young performer proved she has lots of talent, but the extended set seemed to put some strain on her voice at times. Her set was enjoyable, however, also including Sweet Love and Ain't No Sunshine. Guitarist Clifford Charles played some of his originals as well as jazzy versions of That Girl, Take Five and Machel Montano's I Just Wanna Dance. At times the band-Rodney Alexander and Dereck Cadogan (keys), Sean Friday (bass), and David Richards (drums)-ran the risk of fading into the background as patrons enjoyed their lime, but Charles warmed up as the set went along. He was at his best when he engaged the audience, finishing off by inviting the "Bacchanalists" in the audience to come to the front of the stage and dance as he played the Carnival 2012 Kerwyn Dubois hit. Michele Henderson was up next, proving to be the highlight of the night. Her experience showed as she gave a nuanced and expressive performance, shifting easily between sweet, melodic singing and hitting some soaring, powerful notes that stopped the show.
In her second JOTG performance, Henderson was backed by local musicians including Elan Parle leader Michael Low Chew Tung on keyboards, Dean Williams on guitar, Modupe Onilu on percussion and Kevon La Fleur. She used her multifaceted talent to deliver jazz classics like Misty and My Favourite Things, a couple of jazzy zouk numbers including the creole-language Leve, which she said was a "revolutionary" call for people to stand up for themselves, the very technical Spain, two pieces by Chick Corea and Marley's Waiting in Vain. She also showed her skills on flute on some of the songs. Her rendition of I Am Changing mashed up the session and her Do I Do (Stevie Wonder), which closed her set, earned her a standing ovation and calls for an encore. She did it all over again as the crowd stayed on their feet and danced. Ace pan composer Annise Hadeed had a hard act to follow and his set, which was the last for the evening, was a lot more mellow. The London-based recording artiste and his musical team-Theron Shaw on guitar, Richard Bailey on drums and bassist Douglas Redon-performed Valentino's Trinidad is Nice and some of his own compositions, including Spur of the Moment. Patrons made their way out-some unfortunately not waiting till the end-after what had been a pleasant evening's entertainment.