Classical pianist Sean Sutherland backs up Addison Stoddard with Becket’s ‘St. Vincent My Homeland.’
Photograph by Nelson A. King
The Brooklyn-based Vincentian-American Impartial Nationwide Charities, Inc. (VINCI) on Sunday, June 8, hosted its Annual Pre-Father’s Day Jazz & Cocktail celebration to rave opinions at Royal Palace on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn.
The sold-out ceremony featured a wide selection of artistes, together with Jazz Vocalist Boncellia Lewis and Pals; Haye Leisure; Pannist DoMo (The Jack of all Trades); Richie Nick and Pals; Classical Pianist Sean Sutherland, with Classical Jazz/Soul Vocalist Addison Stoddard; and Percussionist Modupe.
Seven-time Grenada-New York Independence Calypso Monarch and Comic Hercules served as Grasp of Ceremonies on the occasion, which was held underneath the auspices of the Consulate Basic of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to america. Consul Basic Rondy “Luta” McIntosh and his spouse, Semone, have been among the many patrons.
“The ambiance, the performances, and the power of the viewers have been very fascinating and fairly memorable,” Enisha Fern Dopwell, VINCI’s public relations officer, instructed Caribbean Life.
“Patrons loved all of the performers, however essentially the most participating facet was the rendition of Becket’s ‘St. Vincent My Homeland‘ by Sean Sutherland, classical pianist, and Addison Stoddard, vocalist,“ she added. “I believe they actually introduced the home down with that outstanding efficiency.“
After “St. Vincent My Homeland,” the effervescent viewers requested an encore. “Encore! Encore!“ the gang shouted. “We wish extra! We wish extra!” Sutherland and Stoddard honored the request.
Dopwell mentioned Boncella and Pals by no means disappoint.
“They’ve been performing for us from the inception,“ she mentioned, stating that they “delivered an unforgettable efficiency.”
They ended with the legendary Etta James’s 1961 recording of “At Final,” one in every of her first releases for the Chess/Argo recording label after beginning her profession with the Trendy label.
Dopwell mentioned Haye Leisure, a younger and vibrant group, was “very good.”
The band, comprising three brothers – Noel Hye on saxophone, O’Neil Haye on bass, and Mikel Haye on guitar – with Joshua Cox on drums, supplied a mix of Caribbean and contemporaneous rhythms, highlighted by Bob Marley’s “One Love.”
Dopwell mentioned Nick & Pals have been “extraordinary, particularly the feminine vocalist.“
That feminine vocalist was African American Katy Waters, the lead vocalist with the Brooklyn-based Caribbean band Simply Pals.
Dopwell mentioned DoMo “surpassed himself,“ stating that he “was in a very completely different area musically.”
Amongst different picks, DoMo beat out on pan Bob Marley’s “I Don’t Need to Wait in Useless,” Grover Washington, Jr.’s “Simply the Two of Us,” and Trinidadian Alatunji’s “Engine Room.”
Percussionist Dodupe introduced the home down with a “sturdy efficiency,“ Dopwell mentioned.
“We had a various line-up this 12 months,“ with artistes from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Panama, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, the US, St. Lucia, and Vincentians residing in Toronto,“ Dopwell mentioned.
“This collaboration of musical expertise captured the thrill and success of our Jazz & Cocktail Occasion,“ she added. “General, your complete night was well-attended and profitable.
“Of us have been happy and glad with the performers, meals, drinks, music, firm, and ambiance,“ Dopwell continued.
VINCI President Wayne Ragguette additionally instructed Caribbean Life: “I felt very constructive and nice concerning the final result of the occasion.
“Ideas of increasing the occasion are fairly imminent,“ he added.
Final 12 months, Caribbean-American musician Brandon Bain and his Sunlytes Band “jazzed up” the group’s all-inclusive Jazz & Cocktails Father’s Day celebration at Kendra’s Place, previously Café Omar, on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn.
Bain – famend affectionately as “Mr. Bain,” a Brooklyn resident whose mom hails from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and father from Grenada – headlined the occasion held for the primary time on Father’s Day. Prior celebrations have been held pre-Father’s Day.
