Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
Members of the trend-setting Third World in performance at King's House late last year. The band has achieved success in both local and international markets. - PHOTOS BY WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
What is it about live music that gets patrons to regularly flock to venues such as Red Bones Blues Café on Braemar Avenue and the JAVAA headquarters on Haining Road to hear it?
THE ENERGETIC ambidextrous antics of the drummer. The cool du-du-dum of the bass player; the eclectic twing of the guitar and the metallic tinkle of the keyboard ivories.
It's all part of bands playing music. Jamaica, the land of reggae, has always produced great bands: The Wailers, Black Uhuru, Third World, Byron Lee and The Dragonaires, and the list goes on.
Live music appears to be alive and well in Jamaica despite all the technological advancements. If anything, all the computers help to do is refine the sound on the album. Other than that, the good old drum and bass combo still works.
And let's dispel the rumour. Not all the live music aficionados are old, grey-haired people who live on gin and tonic, smoke two packs of Matterhorn a day and saw Byron Lee perform when his hair was black. A number of young adults are active on the live music scene. Even DJs who mostly use 'a tracks man' will have a backing band to support them on certain shows.
What is it about live music that gets patrons to regularly flock to venues such as Red Bones Blues Café on Braemar Avenue and the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA) headquarters on Haining Road to hear it? For Ian Lamme, drummer of PACE Band, it started from church.
"Hearing it (the instruments) in church for the first time, it just hit me and from there it's just been a part of me," he says. The four-member band does R&B with a reggae influence and a bit of alternative. All are under 35 years old and know how to read music. One of the more established 'young' bands, they regularly play in Montego Bay.
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Live music fanatic, businessman Gary Scott is part of the old school of live music lovers and for him, there's nothing like a band performing on stage.
"When I go to a party and hear the music coming from tracks and set, it's just not the same. Back then with the bands like at Yellowbird Club and those places, you were soaked from dancing," he remembered. He is hopeful but not terribly optimistic that the live music phenomenon is on the rebound and that more needs to be done.
"In Cuba, that's how they promote their music; through live performances," he remarked. Where can you go and hear live music on a Friday night?
Jimmy Moss-Solomon, keyboard player for the well known 50/50 Band is of a slightly different opinion. He thinks that the time is right for live music again,
"Everything happens in cycles. It took about 30 years for live music to come back around but it's back," he assured. He related how 'back in the day' there were at least 10 clubs around Kingston alone which had live bands playing up to six times a night. He reeled off the names of others outside the corporate area like Copacabana in St. Thomas and Little Pub in Ocho Rios.
THE MUSIC RESURGES
At the recent Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, some local bands got the chance to showcase their talent on the Ocean Spray stage sponsored by Wisynco. Twenty-seven bands auditioned and PACE was among those that were chosen.
"I think it tells you something if you had 27 new bands. That means the need (for live music) is going to be filled," reasons Lamme. Where the success will come for these bands in a once-again competitive market is dependent on their diversity.
"The bands have to come out with new and exciting music. Everybody has to tighten up, pick up the pen and paper and create," Lamme reasons. Another key to success is that many of the bands don't just offer reggae music. Though the major influences may be from 'our music', many mix in alternative music and other genres into their repertoires. Jamaican audiences might not be as accepting.
"Some of these bands don't realise that the people want dance music," reinforces Scott. When you're backing DJs however, the crowds aren't going to get much 'dance' music. Furthermore, dancing then (circa '60s etc.) is different from dancing now.
TOURIST ATTRACTION
Tourists love the live stuff and hotels along the north coast seem to ensure there are live bands to perform for guests. A few of these include Breezes Montego Bay's Sane Band and Solid Sensation at Sunset Jamaica Grand Resort in Ocho Rios.
But not every band is going to land such a gig and their are only so many hotels. So the young bands have to show their stuff on other fronts, like the Walter Elmore-conceived Ocean Spray stage. But breaking into the 'big time' and being mentioned in the same breath as Fab 5 and others isn't easy.
"There's a lot of scepticism about young bands," says Nicole Miller, lead singer of Fuzion band. "It's almost as if people are 'clannish' where they don't let young people in," she added. She admits that part of the scepticism comes from the foreign influences on these bands. Some groups have more of an alternative/rock sound rather than roots/reggae; more Blink 182 than Bob and The Wailers.
"If the people don't connect with you, then it makes no sense," she reasons.
THE FUTURE
Miller, whose eight-member band got good reviews from patrons to the jazz festival feels that more proverbial doors are being opened, but more can be done.
"Some of the more talented ones don't get the opportunities. I have friends from the inner-city who are excellent, but they don't have what it takes to get their stuff out there quicker," she reasons.
Moss-Solomon believes that even though the time is right for live music to take off again, like any stage of a cycle, it wont last long.
"Each cycle lasts for about 10 years and then it's gone again," he says. Nicole Miller feels the music will live on but the bands have to keep it real.
"You have to love what you're doing. Just love the music and don't let go of it and make sure it speaks to the youth," she adds.
So the music plays on; just maybe with a slightly different sound.
