- HERBERT MCKENIS
Tony Terry (left) and Roberta Flack thrilling the audience at the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival on Thursday.
Janet Silvera, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
PHYSICALLY, ROBERTA Flack flaunted sex appeal, vocally, her golden voice crafted magic, as she commanded the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues audience and had them repeating every word of her greatest hit Killing me softly.
The alluring, Rhythm and Blues songstress had the women at Wyndham Rose Hall's Cinnamon Hill screaming with excitement and the men lusting with envy as she virtually made 'melodic love' to her Adonis back up singer, Tony Terry.
Terry barely needed to open his larynx in order to engage the audience, all he needed to do was move his waistline and stand at attention. Needless to say the two created a unique musical explosion.
The Flack/Terry unison was a celebration of love, providing the necessary warmth for those who defied the rain and turned out for the 8th Annual Jazz Razzmattaz.
Earlier in the evening a young 'Bajan' singer, Toni Norville, displayed her prowess, Saxophonist Arturo Tappin claimed kinship with the island and the 'Jamerican' 'Pocket Band' from Washington D.C. surprisingly mesmerised the crowd.
Close to midnight Lou Rawls brought with him four decades of music to the groovy people on the rolling hills of Rose Hall. With a slight glide in his stride and unhurried pep in his step, he took Jazz enthusiasts to the deep south of North America.
Rawls performed like a smooth operator, for more than 45 minutes and he never even broke a sweat.
Drawing from his incredibly impressive repertoire, he picked out songs such as Natural Man, Lady Love and the crowd went wild. His lead guitarist, David T. Walker used rhythmic fingers to emboss an already proven track record.
When Rawls sang, Too Late, he sang personally to each woman in the audience and just like a true player hypnotised them with his charm.
When he belted, Tradewinds he had the Jazz lovers moving to his every word.
At 1:30 a.m., while two blimps, one owned by Air Jamaica the other by Digicel, rocked in the skies so too did the weary bodies and tired feet of those in the audience as they rose once again and welcomed Jamaica's Reggae Ambassadors, Third World.
Unlike their name which depicts a developing country, their musical world was first class as they took charge of the audience, creating their own choir.
The veterans, had Cinnamon Hill had the audience moving with a certain Sense of Purpose. Approximately an hour later, international hit singles, 96 Degrees in the Shade, Try Jah Love and Committed echoed around the rolling hills of Rose Hall and the crowd loved it.
