Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Lord Kitchener

JUST IMAGINE if Lord Kitchener and Stanley Beckford performed on the same stage, on the same night, at the Lincoln Center in New York City. What a commotion they would have made!

Both men are dead but the calypso and mento, the music they helped make art forms, will be honoured by Caribbean musicians this week with the Lords of The West Indies shows at the Lincoln Center.

The shows are scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The Lords of The West Indies is the brainchild of Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander, who will guide a cast of Jamaican and Trinidadian musicians in homage to sounds that helped shape the modern Caribbean beat.

"I've been dreaming about this for 20 years. Wynton Marsalis, (artistic director at the Lincoln Center) came to me directly and invited me to bring a programme, and I thought this would be something that is culturally important," Alexander told The Gleaner from New York last week. "So, what we are going to do is revisit some classics, but play them like it is today."

Jamaican saxophonist Dean Fraser and drummer Desi Jones will be members of Alexander's band. So too bassist/singer David 'Happy' Williams and singer Keith 'Designer' Prescott of Trinidad and Tobago; Jamaica-born saxophonist Charles Dougherty and Clifton Anderson of the United States Virgin Islands are also down to play.

Doughterty and Anderson both played in Kitchener's band.

Acclaimed musician

Alexander

Alexander, an acclaimed musician who has played alongside greats like Duke Ellington and Count Basie, said this weekend's shows mean a lot to him.

"Growing up in Jamaica back in the late '40s, early '50s I was exposed to a grand variety of music including mento or folk music which was handed down by our ancestors," he explained. "Equal to that is my experience listening to the great music from Trinidad which was Lord Kitchener, the Mighty Sparrow and Lord Melody."

Before it was relegated to hotel porches and the arrival lounge at airports, the mento was a popular part of Jamaican entertainment. That popularity waned in the 1960s when Ska and rock steady emerged, but in the 1970s Beckford led a revival through his success in the Festival contest; he also had several chart hits at a time when most youth were tuned into Bob Marley and roots-reggae.

Beckford died in 2007.

Lord Kitchener (given name Aldwyn Roberts) or 'Kitch', is arguably Trinidad's greatest Calypsonian. He was recording hit songs from as early as 1938 and won that country's Road March title on numerous occasions.

Kitchener died in 2000.

Like the mento, calypso has also taken a back seat as Trinidadian youth have been turned on to the faster-paced soca for over 20 years. Alexander says he played in calypso and mento bands early in his career. He is concerned about the loss in interest among Caribbean youth of both beats.

"It's the fault of the parents, they didn't tell their children about what was important in their culture, so they now say, 'cho man a ole' time music dat'," Alexander said. "It's important for us as musicians to preserve this music."

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