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The sun dipped its soft red face into the Sea and a dark sky freckled with faint stars stepped in. A crescent moon made a brief appearance and disappeared with the stars. The waves hush-hushed on the beach rhythmically. Cool gentle breezes played with the palm leaves. Nature was muted into the perfect backdrop for the first Jazz by the Beach concert at Zeebop, Utorda, Sunday 14 November. Jazz stars from all over the world created intricate rhythms on the stage while the audience settled into the white sands of the Zeebop restaurant for a really cool evening of hot music and food.
Yvonne Gonsalves has a rich powerful voice wrapped in honey that makes any song she sings a delicious experience. Jazz for a lazy afternoon sung at night with an irresistible pulse. She has performed extensively in Mumbai and in Canada, has participated in Jazz Yatras, sings Gospel, composes, and is currently performing at the Royal Meridien, Mumbai.
Jason Beaster Jones, hails from Chicago. His soprano saxophone playing has a compelling intensity coupled with fluid virtuosity and inventiveness His recipe for success: “tons of hot air delivered straight down, lots of valve grease and spit”. Plus ease, control and confidence.
Lenny Heredia has his roots in Divar but lives in Perth, Australia. He has thrived in the Mumbai circuit playing keyboards and has been enthralling the Australians for 4 years with his keyboard wizardry. His light touch and delicate embroidery weaves sonic patterns in and around the solo voices, linking, binding, supporting in a most accomplished way. His solo flourishes are totally involving with notes running around in intricate paths all over the keyboard.
Colin D’Cruz and Lester Goudinho always provide a solid backbone to any musician privileged to perform with them. They are real cool jazzists who take on anything and deliver wonders. Their versatility and alert adaptability are simply awesome. Their recipe for success is cool, relaxed sweat with a large helping of talent, Goan style.
Other stars also came into orbit. Daryl Coelho (violin) and Carlos Monteiro (keyboards) ushered in a different blend with Blue Moon and Brazilian sambas. And a really bright star lit up the jazz horizon with the unexpected arrival of Johnny Fernandes with a pocket trumpet, soprano and alto sax and a musical pizzazz that made Take Five and a host of standards crackle and sizzle.
This combination of jazz musicians didn’t have to reach out for the stars, which had vanished from the night sky knowing they couldn’t face the competition. These musicians were the stars combining in a galaxy of melodies to hold the audience starry-eyed with the wonder of it all. The Cinderella-like enchantment had to come to an end at midnight but the magic lived on in the people who had been touched by the memorable experience.
Armando Gonsalves (Trancemedia) and Gerson Rebello need to take a bow for making it all possible. There will be other beaches that will come alive with Jazz. And Goan musicians note-in-note with musicians from all around the world will put Goa and its beaches on the world map.
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