Heartbeats of the World celebrate milestone with Monty Alexander

BY SHARON GORDON
NEW YORK:

Many jazz lovers were inside the Merkin Concert Hall on Wednesday, June 6, to pay tribute to Jamaican born pianists Monty Alexander on the occassion of his birthday and his 50th year of being in music. In addition, the Who’s Who among Jamaicans in New York turned out to celebrate the island’s 50th anniversary of Independence and the 10th anniversary of Heartbeats of the World with Monty. Heartbeats of the World, founded by Dr. Karlene ChinQuee to “enrich the lives of women, adolescents and children by providing medical resources as well as educational opportunities” to help address poverty and so much more were the beneficiaries of the evening’s grand affair. Flying in from Jamaica courtesy of VP Records to celebrate with Monty were saxophonist, Dean Fraser and singer, Tarrus Riley known for his uber popular song, She’s Royal. Dean Fraser opened with his rendition of the Ras Michael classic, No n e a Jah Jah Children an especially fitting transition from the Heartbeats of the World documentary chronicling their 10 year journey. In introducing Tarrus Riley, Dean told the audience, “Him love sing so much, them call him, Singy Singy.” Folks from St. Thomas were especially proud as Tarrus walked confidently on stage and greeted his audience saying, “We are confident in the victory of good over evil.” He opened with Lion Paw as he congratulated Heartbeats of the World and Monty Alexander on their milestone achievements. When Dean played the first few bars of Tarrus’s mega hit, She’s Royal the audience erupted. By this time, the house was ready for the maestro to take the stage but before that could happen, there were several awards and acknowledgements that had to be taken care of. Conroy Allison replaced Bob DeSouza as master of ceremonies.

Awardswere bestowed on Jamaica’s former Consul General to New York, Dr. Basil K. Bryan who receivedhis award from Vincent HoSang, founder and CEO of Caribbean Food Delights and a member ofthe Honorary Committee; Monty Alexander received an award from Pat Chin, founder of VP Records and Co-Chair of HOW; Miss Pat, (Pat Chin) was surprised when she was presented with an award by Dr. Karlene ChinQuee, President and CEO of HOW; Stephney Kirkpatrick, executive Director of Bridging the Gap/Seeds of Hope, HOW’s education program in Jamaica, received an award from Thelma Johnson, mother of Dr. ChinQuee and a member of the Benefit Committee; The Consul General of Barbados, Lennox O. Price and Haiti’s former Consul General to New York Harry Fouche who now heads up the Haitian Empowerment organization also received awards. Also receiving awards were Lehman College Student, Philip Lewis who received the Karlene ChinQuee Future Leaders Scholarship Award. Philip who was referred by Canon McIntyre was pleased to see that Canon McIntyre was himself a recipient of a check for his “Carpenter’s Kids” in Africa. It was now time for the man of the moment. The energy inside the Merkin Concert Hall was positively radiating. Monty walked out on stage to thunderous applause and modestly thanked everyone for coming out. He shared that he “discovered Swing as a youth visiting Carib Theatre,” and spoke of meeting and playing with “the greats like Louis Armstrong and many others.” In the middle of his presentation, the audience broke out in a spontaneous chorus of “Happy Birthday to you.” Monty smiled, sat down at the Steinway Grand Piano and began to play a few bars of “happy birthday.” This soon moved into an up tempo mento piece. Monty was accompanied by upright bass and drums. The perennial Rookumbine was followed by a slow moving piece then a medley where Monty gave us Chopsticks, Young At Heart and Fly Me To The Moon. At this point Monty invited the other musicians back to the stage. This included Courtney Panton on Congas, Andy Bassford on Bass, a drummer and a keyboardist as well as Dean. They delved into a Monty original, Strawberry Hill then incorporated the reggae beat into the movement; it was magical. This was followed by the ska classic, Gu n s o f Na v a r o n e where the audience was treated to a syncopation, alternating between the reggae infused Drum and Bass and the traditional jazzy vibes of the upright bass, drums and piano. When Monty took up his Melodica and broke out into thepopular folk song, Linstead Market the audience squealed with delight. Swaying out on stage was Miss Mattie Lou from Portland, dressed like a market woman in Jamaica’s national colors of black, green and yellow and carrying a basket of goodies on her head. The audience enjoyed the banter with Miss Mattie Lou and joined her in singing the classic Jamaican folk song, Day Oh. Monty then closed out with another original composition, The Ri v e r. He eased into Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and then invited his wife Caterina Zapponi on stage to sing the words of The River. It was a beautiful way to close out an exquisite evening. Among the many dignitaries in the audience were Jamaica’s new Consul General to New York, Herman LaMont; Jamaica’s State Minister in the Ministry of Tourism, Damion Crawford; Caribbean Food Delights’ Sabrina HoSang; VP Records’ Chris Chin; Christopher Roberts of the Door; Dolly Williams of Williams Construction; Bishop Sylveta Hamilton-Gonzales founder of MACADEMY School of Science and Technology; Karlene Largie, President of UJAA; Lance Clarke, CFO of Team Jamaica Bickle; Lady English owner of Fountain Pimento Oil; Claudette Powell, President of Jamaica’s Nurses Association; Dr. Karl and Faye Rodney of Carib News and Robert Longman, Esq.

**Reprinted with kind permission from the Weekly Gleaner***