Revisited - An Evening of Calypso Jazz, Afro-Caribbean Music and Global Jazz - Forum

with Étienne Charles and Frankie McIntosh, special guests Garvin Blake and David “Happy” Williams, and Grammy Award-winner Arturo O’Farrill and the Brooklyn College Big Band

New York, USA - If you were anywhere near New York there was only one place to be on this early Spring date. The County of Kings, sometimes known as Brooklyn was treated to an outstanding evening of music at Brooklyn College’s Whitman Theatre. Under the auspices of the Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music, the event was billed as An Evening of Calypso Jazz with Étienne Charles and Frankie McIntosh, special guests Garvin Blake and David “Happy” Williams - featuring Arturo O’Farrill and the Brooklyn College Big Band. It was indeed a serious dose of edutainment.

In addition to the great performances there was an added bonus of a pre-concert talk that was both educational and engaging which featured a panel consisting of Frankie McIntosh - piano, Garvin Blake - steelpan, Étienne Charles - trumpet and David “Happy” Williams - double bass, with Ray Allen, Director of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and Senior Research Associate of Hitchcock Institute as both moderator of this pre-concert talk and host of the show.
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Garvin Blake - “As Étienne said, I think music and dance is synonymous, but I think one of the troubling things for some people in the Pan world - Panorama has become such... the music in Panorama has become really ornate and stationary so it seems like some of the ‘dance’ has been removed from it and that becomes like, troubling to some people. But I think Pan is really dance music. It’s really music for the road. It’s music people chip behind. And I think the best music is what makes someone tap their feet, however you groove to it; so you can have the most sophisticated line and theatrically its correct - but if it doesn’t move people - doesn’t reach them, you know it’s gone. Pan coupled with Pan is a drum.

Well said Gavin, hope the powers that be are listening.

Replies

odw May 3, 2016 at 12:22am

International Jazz Day April 30, 2016
odw May 3, 2016 at 12:12am

Garvin Blake - “As Étienne said, I think music and dance is synonymous, but I think one of the troubling things for some people in the Pan world - Panorama has become such... the music in Panorama has become really ornate and stationary so it seems like some of the ‘dance’ has been removed from it and that becomes like, troubling to some people. But I think Pan is really dance music. It’s really music for the road. It’s music people chip behind. And I think the best music is what makes someone tap their feet, however you groove to it; so you can have the most sophisticated line and theatrically its correct - but if it doesn’t move people - doesn’t reach them, you know it’s gone. Pan coupled with Pan is a drum.

Well said Gavin, hope the powers that be are listening.

This reply was deleted.