The excited expectation of the large audience soon gave way to enthusiastic and euphoric expression. From the moment the members of Steel, Brass and Blues took the stage at the St Augustine’s Church, last Sunday January 5, the atmosphere was charged with a special, professional, artistic sensitivity that thrilled listeners beyond their wildest imaginations.
Every selection, indeed every solo and every interaction, which Kasem, Kyiv, Casey, Kenje and Kamal served up, was punctuated with unreserved applause from the overwhelmed and exuberant crowd.
The concert underscored and exhibited the development and maturation of musical skills by students who have persevered, and remained committed, to the deeper study of their instruments beyond aimless tuition and meaningless exams.
Presenting a programme ranging from traditional spirituals and gospel songs such as Amazing Grace and Just A Closer Walk With Thee, to jazz standards Take the A Train and Take Five, to the timeless Gershwin classic Summertime and Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, everything was in the mix.
During the two-set performance, the band, in true community spirit welcomed their friends on stage as guest artists: Gordon Hazell played recorder, guitar and bass; and Vere Connor crooned Rock Away by Beres Hammond and played his Djembe with the ensemble.
The closer was Chick Corea’s Spain which fittingly brought to the fore the exceptional skill set of each member for the final time that evening.
Morlens School of Music founder and director, Lennox Vanterpool, in heaping praise upon his young students, for their absolutely prodigious performance, recalled and recognized the efforts of all music teachers parents and community partners on island and abroad who had, and continue to have, a part to play in the lives of the performers and in creating a climate for the advancement of the arts on Anguilla. “Music and our children are precious gifts from God and may God alone be praised,” he concluded.
