Myrna Hague – Marcus Garvey Park – July 29, 2016
Hague, “Jamaica’s first lady of jazz”, was the focus of this Jazzmobile gig, co-sponsored by the Jamaica Tourism Board. The opener was Trevor “Bridges” Bridgewater (my first steel pan!) playing to prerecorded accompaniment (not my favorite arrangement). He checked all the boxes for cliché Jamaican music, including Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain”, a song that was actually part of my own performance repertoire for a while. His chops were there, so no major beef. Patience Higgins led the backup combo for Hague, who was in fine form with a bunch of jazz/pop standards. And guess which Marley song she covered here; there’s a lot of it going around. I guess it’s now a (welcome) part of the canon.
Myrna Hague
Marco Panascia
Patience Higgins
Marcus Persiani
Desi Jones
Trevor Bridgewater