The “Reid, Wright and be Happy” Jazz Concert at the Central Bank Auditorium: A Review
Roy Thomas

Two delightful performances of The Reid, Wright and be Happy Concert were staged at The Central Bank Auditorium on the evenings of Friday 20th and Saturday 21st June. I took in the Saturday performance. It was a memorable experience.

You could sense the Trini pride in the generous applause of the audience. There were at least 3 good reasons for us to feel proud. We were being treated to a superb performance by a quartet of musicians who on their instruments are as good as the world’s best, and three of these four grandmasters are sons of Trini soil. The instruments included the double seconds steelpan, comfortably integrated into the quartet and contributing to the delightful jazz fusion session on an equal footing with the piano, double bass and drums, which were the other instruments. The selections included several compositions of Trinis, including a few by the Trini performers themselves.

The title given to the concert was derived from a bit of clever punning on the names of Ron Reid (steel pan) Orville Wright (piano and keyboards) and David “Happy” Williams (double bass). The other performers were Harvey Wirht (drums) who has Suriname roots and Nia Allen, a young African-American vocalist. All 5 artistes put down superb performances, but I must say that I was particularly fascinated by Happy Williams, not only because he is a fantastic bass player, but also for a special reason which I will explain in a follow up article.

The selections were a mix of pop standards, calypso, reggae, and a couple of pieces reflecting the Latin influence on popular music. The curtain raiser, “Happy’s Story,” composed by Happy Williams, allowed him to display his mastery of his instrument. On “Happy’s Story,” Ron Reid on steelpan and Orville Wright on piano and keyboards also put the audience on early notice about their proficiency, with fine solos. Happy’s fingers moved as quick as lightning as he teased out a wide variation of notes from an instrument that in the early years of jazz did little more than keep time for the lead instruments that played the melody. Then in the 1940s, early exponents of modern jazz like Jimmy Blanton and Slam Stewart on bass became so technically proficient that they could also improvise solos. Today, brilliant bassists like Happy routinely take solos, but a backward glance at the development of the instrument reminds us that it was not always that way.

The second selection was a change of pace to calypso beat. The choice was the haunting melody of Ray Holman’s “Pan on the move.” Reid on the double seconds pan excelled on this one, with able support from Ron on keyboards and Happy on bass.

Then came Nia Allen. Her stage manner is unpretentious but she obviously has lots of natural talent. Without the announcer telling us that she is a graduate of the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, we knew from her delivery that she has formal musical training, including training in voice. Incidentally, both Reid and Wright are also graduates of Berklee who joined its faculty as professors after graduation. I tried to pigeon hole Miss Allen’s style. Sarah Vaughan? Billie Holiday? Aretha Franklin? Perhaps a bit of all these greats, but basically her style is Nia Allen. She doesn’t have to copy anybody. She has the talent to reach great heights.

Miss Allen’s opening selection was Orville Wright’s composition, “ I know it’s real.” She delivered a very expressive rendition of this ballad, for which, we were told, she wrote the lyrics. Later in the programme, she did three more ballads, “God Bless the Child,” made famous by Billie Holiday in the 1950s, the beautiful “Just imagine,” composed by Wright with lyrics by Happy and “Get Here,” which is a lady’s appeal to her lover to travel to her without delay, by whatever means,. “You can reach me by Trailways…” she sings in the first line.

“Laura’s Waltz” is a delightful Castilian/Joropo flavoured composition by Ron Reid. Everybody has a solo on this one. Here Harvey Wirht on drums does some of his best work for the evening. On calypso numbers later in the programme he displayed his ample talent, laying down a “Laventille Rhythm Section” beat and taking occasional short solos on Kitchener’s ”The Road (make to walk on Carnival Day)” and on the closing number, “Trini to the Bone.”

Ron Reid on the steelpan was superb, especially so on “Happy’s Story” and on the calypsos. He is up there with the best of the pannists. I admire the work of Liam Teague’s for the speed and dexterity and Boogsie Sharpe, Robbie Greenidge, Earl Brooks and “Two Left” Smith for the improvising, and Ken “Professor” Philmore and Othello Mollineaux for the exuberance and Andy Narrell for the subtlety. Reid’s depth of musical training catches my attention.

Orville Wright, like so many other of the outstanding jazz pianists, started with classical training. In his style and technique he resembles Oscar Peterson, who incidentally, has a classical background. Apparently, composition comes easier to pianists with such a background. Wright composed two of the selections on the programme “I know it’s real” and “Just Imagine” and on these he played really outstanding solos. He was also delightful on the standard ”A Nightngale sang in Berkeley Square.” Wright reminisced a bit about his boyhood. One snippet was his recollection of taking the tramcar on his way to piano lessons at the home of one of T&T’s most famous tutors of yesteryear, the late Olive Walke. He paid tribute to her memory with a “classical” rendition of the folk song she composed, titled “Mangoes.” Tribute was also paid to the late great Andre Tanker, with an exciting rendition of his “Morena Osha,” featuring the rather sparse vocal chorus, consisting of the words “Morena Osha” chanted, or rather whispered, by the musicians.

The acoustics at The Central Bank Auditorium are excellent. The introductions, including those of the unseen MC, were informative. Simeon Sandiford of Sanch Electronix, was at his witty best in a short address at presentation time which came after the intermission. Guest of honour, Minister of Tourism Penelope Beckles, following Sandiford, captured the spirit of appreciation, and pride, in her brief remarks. The icing on the cake, at the end of the two-hour musical treat, was the tastefully designed programme and poster which each patron was given along with some promotional literature. The performance was truly world class.

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