In close harmony to mediocrity

I am not one who bets, but I am prepared to wager a minute sum that very few who appeared on stage in Plymouth, if asked, would know who Ella Fitzgerald, one of the greatest jazz singers of all time was.

It would not surprise me if, the others, when asked would say, that she was related to the Kennedys. Ella Fitzgerald was most times referred to by the likes of Sinatra, Basie and Ellington as “Lady Ella,” as was Sarah Vaughn, another jazz luminary, known as “The Divine Sarah.”

Never were they ever introduced as Divas, an accolade now loosely handed out to many who dwell in close harmony with mediocrity.

What took place in Tobago was nothing short of an insult to the true great jazz artistes of an era past. Hip-hop, reggae, soca. Jazz Festival indeed!