Jazz a ‘success’

That was the pronouncement of chairman of the Tobago Jazz Festival Committee John Arnold, on the Tobago Jazz Experience (TJE) 2017, even as he noted an unusually low turnout of patrons to the shows.

“In terms of the buy-in from the stakeholders, in terms of the variety of events and also the culture of the events, I think it was a major success,” Arnold told the media at the Beach Jazz Fiesta, the last event of the annual music festival, at Pigeon Point Heritage Park last Sunday.

“From where I sit I would say yes, it was a success for several reasons.” The buy-in we got from many more fringe festivals, from many more stakeholders,” he said, noting two major fashion events, two major community events at Charlottesville and Plymouth, Jazz in the Garden at Kariwak and Sea, Sun and Jazz at Pigeon Point Heritage Park.

“...overall I think it was a great week Wyclef was a great addition to the cast and basically what we have was a general feeling that great buy-in from the attendees to the event,” he added.

He did note an unusual low turnout at many of this year’s events, however, saying the committee must evaluate its plans for the festival to determine the cause.

“There are several things we have to look at, the factors on the table will be obviously the element of the artistes... some of the artistes were not what you would call ‘mega’ but in terms of the calibre of the artiste, we were constrained by a budget which speaks to every event you going to do.

“Once you are constrained with the budget there is so much you can do...we did our best to see how we can give some really good quality acts and ensure that the entertainment was up to par,” he said.

“In terms of having a major act that would draw visitors, we wanted to build the brand that we have for the festival so with the reduced numbers, this would be one reason. The second factor obviously is the disposable income and we are definitely in an economic recession,” Arnold stated.

Asked about reports that the sudden cancellation of D’Angelo (Michael Eugene Archer) for the World Music Night on April 28 was not due to the death of his grandfather as he had told the media, Arnold said the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has used the same agency to book artistes for the past eight years.

“On this occasion the artiste has now informed us this is what happened, we have to go with that information. Our role at that time was to go to the same agency that pulled it off in three days to bring Wyclef Jean and because of the agency’s relationship with Wyclef we were able to get him,” he said.

Wyclef Jean and a contingent of seven people cost US$150,000 plus and US $15,000 travelling expenses, Arnold said. D’Angelo, he said, costs US$430,000 with a cast of 12 people. He said a down payment was made and the THA has given a timeline of three months for a refund from the artiste.

“Our job right now is not to search to find out if his grandfather really died; we have an agency to do that on our behalf.

We are just going with the information that is given to us by the agency” he said.

The festival will be reassessed before plans are put in place for its tenth anniversary next year. So said Secretary for Tourism Culture and Transportation Nadine Stewart-Phillips.

The Jazz Festival Committee and the THA will be evaluating the festival before beginning discussions for the tenth anniversary in 2018, she said.