Students dish up jazz-kaiso

With a jazzy flavour infused, the ensemble presented calypso classics such as Aldwyn “Lord Kitchener” Roberts’ swing-styled 12 Bar Joan and Winston “Explainer” Henry’s wishfully joyous Lorraine, plus recent soca hits Full Extreme by MX Prime and the Ultimate Rejects and Far From Finished by Aaron “Voice” St Louis.

Stevie Wonder’s eternal love ballad, Lately, was also featured, as was Jason Carter’s Calypso, Machel Montano’s Human and Pentatectonic Onion, a cryptically titled composition by ensemble director Khion De Las.

All were keenly lapped up by the small but enthusiastic audience.

The group even played Happy Birthday for De Las on his special occasion.

De Las – composer, arranger and gifted pannist – is a first class graduate of UWI’s Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DFCA) and the University of Northern Illinois, Chicago.

He told Newsday how pleased he was with the evening’s performance and the audience’s reaction.

“It was lovely, smooth. It was great to see the audience soak it in and be so receptive. I was really, really pleased with tonight’s concert.” “I took the soca songs and put completely new harmonics to them, while keeping the melody so as to still be recognisable. We kept it local but for one song.” De Las said he has met St Louis, the reigning Soca Monarch, with whom he’d be glad to collaborate with.

While this concert was requisite for the students at the end of semester and while two members will be graduating soon, De Las raised the possibility of the ensemble doing some future public performances after exams.