Someone upstairs definitely has a soft spot for Aruba's Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival. Hurricane Dean's ominous clouds threatened to dampen last year's debut event, but missed. A couple of days prior to this year's event, Aruba experienced its biggest downpour to date for 2008. But tonight once again it was all good. Clear skies, crescent moon, air charged with the right kind of static.
The tour-de-force of this first night has to have been The Ploctones. Headed by vivacious guitarist Anton Goudsmit backed by three other equally talented band members including experienced drummer Martijn Vink, who has worked with the likes of Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Herbie Hancock. That portfolio alone speaks volumes, but watching and listening to the interaction between Vink, bassist Jeroen Vierdag and the tenor sax of Efraim Trujillo re-confirmed the experienced level of tight musical ability, creative songwriting and flawless delivery of both combined.
The Ploctones definitely showed the relatively small but receptive audience they were having a blast while making it look so deceptively easy. Sporting a very well used and versatile Gretsch that he visibly holds close to his heart, Anton Goudsmit led the Ploctones through a fusion of what can only be described as jazz-blues-rock ‘n roll influences intertwined with rapid-fire percussive picking in unison with complementary bass and drum patterns.
Your writer wished a more complete coverage this evening, but the only way we got this far was if the little ones also came along - they had a blast but beddie-byes beckoned sooner rather than later, leaving the tones ringing on in eager ears until follow-up night.
Related articles:
Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival Aruba 2008 - Part 2
Related sites:
http://www.caribbeanseajazz.com
