Starting off a little after 8pm was Serghio Jansen, originally slated as 'Serghio Jansen and Felix Pastorius band'. On the night the scheduled collaboration between the Aruban guitarist and the son of one of the jazz and fusion bass greats apparently was not to be.
An ensemble of Serghio Jansen's Berklee co-students delivered an engaging performance with Serghio once again displaying his ample talent. Drummer Massimo Buonanno also delivered a strong performance having returned to Aruba once again after playing with Serghio in last year's edition of the Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival.
A complete change of style got underway with 'Wildfire' featuring Armin Solognier on guitar, Arnold Mohamed on bass and Edward de Cuba on drums. 'Wildfire' delivered some loud and proud rock and blues numbers to an enthusiastic audience.
Things mellowed out in the indoor auditorium with 'Close Call' offering up some very nicely arranged original compositions. Featuring Henny Groot-Antink on vocals, festival organizer Erik Eman on bass with long-time on- and off-stage buddies Hildward Croes on keys, accordion, and a very sweet-sounding Fender Rhodes, Martin Buitenweg on acoustic and electric guitar, Richard Holmond on drums and Mirugia de Cuba and Lucre Houtman on backing vocals. A surprise appearance on the final song by Martin's daughter Lara who clearly was itching to get on stage to join Henny on vocals.
An eight-piece ensemble then took to the main stage and delivered some very danceable jazz-funk tunes that got the crowd swaying. The band featured Bas Mulder on guitar, Jasper Blokzijl on keys, Erik Vloeimans on trumpet, Jozien van Dorst and Carla Schaap on backing vocals, Astrid Akse on backing vocals, rhythm guitar and percussion, Gilbert Felix on bass and Georgio Bletterman on drums. They all did a great job of providing an upbeat backdrop to vocalist Monique Bakker aka Moon Baker who joined them on stage and immediately made her presence heard with several soulful and funky renditions.
The 2008 edition of the Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival has come to a close, once again providing a variety of musical performances guaranteed to entertain an audience with equally varied musical tastes. Roll on 2009!
Related articles:
Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival Aruba 2008 - Opening night
Related sites:
http://www.caribbeanseajazz.com/
