By: Dhivana Rajgopaul

“With jazz every note has some sort of meaning and a feeling, a different colour and a vibe,” said keyboard player Liam Paul.

This weekend musicians got together to remember and celebrate the lost art, the music of jazz. Organisers of the jazz event duo keyboard players Liam Paul and Wayne R. Nordy together with legendary guitarist Ernest Earl and drummer Noel Beharie, joined hands in bringing back jazz to the community.

This quartet’s sole objective was to re-introduce this form of music to jazz lovers and those who have never experienced the magic of jazz before.

Liam Paul, gospel musician, said that although gospel jazz is his inspiration, he wants to move away from synthetic computerised music and step towards the soul of musical instruments.

From the beginning to the end of the evening, the band dazzled by playing different types of jazz including Jewish jazz and C-Blue jazz while the audience joined with clapping of hands and tapping their feet along. Christened as a songbird, Leesa Gerald whose forte is gospel music, provided a fresh take on the evening’s programme by singing gospel music and showing variety with the latest chart busters.

Liam and Wayne’s aim was for the evening to be used as a tool to bring back jazz to communities and hope that musicians would want to play jazz in the future.

Jenaidia Naidoo a high school student said, “This is the second jazz evening I have attended with this band and I really enjoyed the music and the atmosphere that was created here.”

Leesa Gerald singing a gospel classic “Falling in love with Jesus”. Picture by: Dhivana Rajgopaul

Earlier on this year, this same band hosted a jazz evening and it seems that their fan base is growing although they prefer to call their fans their brothers and sisters. The event proved that jazz can be enjoyed by young and old audiences.

There are many jazz festivals that take place in South Africa each year but this bands passion is to bring jazz to the community.