May 16, 2002 – The St. John School of the Arts will be the scene of a "Jazz Extravaganza" benefit concert on Saturday night that is typical of how things come about in that small island community.
Stateside jazz vocalist Antoinette Perry, who goes by just "Antoinette" professionally, came to St. John on vacation last November, in part to visit with her sister, A'Nese Valentine, who's the bartender at a landmark Cruz Bay watering hole — Mooie's.
Bar owner Theodora Moorehead, who describes herself as "a closet musician," has a lot of connections in the local music community. In fact, her closet has an open door — she plays maracas with Coco and the Sunshine Band. To no one's surprise, Antoinette ended up doing a gig at Mooie's and another at Caneel Bay last fall.
Next thing you know, Antoinette was back in February, this time putting in appearances at Mooie's, Caneel Bay (with Louis Taylor at the posh Turtle Bay restaurant) and Rumbalaya on St. John plus La Pariesienne, the jazz club owned by St. John dentist Kimberly Moore on St. Thomas.
Meantime, Moorehead — who's the daughter of the late Theovald Moorehead, a political mover and shaker who not only owned Mooie's but made St. John a power base in the Legislature in the 1960s — signed up for a couple of classes, in guitar and steelpan, at the School of the Arts.
Moorehead knew that a longtime friend of hers, musicologist and African jazz authority Linda F. Williams, would be coming to St. John this month with some of her students to take what School of the Arts director Ruth "Sis" Frank calls "a crash course in steelpan." Williams, who teaches at Bates College in Maine, and seven of her students are on island now, studying with Rudy Wells three hours a day, three days a week at the school.
Frank says Moorehead approached her with the idea of holding a jazz benefit concert because "she wanted to give something back to the school." And, so plans were laid, including getting Antoinette back to St. John for visit No. 3.
Antoinette will be appearing with Williams, who's an accomplished jazz saxophonist, along with local residents Craig Haynes on drums, Sally Smith on piano (the real School of the Arts baby grand, not keyboards), and Rhett Simmonds on bass. "We'll give the people what they want," the singer says.
The concert will feature a lot of straight-ahead jazz standards, she says, along with a little bossa nova, some Caribbean jazz, and whatever else develops at the night goes on.
Antoinette, who teaches junior high school math in Newark, has a degree in music and has taught in that area as well. Her mother was a jazz singer, and her own background includes theater work in Boston and touring with jazz and dance-band groups.
Williams teaches such courses as African-American Contemporary Music and Hip-Hop Culture, Music of the Diaspora, and Black Women Musicians at Bates and conducts the school's steelpan ensemble. She has received a 2002 Fulbright Faculty Grant to continue her earlier research into the impact of American jazz on musical cultures in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Haynes, the son of legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes, has played with such top names in jazz as George Benson, Tony Bennett, Lionel Hampton and Clark Terry and has performed with his own band in Japan, Turkey and Las Vegas. He lives today on St. John.
Simmonds and Smith have been active on the local jazz scene for a number of years. Both were members of the Sax Cymbals, a jazz ensemble that disbanded last year after founder/leader Rusty Vellek moved off island.
Saturday's concert is at 8 p.m. Tickets are being sold only at the door, with open seating. They're $25. There will be a cash bar to add to the benefits proceeds. To learn more, call the school at 779-4322 or Frank at 776-6777.
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