I don't know what you've heard, or been told, or been telling people, but Sy Smith was of the hook on Thursday night! Well, to be fair, pretty much everyone that hit the stage on the first night of the 2002 Bermuda Jazz Festival was downright excellent.

My personal favourite was Sy though. Maybe it was because I could relate to her better (being of that generation that heard most of that classic funk drenched jazz of the seventies while we were still wearing short pants), or maybe it was just because I simply adore being blown away by an artist I've never heard of before, and this pretty young thang's talent was just about as awesome as the stars that night were.

Perhaps I'll never forget her performance because it was the first image I saw on the stage that night; looking all fuchsia, singing all spectacular like and even moving with the soul of a far more stunning James Brown.

She delivered three stunningly well written songs, and exhibited the kind of charisma that Bill Clinton wishes he had (although Bill's pretty charismatic already, you see what I mean Theodore?). Her performance was received very well, and by the time she dove into her third piece, she had the crowd in the palm of her hand. The song was the Emmy nominated theme song from the HBO original movie "Dancing In September", called "Welcome Back (All My Soulmates)" and she had us singing the breakdown with her. She'd sing "Get Down" to which we replied "Right on, Right on!" - it was wonderful!

Legendary Jazz pianist Bobby Lyle had us singing hooks too. He was the next performer to share the stage with the brilliant Marcus Johnson All-Stars, as the acts hurried through short sets in an effort to beat the impending showers. Bobby delivered two instrumental gems during his twenty minute set, culminating in Anita Baker's fabulous "Been So Long", during which he asked the ladies to sing the "Been so long" part, while the fellas bought it all home with "Been missing you baby".

Suffice to say that this concert was not only entertaining, but a lot of fun as well. You know how hard it is to get two thousand men and women to cooperate on a project in this day and age? Well done Bobby ... very well done.

The eminent Bobbi Humphrey was next up, setting the night alight with her funk-filled flute forays (say that three times fast!). She greeted us with the customary "Hello" (Lionel Richie's classic version of course), and then took us for a nostalgic ride down "Harlem River Drive" (all the way back to the year I was born!). This was the best twenty minutes of flute music I've ever heard! And that's no jive.

Angela Bofill was the closer, and boy did she do some closing. "Love Light" was the opening she chose to bless us with, and the crowd soaked up every note that this esteemed vocalist delivered. She scatted and hummed and modulated and riffed and we delighted in every turn and twist her vocals took. Angela jammed with the band the entire set, especially 22 year old saxaphone player Jahkim Joyner, who nearly blew the star lights out during the explosive "I Wanted To See It Through". The audience was as excitable as ever during Angela's set, and when she took her bow and exited stage left at sometime around 11.00 p.m., they stood, applauded, cheered and began chanting "Angela! Angela!" until the lady returned to the stage.

No this part was really cool. This was the finale when all the acts convened to hold court for the next twenty minutes or so. Sy stood along side Angela and helped her to blow the captivated audience into submission. Then Bobbi came out and added that flute flavour. Then Bobby Lyle returned to do a little ting. Then Jimmy Sommers put his platinum sax into the fray, and the thing just became explosive!

Marcus was ripping up the keys, JJ Williams was keeping the beat as tight as you'll ever want it to be, Earl Carter was picking the strings delightfully, Patrick Cooper murdered the second keyboard, while Jaared and Jahkim shouldered the burden of the sax-man and Lorenzo Sands delivered the kind of Bass that made the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. All this was going on even while the ladies were singing an impromptu tribute piece called "Bermuda Funk (Gotta Get In To You)" to the heavens. Wow, what a show!

And that was that, the curtain closed, the people filed out and very soon after, the rains came. Tonight is the last night ... don't miss it!

Vejay Steede