Jazz begot Latin jazz and funk. From Duke Ellington's Juan Tizol to Tito Puente, to the jazz musicians of the 1950's twisting the original meaning of funky and starting a new genre, there has been constant communication among the three. Perhaps then it is fitting that the second Bermuda Jazzscape should close with the heir apparent of Latin jazz and one who is truly the queen to funk music.

After a day of festivities and local acts, the evening began with the vocal arrangements of the New York Voices. Of course there has been constant comparison to Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, but there are other more subtle influences like Manhattan Transfer. It was an odd feeling to wander about the Royal Naval Dockyard -- a fortress -- and hear such pretty music while eating sweet and sour chicken and peas and rice! The Cuban clave rhythm is a simple beat, but is as complex as the science of the Pathfinder project. Some might say that it is the essence of Afro-Cuban life as well as music, encompassing a laid-back island flavour while being insistent. Sort of like cutting and processing sugar cane before it rots, pace oneself and you could go all day.

When the 21-year-old Arturo Sandoval came to notice in Cuba in 1980 it was symbolic that a Cuban was within the mould of Dizzy Gillespie. After all, few in the world had heard the conga when in 1947 Gillespie hired Cuban Chano Pozo.

Sandoval's sextet explicitly stated this connection by opening with Dizzy's "Bebop.'' With a Abe Castille on congas, who unfortunately was practically inaudible for most of the song, the musicianship was on display with lightning fast breaks and tempo changes. It took a while, but soon the unmistakable strains of Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island'' wafted through a long segue by the trumpeter. Sandoval's phrasing is well articulated and lightning fast.

He laid down pyrotechnical and smouldering solos throughout the four-song set.

In true Gillespian fashion he would turn on the charm by taking over the mike and improvising with his other instrument -- his mouth, making onomatopoeic sounds of instruments much like Bobby Mcferrin or that annoying guy from the Police Academy movies. Crowd pleasing, yes, but a little embarrassing considering just moments earlier he had let loose a loud, soaring, piercing, eight-bar long note on his trumpet that made the woman in front of me cringe, seemingly in pain. Sandoval's chops are without question! It wouldn't have been `funky' to have a lead singer named Yvette Marie Stevens, nor would it be if she dressed in a modest evening dress. A Chaka Kahn must make a fashion faux pas, otherwise it wouldn't be fun! Despite all of that, Chaka, more than her contemporaries and the pretenders that have followed her, has accomplished what Billie Holliday excelled at: sing like a saxophone. How she might stretch the word `just' in "This Is My Life'' or pause before holding a note while humming in "Sweet Thing'' separated her from the rest of the pack like a break-away runner in a triathlon. Doing songs that span a 25-year career, she even gave generous time to her drummer and backup singers including Bermudian Lisa Robinson Vaughn. Another reviewer of another genre of music in these pages has pointed out our willingness to applaud before a solo or even a song has finished and the de rigueur standing ovation and Saturday was no exception, although many would have had to simply to see the stage. While the music was good, one cannot but feel empty at leaving an internationally promoted concert at midnight! Despite all of that, I guess it is a testament that this reviewer left Dockyard singing "I'm Every Woman''! PATRICK BURGESS