The Charles Bascome Jazz Concert -- Friday, March 14 and Staurday, March 15 -- City Hall Bermudian jazz drummer Charles Bascome has produced concerts of quality and depth that, while using an overseas artist or group as a drawing card, truly feature local talent. We get to see musicians who have regular 9 to 5 jobs but entertain our guests late into the night. Occasionally we might be at a hotel or restaurant and see them, but we cannot appreciate a music that is of the lowest common denominator. Let's face it, one cannot (and should not) concentrate on a difficult solo while eating rockfish! This year, the sixth edition featured the US Airlines Special Edition Jazz Band. Certainly a sign of the times, the corporate sponsorship is necessary to fund a real band in this day of samplers and DAT tapes. Certainly competent musicians, they acquitted themselves with crowd-pleasing romps through a series of popular hits. True to form, however, it was Mr. Bascome's trio plus one that impressed. With electric bassist John Lee and 24-year-old James Richardson, Bascome opened with `that there' and Duke Ellington's `Caravan'.

The ubiquitous `Caravan' was played in dramatic style, swinging by sheer force of will. Lee's bass dominates any stage but in the tiny City Hall Theatre it threatens to overwhelm a subtly played piano and drums.

Steve Dupres joined the band on steel pans to perform `Song for Leo' by Milt Robinson, `Bemsha Swing' and `One note samba' with Lee. The metallic attack of the pans with that old Steinway and throbbing bass simmered in interesting timbres during the showcase T.S. Monk tune `Bemsha Swing'. Richardson performed a newly-named melody `The Moment'. The clarity of the sound, and thought, in the brooding piece was not lost in the music of the other instruments. An improvisation is often the window into another person's mind.

If one knows the melody, the non-musician can have a road map to follow what the pro is doing, and even anticipate what might follow. Richardson's dramatic little exploration was the highlight of the evening.

Ken Kennedy's US Airlines Special Edition have a sound that is designed for a larger venue and an audience that wishes to hear faithful renditions of middle of the road, popular songs. The band quickly ran through a who's who of late seventies `funky jazz', Grover Washington, Stanley Turrentine and Marcus Miller. Not until Thelonius Monk was played again did the band even brush the type of music of the Bascome Trio. `Well you needn't' with Allison King singing must go down well at business conventions! It was the introduction to a wider audience of James Richardson that made the night memorable. I can only hope that Mr. Bascome can continue this run of concerts well into the future. Our musicians need the limelight.

DESING BURGESS