Two names feature prominently in Bermuda's jazz renaissance Erskine Phillips and Hubie's Bar. And for good reason, it's largely as a result of Erskine Phillips' visionary thinking that live jazz music has returned in such a big way on the local club scene after a long and protracted absence. And it's been at Hubie's Bar on Angle Street, that most unlikely of places, in an area of Hamilton simply known as `back of town' that Phillips' vision has taken shape.

Phillips' mood is decidedly upbeat as he explains how he came up with the idea. "About two years ago as I was reflecting on the general state of music, I realised that the overall standard and tone of music had gone down and there was no place for musicians to play and for people to go and listen to good jazz music,'' he points out as we sit relaxing one evening in the Neptune Lounge at the Southampton Princess Hotel.

"There was no jazz going on in Bermuda at all and a lot of musicians were not working. Ironically, around that time, I was approached by Mike Stowe, the leader of Joy Express, who asked me whether I'd like to come in and sit with them. But, of course, we had no place to play. So I went around and talked to Hubert Brown at Hubie's about the idea of us playing there,'' he recalls. "I walked in there and said `why don't you have a band in here?' and he said `I was expecting to have only a person playing piano, like a type of piano bar.

But, after we talked some more, he decided to go with the idea of a band.'' What made him choose Hubie's when there were other larger, more `suitable' places? Phillips shakes his head. "I really have no idea. I guess it was just that Hubie was so receptive to the idea of having a band in his bar, although the only thing he'd had there before was a pool table,'' he says smiling.

However, spurred on by Phillips' idea, Brown redecorated the club, putting in new seating, new lights, a sound system and staging and got ready for the onslaught of new patrons that Phillips had promised would soon be breaking down the doors. But, after six months, nothing had happened. Phillips' dream looked to have died a quiet death! "For the first six months, hardly anything happened at all and Hubie wasn't seeing any return on his investment. There was nobody there, except the bartender and the band,'' he says laughing, "but Hubie helped keep the dream alive and kept us on.'' Soon the word got around that Hubie's was featuring some good live jazz music and the tide started to turn. "People started responding enthusiastically to what was going on and one only has to look at the result of what is happening!'' Phillips claims.

He's right! Hubie's has not only become one of the Island's hottest night spots - it's the place to be and be seen on a Friday night - attracting a broad cross-section of local clientele, both black and white, but the club has also gained an international reputation, attracting visitors from the four corners of the globe who make the club their very first stop for local entertainment when they're on the Island. As Phillips explains it, he envisioned this type of thing happening all along. "I can remember meeting with the owners of all the bars and restaurants back of town in a room at Place's Place and convincing them to come up with a financial investment for advertising in Vacations Bermuda, a magazine that is usually placed in every hotel room on the Island. I can also recall telling Hubie that if we were going to do all this and spend all this money, we had to attract tourists back of town in order for this idea to work. But he said `that's not going to happen' and I said `yes, it's going to happen, it's got to'.'' Phillips' refusal to relinquish his dream has now paid off handsomely. "We've had people coming to the club from as far away as Australia, Scotland, Ireland, even from Los Angeles, who've said they just had to come to Hubie's because of what they'd heard about us back in their countries,'' Phillips says smiling. "On any given Friday night, you can find taxis lined up outside the club waiting to transport tourists back to their hotels or guest houses. We've even been compared to jazz clubs in New York, New Orleans and Chicago where people tell us that the club has the similar type of ambiance, atmosphere and sense of spontaneity which they've found in other Stateside clubs. Y'known, one night, we even had a surprise visit from jazz legend, Arthur Prysock who came by and did a set with the band. I tell ya, that was absolutely incredible!'' It can also be argued, and with good reason, that, as a result of what is happening at Hubie's, other clubs on the Island have now added live jazz music to their entertainment menus. Certainly, it does appear as if playing jazz music is suddenly `in vogue' again. How does Phillips explain this sudden trend towards live music? "I think people want to hear something different from what they hear constantly on the radio and they want to see serious musicians playing some serious music.'' That the vision for such a fascinating occurrence should have been given its birthplace in Phillips' mind is really incredible. After all, he had spent most of his adolescent and adult years living in Canada, prior to his return to the Island in 1987, and he naturally would have been divorced from what was happening on the local entertainment scene. And ironically, it turns out that it was purely by accident that he ended up relocating to the Island with his family. "I had come home on vacation and my wife loved Bermuda so much that I had a hard time getting her to leave,'' he says laughing. "So we decided to stay and we've been here ever since.'' continued on page 24 philips continued from page 20 Although he's been playing music virtually all of his life - Phillips was performing with a group in Canada when he was only 14 years old - he claims that the experience he's having now playing with Dayton Wharton, Mike Stowe, Leroy Richardson and Ed `Doc' Simons and, occasionally, with Miles Manders at Hubie's is extra-special. "I'm very thankful for the opportunities that I've had to express myself and to play music with such fine musicians and bring my skills back to the level where they once were,'' he points out. "I realise now what I was asking back then in terms of monies being spent and I realise some of the club owners may have asked themselves `what are we doing this for because this guy from Canada came back home and says we can do this and we can do that?' Even though, we're still in our infancy and trying to get this thing together, I believe that we're on a course with destiny,'' he explains. "I believe the back of town is going to be the hub of the entertainment centre here in Bermuda. This is just the seed of it. A portion of back of town has already been designated as an entertainment section of Hamilton and we've got to develop that into not only jazz showcases, but also stage shows as well.

It's exactly what the tourists want and it's destined to happen,'' he says matter-of-factly. "Absolutely!'' Freelance writer Lorin Smith contributes regularly to RG Magazine on entertainment. He interviewed Shabba Ranks in RG Number 4.

"I think people want to her something different . . . they want to see serious musicians playing some serious music.'' -- Erskine Phillips.

RG MAGAZINE JUNE 1993