Saturday.

The East Coast horn player dished out a spoonful of his famous hit "Sugar'', as well as some meatier fare at the Ruth Seaton James Theatre.

The evening was kicked off with an inspired jam by a mix of the Island's finest jazzmen. Appropriately named "Collaboration'', they breezed through a selection of modern numbers mixed in with a few classics.

Tony Cox kept things flowing with some fine drumming, but rather spoiled things with an unnecessarily long drum solo.

And guitarist Derek Simmons mixed soulful lead lines with beautifully executed glissando chords during the extended work-out.

The highlight came with some liquid violin playing on "Summertime'' from Krisia Haynes. As host Derick CJ Symonds summed up: "The homeboys held their own tonight.'' Stanley Turrentine's band then took the stage with his young Japanese guitar player taking the spotlight.

The bespectacled guitar player, Miles, bore the physique of a man who has spent most of his life closeted away practising his chops. And while he looked barely capable of lifting his guitar, he could certainly hold a tune down with some virtuoso.

Stanley Turrentine then took the stage to kick off "Easy Walker'', but the band leader was happy to take it easy as the number progressed with the guitarist and pianist David Budway taking extended solos.

Turrentine and friends add sugar to sweet jazz Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood'' featured some sublime touches from Budway for this thoughtful number, which was followed by an upbeat John Coltrane tune which had gorgeous interplay between Turrentine and his guitar player.

The set ended with a soulful number fired by some powerful organ swells from Budway before Turrentine's encore of "Sugar''.

If I had one criticism about the show it would be that the selection failed to reflect the eclectic nature of Turrentine's repertoire, which over his 35-year career, has encompassed R'n'B and blues as well as jazz and fusion.

However it was clear from the audience's enthusiasm that both sax maniacs and jazz virgins were largely satisfied with the show.

Compere Derick Symonds told The Royal Gazette : "It was fantastic. Stanley Turrentine still has a very sweet tone.'' Mr. Symonds pronounced local jazz to be in a healthy state.

He said: "We've been on a bit of a revival for the last few years with the jazz festival.'' And there's plenty more in store.

Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez plays City Hall on April 14 and 15 while Jimmy McGriff and alto sax Hank Crawford will fly in for a Father's Day date. And Ron Carter and Freddie Hubbard are pencilled in for the Jazz Festival which is being moved forward to September to take advantage of the extra summer season flights still in operation then.

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