Bigford delivers at Tobago jazz

Vaughnette Bigford lived up to her title as the Caribbean's top jazz singer during the closing night of the Tobago Jazz Experience on Sunday.

The La Brea native, dressed in a flowing black and white striped outfit, had patrons lapping up her every note during an exhilarating half-hour set at the Pigeon Point Heritage Park, Crown Point.

Although the headliners of the event were US artistes Toni Braxton, Michael Bolton and young, R&B singer Jacquees (Rodriguez Broadnax), Bigford showed she was not to be outdone.

She flowed effortlessly from calypso and soca to R&B and jazz, commanding the stage with her pristine vocals and down-to-earth manner.

Bigford began her performance with the calypso classic, Take Off The Lights Let's Do It All Night, asking patrons, "Yuh remember that one?" She then switched gears to the John Legend hit, Wake Up, an uplifting song about making the world a better place.

Bigford later urged patrons to cling to their significant others with Blaxx's (Dexter Stewart's) 2019 offering, Gyal Owner. She ended her performance with Carl and Carol Jacob's song, We Wanna Live.

Tobago songstress Adana Roberts, who sang before Bigford, also impressed her audience.

No stranger to the jazz stage, Roberts gave a mellow performance of the 1967 Aretha Franklin classic Natural Woman.

Roberts, who recently re-launched her career at the Barcode Sports Bar, Scarborough, quickened the pace with the 1984 Chaka Khan ballad Through The Fire before serenading the audience with her latest reggae release, Flower.

The first part of Sunday's show, which featured several TT artistes, also had its share of musical interludes.

Before Desperadoes Steel Orchestra's performance, the deejay played popular tunes such as Lord Nelson's (Robert Nelson's) Meh Lover, Calypso Rose's (Mc Cartha Lewis) Young Boy and David Rudder's Calypso Music, all of which patrons enjoyed and danced to.

Later, the deejay played several of Michael Jackson's R&B hits from the 1980's R&B songs, including Rock With You, Billie Jean and Don't Stop With The Force. He livened things up with Bump and Wine.

Desperadoes's performance comprised a stream of sombre tunes in keeping with the mood of the event. They ended their set with Nailah Blackman's Iron Love, which got the audience to its feet.

Making up the line-up during the first part of the show were vocalist Stephanie Lewis, pannist Alston Cannon Jack and the Tobago All Star Band, all of whom delivered creditable performances.