Boothman's Sixty Years of Music on tonight

GARY CARDINEZ

GUITARIST Michael Boothman will celebrate his 70th birthday with a concert, Sixty Years of Music, at Kafe Blue on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain tonight.

The longstanding performer, producer, arranger and recording artiste has been in the spotlight for decades playing his unique brand of music, kysofusion, having played at jazz festivals throughout the Caribbean as well as the USA and Europe.

In the seventies Boothman worked as a studio musician and was part of the evolution of soca music and its inherent rhythms. He became the first artist/songwriter/producer from these islands to be signed to a major label, with the landmark album Heaven on the Tabu label coming out of the deal.

Boothman has shared the musical stage with impressive names like Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Kool and the Gang, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Roberta Flack and Grover Washington, to name a few.

Here at home he has worked with Carol Addison, Charmaine Forde, Robert "Lord Nelson" Nelson, Shadow, Duke and Kitchener.

Sixty Years of Music will feature him and his brother David, Lord Nelson, Charmaine Forde and LA Rose. The concert starts at 7 pm.