Louis & the Lynx to put on a soca jazz concert

Well-known dance band Louis & the Lynx present Transformation 4.0 – A Soca Jazz Concert at the Central Bank Auditorium on July 1.

The band will perform a varied blend of improvised music, highlighting some of the original compositions of its accomplished pianist and bandleader Dr Louis Nurse, along with other popular contemporary selections.

For more than 40 years, Nurse has captained Louis & the Lynx and has managed to maintain an active presence on the local instrumental music circuit after the band got its start back in Nurse’s secondary school days at St Mary’s College.

When he is not lecturing to post-graduate law students, Nurse, who holds a doctorate in business administration from Anglia Ruskin University, devotes much of his time to performing, practising his piano and refining the band’s signature sound, which has long resonated with audiences, a media release said.

“Transformation 4.0 was conceptualised for audiences of all ages and backgrounds, because music simply doesn’t discriminate in any way,” Nurse said in the release.

“Moreover, this concert is about Louis & the Lynx’s intent to firmly establish this new genre of music I call “soca jazz,” in the hearts and minds of our loyal audiences and music enthusiasts, both at home and beyond the TT shores.”

Nurse describes soca jazz as live music imbued with the elements of improvisation, at the core of which lies the structure and rhythms of Trinidad and Tobago’s indigenous calypso, with melodic and harmonic nuances of other popular genres.

“I have already composed several original pieces of soca jazz music. All that’s left now is for Louis & the Lynx to share it on the night of the show and thereafter, with people who are open and receptive to new experiences and positive vibrations in the music. We believe that the music will be well received.”

Louis & the Lynx has been going for close to five decades.

“It all begins and ends with the immense passion that I feel for the music,” says Nurse. “Naturally, the band has gone through several iterations over the years, but a small core has remained constant. I have been blessed to collaborate with musicians who believe, as I do, that music is a conduit for healing and positivity. As a result, our interactions both on and off stage are pure joy,” he said.

At present, Louis & the Lynx comprises a team of celebrated singers and musicians, all of whom are familiar to local audiences. Most notably among them are master percussionist Tamba Gwindi, bassist and producer Sean Friday, keyboardist and sax player Ajay St Louis and drummer Claude Griffith. Lending their capable voices to the band’s largely instrumental repertoire are Kadija Jeremiah and Sherisse Collymore. Both vocalists have distinguished themselves in calypso and soca circles, to name a few.

Apart from stellar concerts such as Renaissance with Starlift Steel Orchestra and Rejuvenation, which the band hosted successfully as a fund-raiser for the St Joseph Roman Catholic Church, Louis & the Lynx also entered this year’s Brass Bacchanal – the premier competition for brass bands during the Carnival season.

“We decided to use the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that Louis & the Lynx remains a force with which to be reckoned, even after so many years of playing instrumental music to inspire the masses. I was satisfied that we executed in fine style and earned the respect of the Queen’s Park Savannah crowd. No doubt, we made a few more fans that night,” said Nurse.

Transformation 4.0 – A Soca Jazz Concert is gearing to evoke similar emotions among the audience. The band is encouraging parents to bring along their children to experience the live musicianship – which it believe is something that will become increasingly important in today’s computer age,

Showtime is from 8 pm-11 pm.