Dion Parson & 21st Century Band in Concert

[Announcer] Dion Parson & 21st Century Band in Concert is made possible by...

The US Virgin Islands Legislature, The University of the Virgin Islands, and The US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism.

(Audience Applause) (Audience Applause) [Dion Parson] Thank you very much.

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Welcome to Maryland Public Television Kaplan Studio.

It's a pleasure to be here.

We are Dion Parson & the 21st Century Band and we're here presenting to you JazzRibbean a new category of music where Jazz meets the Caribbean.

So if you are a Jazz fan and you're a Caribbean fan we're putting them all together for you and presenting JazzRibbean.

So we do hope you enjoy our musical presentation for you this evening.

The first song you heard was a composition I composed entitled Calypso Bayou.

And it's our tribute and homage to the music of New Orleans from a Caribbean standpoint so you have a taste of the second line, a jazzy feel with the Caribbean rhythms so that's- that was Caribbean Bayou.

So we are going to continue now with a composition written by Johann Sebastian Bach.

And uh, you know we all are accomplished musicians, studied, went to school and you know the fundamentals of music comes down to classical music.

So that was the first thing that we learned and started to play so, it's rightfully so that we make a tribute to some of our classical background and repertoire.

And this song is a very popular song, a famous song written by Bach.

And this is something that I shared with Mr. Carlton Holmes one evening about two in the morning and uh, kind of sang it to him on the phone and a couple of months later he came up with this arrangement based on the small little ideas I gave him.

So um and we love it man.

We love playing this so we do hope you enjoy, Air On A G String by Johann Sebastian Bach.

(Applause) [Dion] Thank you very much.

Mr. Carlton Holmes arrangement of Air On A G String by Johann Sebastian Bach.

(Audience Applause Continues) So in 1956 Sonny Rollins released one of his famous albums entitled Saxophone Colossus and um it was one of the, still one of the greatest albums of all time.

And as Jazz musicians this is one the albums we are told to you know check out and research and you know learn from.

This is a one of our, you know part of our Jazz archives.

One of the songs on that album is a composition entitled St. Thomas.

And St. Thomas is, you know, an Island in the Virgin Islands, that's where we're from.

But it's also a traditional song of the Virgin Islands and the original title is Fire Down There and that's one of the songs that we grew up singing.

And um, so, being from the Virgin Islands a lot of the gigs we would go on, people would say, oh the bass player is from the Virgin Islands, the drummers from the Virgin Islands let's play St. Thomas.

But the way we play it in St. Thomas and the way it's played up here is slightly different so we kind of found a happy medium and came up with this arrangement, that we can play anywhere in the world and it pays tribute to th-the originality of St. Thomas but we added our own special blend to it.

We do hope you enjoy.

This is going to feature uh, Mr. Alioune Faye and myself um, on drums.

Enjoy.

St. Thomas.

(Applause) (Applause) (Clapping) (Clapping) (Clapping) (Cheering) (Cheering and Applause) (Clapping) (Applause) [Dion] Thank you very much.

That was a composition by the one and only Mr. Victor Provost.

Say hi to Victor Provost ladies and gentleman.

(Applause) That was Eastern Standard Time.

A song that he wrote a couple of years ago.

We enjoy playing it, it takes us on a journey so uh we like that.

We're going to continue with a song by uh Mr. Ron Blake and he composed this one for his mother and it's entitled Waltz for Gwen.

Enjoy.

(Applause) (Applause) [Dion] So another composition uh, we are going to play one more for this, this set.

Another composition that Victor brought to the band.

He didn't write it but it is to the tune that we kind of adopted.

It's uh, it's really nice, it's uh, challenging.

And it's called La Casa De Fiesta and it's written by a gentleman by the name of Tom Glovier.

And Victor used to work with him when he lived in Pittsburgh and he brought this song to the band and we fell in love with it.

So we do hope you enjoy it also.

La Casa De Fiesta.

(Applause) (tapping of drumsticks) (Clapping) (Applause and Cheering) (Applause and Cheering) (Clapping) (Applause and Cheering) (Applause) (Applause) [Dion] I got to catch my breath after that one.

(Laughs) Victor Provost.

That was 1733.

1733.

And uh you can talk with Victor afterwards we're not going to get into it but uh 1733 was the year of the first slave revolt on St. John the Virgin Islands.

So uh he wrote a suite um, about that whole uh event and this is a part of that suite, 1733.

So, thank you Victor for that contribution.

(Applause) We're going to continue with the title track of our first CD and our namesake.

A composition entitled 21st Century and its a quail based song.

It's uh one of those Caribbean uh goodies and um, it features uh... it features me.

(Laughs) (Audience laughs) I think it's time for a drum solo.

I'm going to take one.

(Laughs) It features let me see I got a list here but um, 21st Century it features uh, Melvin on trumpet and drum solo.

Melvin on sax yeah, sax or trumpet yeah.

(Laughs) (Audience Laughs) We're having so much fun man.

You guys having a good time?

(Audience Applause and Cheering) 21st Century.

Sax or trumpet.

(Applause) (Applause) (Audience Applause and Cheers) [Dion] Thank you very much.

That was 21st Century.

Alright, we are going to round up this third set.

And uh, let me take a minute to introduce the gentleman in the band real quick.

You guys mind?

(Audience talks) Alright.

On the piano a gentleman I've known for 20 years, 30, almost 30 years actually.

And um he now resides in the Virgin Islands.

I talked him into moving down there.

He's a professor at the Universityew Mexico.

But he's been hanging with us for too long so he's an honorary West Indian now.

(Laughter) Mr. Carlton Holmes.

(Audience Applause and Cheering) On bass, uh, amazing bass player.

Someone that I've known him from elementary school, I'll leave it at that.

(Laughs) He's uh, he's playing with everyone man.

I'm-I'm really proud of him and uh, proud of all of these gentlemen but uh I've seen this young man grow up and you know raise his family and everything.

And he is an amazing amazing bass player and human being Mr. Reuben Rogers.

(Audience Applause and Cheering) Mr. GQ over here.

(Laughs) Uh, this gentleman is from Dakar, Senegal and um I made a trip to Senegal in 1998 and heard sabar drums for the first time.

I knew what a talking drum was but I didn't, I never heard of sabar.

I knew djemba but I got introduced to sabar drums and we had a different percussion player in the band.

When I came back to the states I was like man I got to talk to you man because I heard this drum and that's the that's the sound I want in the band.

And uh about 4 years later after that I met Alioune and he's been playing with us since so.

Master Griot from Dakar Senegal, Mr. Alioune Faye.

(Audience Applause and Cheering) On trumpet, I've known this gentleman uh, Rutgers Alumni.

So any RU in the house?

A couple of RU in the house ok.

I know we're in in Maryland but we can route for RU.

(Audience Laughs) Uh, so I met this gentleman, he was going to Rutgers and I needed a trumpet player, a brass specialist to come to the Virgin Islands and work with our youth program.

And uh I called another friend, Shaun Jones, and Shaun said call Melvin.

I was like yeah Melvin, I've heard of him never met him.

So I called Melvin and I was like Melvin, Shaun told me to call you.

He's like, whatever it is, I'm in.

Count me in.

Send me a plane ticket.

(Audience Laughs) That's how the conversation went and he's been playing with us and working with us in the Virgin Islands ever since so.

Band director, trumpet professor at Morehouse College Mr. Melvin Jones.

(Audience Applause and Cheering) And this gentleman here is a, is a freak of nature.

He's uh phenomenal on this pan over here.

Um... I-I heard of him growing up but got introduced to him by his father.

His father reached out to me and was like man you gotta, you gotta meet my son and, and uh you know check him out.

And uh many years later he- I'm still checking him out.

(Laughs) (Audience Laughs) But uh this gentleman here is doing ph-phenomenal things on the steel pan.

Uh he's, yeah, he's amazing man Mr. Victor Provost.

(Audience Applause and Cheering) And he's also a professor at George Mason University.

So anybody needs a pan professor check him out.

(Applause) And over here, my brother in arms.

(Laughs) He's smiling already man the stories I could tell.

(Audience Laughs) But we're on television, that's right, public television at that so uh.

Uh Ron and I knew each other as uh kids.

I would hang out at his house and um...we just you know, bugged each other to learn to play music together man.

We had no idea what we were doing.

And uh we used to go on the beach, Brewers Beach, and just dream about coming to New York, and playing, and becoming a professional musician.

And we did it.

We were roommates for 8 years.

And um through that process Rueben came to town, Rashawn came to town and we kind of looked around and was like man, there's a group of us here from the Virgin Islands.

We should do something.

And, hence the inception of 21st century.

It was our brain child.

And Ron is a professor at Juilliard, Saturday Night Live.

Amazing um, Saxophonist, plays all the reeds.

Um, he actually graduated from college with a classical alto degree, you know.

Classical Alto Player so my dear friend, partner in crime, Mr. Ron Blake.

(Audience Applause and Cheering) My name is Dion Parson, I'm so thankful to be here and perform for everyone here.

You guys enjoying yourselves?

(Audience Applause and Cheering) All right.

Well we are going to close out this third segment with um... uh some serenada from Senegal.

We are going to give the floor to Alioune Faye for a minute and uh and then we're gonna segue into our final song which is entitled Knights at the Round Table.

And uh we consider ourselves musical knights so that's- Hence the name of the song.

Knights at the round table playing our music.

Enjoy.

Mr. Alioune Faye and Knights at the Round Table.

(Audience Applause and Cheering) (Audience Applause) (Clapping and Cheering) (Audience Applause and Cheering) (Applause) [Announcer] Dion Parson & 21st Century Band in Concert was made possible by...

The US Virgin Islands Legislature, The University of the Virgin Islands, and The US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism.