While many citizens were trekking to the Jean Pierre Complex, participating in Sunday's Emancipation celebrations on July 31 in Port-of-Spain, the night before Emancipation Day, a select crowd of Jazz lovers were flocking to the neighbouring Lions Cultural Centre, off Wrightson Road, where Square Deal Level staged its sixth annual Jazz and Cocktail Evening. The show opened with Marionettes Chorale singer Leah Lewis, a young woman whose voice covered a wide range of octaves–from sweet and sultry ballads, to gravelly notes that reminded the audience of the late Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
Louis & The Lynx completed the first half of the evening's programme with popular all-time favourites, such as Shadow Of Your Smile, Oh What A Night, and I Wanna Know Where You Are. The popular band also delivered some calypso melodies and original material. During the intermission, patrons at the all-inclusive event mingled at the bar and enjoyed doubles and pastries before settling back to their seats as show emcee Ian Gill showed off his own singing abilities. Gill then introduced Arturo Tappin, a gifted musician from Barbados with worldwide acclaim, who made a dramatic entrance. Initially, the audience could only hear the sweet notes of Tappin's saxophone, and the musician remained out of sight. When he eventually entered from the back of the venue, there was loud applause.
Tappin has performed for many Caribbean and international audiences, including two US presidents, and started out with the sweet slow notes of When I Fall In Love, followed by Whiter Shade Of Pale. He then moved on to a medley of Calypso favourites, causing the audience to join in the singing. Tappin was accompanied by Raf Robertson and his Orchestra, and students of the Birdsong Academy, a music school formed out of Birdsong Steel Band. After his performance, Robertson introduced Niall Manswell, a visually challenged musician, and the younger brother of boxer Kerston Manswell. The younger Manswell is on a music scholarship at the University of California, and had performed for audiences in Hollywood earlier this year. The highpoint of Manswell's performance was his renditions of Ras Shorty I's Watch Out My Children and Sparrow's Slave.