The Tobago Jazz Experience (TJE) 2019 kicked off smoothly on Thursday at the Scarborough Esplanade.
The $50 admission fee for the event was dropped allowing for free entry.
However, this last-minute move by the Tobago Festivals Commission did not attract a crowd large enough to pack the venue.
There was a larger crowd reportedly attempting to get into MovieTowne at Gulf City, Lowlands, to watch the newly-released Avengers Endgame.
Despite this, hundreds of mostly mature patrons came out to be treated to what was an excellent show held under good weather.
The event began around 6.30 pm with performances done on three separate stages.
This allowed patrons to move freely between the music filled atmosphere and take in the excellent performances rendered by a cadre
of local artistes which included saxophonist Ricardo Seales, who had the audience dancing as he rendered R&B and contemporary songs on the brass.
The Tobago band The Pleasure Pirates gave the audience on the eastern stage a taste of nostalgic calypso.
Patrons were also treated to the smooth vocals of Shunica Moses who was accompanied by pan player Gerard Balfour.
Spoken word artistes Iyana Phillips and Kelon McPherson gave the audience much to think about with their performances which raised issues like abuse.
Vocalists Leah Richards and Le Andra Head were also show stealers.
Head gave a fantastic performance of Sade’s Sweetest Taboo. Other great performances came from violinist David Frank and vocalists Gavin Walters and Carissa Simon.
