A Night to Remember!

Dianne Reeves

• Opening Act: Marsvyn David’s Caribbean Players (Big Band)
• Closing Act: Calvin Johnson & Native Son

Experience the "breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings" of GRAMMY® award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves at the USVI Caribbean Music Festival. Setting the evenings tone will be Marsvyn David's Caribbean Players of St. Croix with Calvin Johnson & Native Son of New Orleans closing out the evening. As the first concert in the series, Dianne Reeves officially launches the Caribbean Music Festival on February 17 at the Frederiksted Promenade (Verne Richards Park).

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Caribbean Music Festival

The U.S. Virgin Islands Dept. of Tourism is proud to announce the launch of the USVI Caribbean Music Festival on the island of St. Croix with outstanding programming curated by United Jazz Foundation in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center. The festival is free to the public and will take place over several weekends with a line-up of headliners that reads like the Who's Who of Jazz.

This event:

Friday, February 17: Dianne Reeves

Other Events:

Saturday, March 25: Chucho Valdes

Saturday, May 27: Jon Faddis

We're excited about this series of USVI Caribbean Music Festival events and can't wait to see you there.

Learn more: https://www.caribbeanmusicheritage.org/

Our gratitude to the V.I. Lottery for stepping in as a premier sponsor!

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About Tonight's Artists

Dianne Reeves has been on the top of the jazz charts since the 1980’s. A 2018 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and a multiple GRAMMY® award-winner, Dianne’s 2015 album Beautiful Life (winner Best Jazz Vocal Album) showcases her sublime gifts in what is a melding of R&B, Latin and pop elements within the framework of 21st century jazz. “At its essence,” said Dianne, “Life is beautiful, and I wanted to celebrate that which is too often overlooked.” Growing up, Dianne was surrounded by music. “I grew up with many generations in my family,” she said, “and so I listened to and loved the music that everybody would play and listen to, because I would see how they celebrated the music.” Dianne is world-renowned as one of jazz’s great vocalists, with a far-reaching range stretching across musical genres.

Marsvyn David’s Caribbean Players (Big Band) is a musical ensemble comprising a horn section, rhythm section and various vocalists. MDCP performs classic calypso music, along with an eclectic blend of calypso flavored jazz, pop, and Latin. MDCP was a featured act at the St. Croix Agricultural Fair for ten consecutive years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The MDCP performed at the St. Thomas Carnival village in 2015 and 2016 and is the band of choice for the calypso legend ‘King Short Shirt’ of Antigua, when performing on St. Croix. Featured are the smooth vocals of Tony Romano, the Cuban cool of Rivert Diaz, and Caribbean song stylist and two-time St. Croix calypso monarch, Emogen “Blakness” Creese. Also playing on the session are:

Marsvyn David, Bass/Musical Director ● Elvis Pedro, Guitar ● Loren Hughes, Piano ● Jelonn James, Drums ● Charles Farell and Wayne Clarke, Percussion ● Dimitri “Piky” Copemann, Sax Soloist ● Ernel Edmond and Stan Joines, Trumpets ● James Dissinger, Trombone ● Mario Thomas and Shelly Shelly Shulterbrant, Saxophone

Calvin Johnson and Native Son is led by Calvin Johnson, an American saxophonist, bandleader, composer, producer, and actor from New Orleans. Johnson began playing saxophone at the age of seven. "During his time as a student in and out of New Orleans, Johnson would step up to the bandstand nightly and learn in the most visceral and real way possible: by playing with the elders. Since 2008 has been playing with his own band, Calvin Johnson & Native Son. He is a former member of both the Preservation Hall Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which gave him the opportunities to immerse himself in the magic that takes place over the course of rehearsals, planning, and performances."