Cameron Pierre to headline Jazz and Creole Festival

Cameron Pierre

Outstanding Dominican guitarist – UK-based Cameron Pierre is headlining this year’s Jazz and Creole Festival this Sunday at the Cabrits in Portsmouth.

Cameron, whose parents are from Marigot and Soufriere, is well known on the international jazz circuit, having played for a long time with world renowned saxophonist Courtney Pine (who has Jamaican roots).

The Dominica Festivals Committee (DFC) and Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) event on May 27 also features Martiniquan group  – Bwakore, Exile One’s Fitzroy Williams, and a young Dominican group – Breve.

Head of the DDA Colin Piper says the festival is part of Dominica’s efforts to bring visitors in and to increase the expenditure of those visitors on the island.
Last year the festival attracted 650 people – Piper is hoping that the figure this year will be well over a thousand.

While the majority are likely to be local, the DDA official told Dominica News Online that promotion for this year’s event has included advertising in several Caribbean countries including St Thomas(USVI), St Maarten, and St Lucia.

Piper has admitted that the festival has not to date evolved into a revenue generating event, describing it as a “loss-leader, in the sense that it costs the government money to put it on”.

“The main stage is not going to be a money-maker,” Piper admitted frankly.

Bwakore will also perform at the festival

However he is optimistic that “fringe events” leading up to Sunday’s festival will help generate greater revenue from the initiative.

They include gigs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Anchorage Hotel, Fort Young Hotel and Riverstone Bar and Grill respectively, setting the stage for Sunday’s main event.

The festival itself is being run on a “shoe-string” budget, with the DDA boss disclosing that the budget to stage the event is about EC$150,000.00.

So it’s not likely anytime soon to become as big as the St Lucia Jazz Festival.

“The St Lucia Jazz Festival budget, you know, is probably a hundred times what we have.  And I don’t think that we can achieve those goals without the requisite infrastructure,” Piper said.

“We have to beg, borrow and steal, and really get these artists to come on a shoe-string budget,” he explained when asked whether the international jazz greats would at some point in the future grace the Dominican stage with their presence.

“We are in the building stages,” he said of the Dominica festival.

Headline act Cameron Pierre has to date released five solo albums, apart from featuring on albums of Courtney Pine and other musicians of note in the international arena.

The festival also features director, saxophone player, composer and arranger Sandy Gabriel of the Dominican Republic.

Fitzroy Williams

The keyboard wizard who helped make Exile One the very famous band that it became – Fitzroy Williams, will also be weaving his magic at the festival.

And Breve – the young musicians who have been fine-tuning their act on the Dominican block of professional jazz players are also expected to give a good account of themselves.

The Roseau-based band’s members come from “Portsmouth, Jimmit and Wallhouse in Dominica to as far as Jamaica and Finland” according to the organisers.

The Jazz and Creole Fest costs EC$60.00 at the gate, but festival goers can save $10.00 by purchasing their tickets in advance for $50.00.

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7 Comments

  1. Big jazz fan
    May 26, 2012

    Planning to be there for sure! Why isn’t there a picture of Breve so we can know who they are. Is it that same band that does Jazz on the corner infront Digicel? If so I think they’re awesome and the festivals commission made a good choice.

  2. PoKeSa
    May 25, 2012

    Dominicans watch out!!!

    In Cameron “Rizo” Pierre you are in for a treat. It’s good to give him centre stage because Rizo is a phenomenal Jazz guitarist and we D/cans should be very proud to rubber stamp him as ours.

    The world over just loves to hear this man play. People pay big bucks to see and hear him in action and he never ceases a moment to promote/publicise Dominica. I was the lone D/can at a recent gig of his, whilst on business,(guess where in Kazakhstan, a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Europe) and Mr Pierre gave the listening audience a master class on recreating the splendour of nature for one’s wellness by experiencing a Dominican holiday… so he is doing his bit for DA.

    Let’s embrace him at the festive and warmly make him feel wanted and feel that he is ours.

    With thanks!

  3. sayodityodit
    May 24, 2012

    With determination and dedication this can indeed become another major event for Dominica. Just keep being positive.

  4. May 24, 2012

    I can go to that event at any time,piper please lets look at the big pictrut.

  5. anomin
    May 24, 2012

    I am goin to ”breve” in some good music this sunday for sure
    :lol:

  6. jazzz goer
    May 24, 2012

    GO BREVE GO…… GO FITZROY GO…. GO CAMERON GO…… BY THE WAY WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE TO GET INSTRUMENT IN THIS COUNTRY. IS IT THAT HARD FOR THE BOATS TO COME HERE.. YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

  7. sc
    May 24, 2012

    Hi Cameron, looking forward to listening to you. He’s good, listened to him in London “08.

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