Tru The Saxophonist for F&B Downtown
Published:Friday | November 17, 2023 | 12:09 AM
F&B Downtown Restaurant has become the place to be for creatives interested in the arts, including jazz, and on Friday, Tru The Saxophonist will add her name to the list of luminaries who have shared their music in that space.
For her debut at Herbie Miller Presents, Tru will be joined by exceptional talents, including Berklee’s Joe Davis on the keyboard, Edna Manley graduate and adept bassist Krysten, and Jamaica’s experienced drummer, percussionist, and producer Mark Anthony on Cajon (cahone).
Event presenter, Miller, noted that over the past year, the restaurant has become a popular Friday evening after-work hangout where a keenly devoted audience, including creatives, converge for live jazz, and he was full of praise for Tru.
Ariana Stanberry, as she was christened, hails from Portmore, St. Catherine, but currently resides in Connecticut, USA.
A press release states that “Tru studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music and is committed to financially supporting black girls, women, and non-binary saxophone players. To this end, she founded the nonprofit organisation, My Sax, My Voice! Tru hopes her music encourages listeners to be diverse, courageous, confident, and uplifting. She also hopes it brings positive energy to those who experience it and paves the way for upcoming black women and nonbinary musicians like herself.”
It continues, “It is immediately beguiling to encounter Tru’s engaging personality and optimistic sound. Her heart-warming attitude is infectious, and her musical inflexions are remarkably imaginative. Tru is artful at infusing jazz and the blues with a soulful, languid emotion. Tru articulates jazz’s melodic essence on tunes like Charlie Parker’s Donna Lee, merges its traditional form with indigenous genres, including mento and calypso, and adds modern arrangements to pop standards like Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr’s Just the Two of Us and Bob Andy’s Too Experienced, while exhibiting some down-south soulful, funky blues as in Pee Wee Ellis’ The Chicken.”
F&B Downtown Restaurant is located at 107 Church Street, at the corner of Harbour Street.
Emphasising the importance of hosting the event downtown, Miller harkened to an era prior to the “decades of neglect” when downtown venues were the creative nucleus for arts and entertainment.
“It was the place to be for everything from musical theatre [to] social clubs, dance halls, and live music,” said Miller, who is an authority on jazz, ska and other forms of popular Jamaican music, and has published essays in books, journals, magazines and newspapers, at home and internationally on these subjects.
Shows are at 7 and 8:30 pm.