NEW YORK – The Sixth Annual Anguilla Tranquility Jazz Festival, one of the Caribbean’s truly authentic jazz experiences – set for November 6 to 9, 2008 – starts its countdown on top cable network BET J.
The 2008 Anguilla Tranquility Jazz Festival Preview Show debuts on BET J this Saturday, September 6 at 2:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. (ET) on the popular “Island Lime” format, featuring African American actress and model Claudia Jordan (Jamie Foxx’s co-host on Sirius Satellite Radio’s “The Foxxhole”) who will join Anguilla’s James Connor, to co-host the half hour show.
BET J and BET Event Productions are partnering with the Anguilla Tourist Board for the sixth successive year of the annual Anguilla Tranquility Jazz Festival on the British West Indian island.
Organizers this week promised another year of unmatched event production and a stellar line-up for the Caribbean festival, known for its “Straight, No Chaser” pure jazz theme in an idyllic island setting.
Confirmed artistes for the festival include Grammy-winning R&B and jazz music singer Patti Austin, who produced the big hit “Baby, Come to Me” (a duet with James Ingram). She will perform along with fellow Grammy winner American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and radio personality.
Also sharing their musical genius with the Caribbean this November will be Michel Camilo, a Grammy winning and accomplished pianist from the Dominican Republic; and Grammy winning Cuban jazz trumpeter and pianist Arturo Sandoval, who can, with equal power and grace, burn through an Afro-Cuban groove, tear up a bebop tune, soar over a Mozart concerto or sooth listeners with a luscious ballad.
Christian Scott, a Concord Records jazz musician from New Orleans, and Jamaican Dean Fraser, a top Caribbean saxophonist who has contributed to hundreds of reggae recordings since the mid-1970s, completes the top line-up which features other local and Caribbean musicians at a handful of locations, including Cuisinart Resort, Temenos Golf Club, and the popular Sandy Ground beach which is open to the public on the final day of the festival.
“We continue to ensure that this gem of a festival presents the richest of all Jazz formats. Anguilla and this festival will continue to be a breathtaking music and getaway experience for true Jazz and music lovers,” notes Cybelle Brown, Vice President of Sales and Business Development with BET Digital Networks and BET Event Productions. She said BET J also is excited about its marketing and promotional plan for the festival which exposes the island’s beauty and tourist offerings to millions of viewers on the popular network.
The 2008 Preview Show debuts on BET J on Saturday, September 6 at 2:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. (ET); and will re-air on September 27 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. (ET); October 4 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. (ET); and October 18 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. (ET). The show will also air on the BET sister network on September 8 at 3 a.m. (ET/PT).
Event sponsors include the National Bank of Anguilla, Anguilla Social Security Board, St. Regis Temenos, Tropical Shipping, Avis Apex, Digicel, American Express, CuisinArt Resort & Spa, Paradise Cove Resort and American Airlines’ American Eagle.
