Gaynair to be honoured at Miami Jazz festival

Saxophonist Wilton Gaynair, a key figure in the golden age of Jamaican jazz, will be honoured during the Miami Jazz Film Festival at the Tower Theatre on October 2.

A quartet to be led by saxophonist Tony Greene will pay tribute to Gaynair, who died in Germany in 1995. Keyboardist Ozou'ne, bassist Sherwayne Thompson and drummer Akil Karam complete the band.

Music historian Herbie Miller of the Institute of Jamaica will accompany the band as narrator.

Like Gaynair, Greene is a graduate of the Alpha Boys School which has produced many of Jamaica's leading musicians. Earlier this week, he spoke about paying tribute to one of his biggest influences.

"He was one of the greats, someone who people like Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso looked up to, so it's an honour to be playing his music," Greene said.

Gaynair was born in 1927 and entered Alpha in 1940, staying there for four years. During the 1940s, he was a member of the All Stars Band that also included saxophonist Tommy McCook, his younger brother Bobby, who was also a saxophonist, and trumpeter Sonny Bradshaw.

Looking for recording opportunities, Gaynair left for Germany in 1955.

There, he recorded the albums Blue Bogey and Africa Calling in 1959 and 1960, respectively. A third album, Alpharian, was released in 1982.

Gaynair settled in Germany, playing in a number of jazz bands and working with greats like bandleader Gil Evans, singer Shirley Bassey and new wave swing bands like the Manhattan Transfer. He was also part of the band that performed at the opening ceremony of the 1972 Munich Olympics.

After suffering a stroke in 1983, Gaynair was unable to play music again and died 12 years later at age 67. Bobby Gaynair, the only surviving member of the All Stars Band, lives in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Gaynair brothers represented the first generation of great hornmen out of Alpha. Others in that batch included McCook, fellow saxophonist Joe Harriott, trumpeter Sonny Grey, trombonist Don Drummond, trumpeter Johnny 'Dizzy' Moore and saxophonist Lester Sterling.

McCook, Drummond, Moore and Sterling were original members of the Skatalites band that formed in the early 1960s. All were influenced by the work of Wilton Gaynair.

- H.C.