Betty delivers 'Wright' stuff at Liguanea Club

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Betty Wright seems to have perfected the attitude, style and general sass many years ago and then watch the term 'swagger' make its way into popular music parlance and applied to characters far behind her.

From her opening hail to the audience at Betty Wright and Friends at Liguanea Club, New Kingston, within the first hour of yesterday morning - her left leg back, one hand held high and her torso leaned slightly forward - through to an extended 'never' that moved from a near growl to near dog whistle territory just before the end an hour later, she delivered the 'Wright stuff'.

This was after Freddie McGregor had closed his post-intermission stint with the songs like Let Him Try, Loving Pauper and Winner, declaring "When me a talk 'bout dancehall, Beenie, Bounty and Kartel sittin', me a talk 'bout Studio One". Most members of the audience duly stood and danced merrily, one man choosing a plastic chair for a partner, holding it by the back with four legs to the chilly night sky.

He had many potential plastic partners to choose from, as about two-thirds of the general seating was empty, while the VIP area was near capacity.

Well put together package

Before the break on what proved to be a well put together package, with full, quality performances, Tarrus Riley paid homage to the late Gregory Isaacs - complete with the trademark groan of 'lawd' with snippets of I Don't Want to Be Lonely Tonight and Tune In. Earlier in his set, which hit highs with the rub-a-dub of Beware and the lovers rock of Stay With You, without histrionics saxophonist Dean Fraser, and Riley played Buju Banton's Untold Stories to a rapturous audience, Fraser going first and Riley then putting the words to the melody.

After closing with Good Girl Gone Bad, Riley earned an encore.

Tessanne Chin, who performed after Hezron, stood steadily in place in an elegant blue dress, her hands - the right alternating between covering her heart and reaching for the sky as she sang Oh Holy Night in the spirit of the season - and the changing angle of her body communicated the physical to the excellent range of her voice. She informed a potential swain that "I'm ready", declared herself simply the messenger of her song and dropping some deejay styles in the mix, closed with Secret Hideaway.

Much later in the programme Wright had surprised the audience with her deejaying and there were moments when the band hit a reggae groove. Wright also put in an effective bit of rap to take her swag to those who would pirate her material, after advising the audience that she had won the related case.

The audience enjoyed the uptempo Clean Up Woman and Wright's body movement, stoops and a good old wine included, but when she started Thank You For the Many Things You've Done, it was clear that it was time for the slow jams they had really come for. And they kept standing through to the closing No Pain, No Gain.

She had come full circle, as she had started with After the Pain, putting in a bit of Superwoman. And after somewhat debunking the notion that she had been going around the world beating up on defenceless men, Wright chuckled as she gave a holler to the men who will bring the money and the loving home.

And she clarified the distinctly Jamaican tinge to some of her expressions and the reggae in the R&B mix, which comes through Jamaican King Sporty. "Through King Sporty I was able to travel the world with the Honourable Robert Nesta Marley," she said, adding that those trips made her grounded and realise that "You have to wait your turn and you are not the biggest fish in the pond."

Glowing lamps, hung from the tree in the middle of the venue, added a delightful glow to the ambience.