Jazz in the South 2010 culminated at the Coconut Bay Resort and Spa in Vieux Fort on Wednesday 5 May with a memorable jam session that included some of the region’s greatest jazz musicians, including Etienne Charles and Sean Thomas from Trinidad, Mushy Widmaier and Thurgot Théodat from Haiti, and Richard Payne from Saint Lucia. Earlier that night, Jazz in the South patrons were treated to a unique tribute to Caribbean civilisation through the words of Saint Lucian poet Kendel Hippolyte and the drumming of Guadeloupean Roger Raspail.

For its fourteenth edition, Jazz in the South had adopted a new formula, but without losing its focus on quality Caribbean Jazz and World Music. This year, there were four concerts, three of which were held at Coconut Bay Resort and Spa in Vieux Fort (3 to 5 May), while the main free event was staged at the Rudy John Beach Park in Laborie, on Sunday 2 May. On that day, a huge crowd was treated to the jazz sounds of the Wendell Richards Quartet and Tropix, to the zouk metal of Bamboolaz, and to the extraordinary performance of singer and dancer Dobet Gnahoré from Ivory Coast.

There were also three master classes and workshops for musicians and students, while the Coconut Bay Resort and Spa provided an ideal setting for many informal encounters among artists and other music professionals from all over the Caribbean. Featuring many of the region’s most talented jazz musicians, including performers from Haiti, Martinique, Trinidad, Barbados, France, Saint Lucia and Guadeloupe, Jazz in the South has once again demonstrated that there is a need and a space for a strong flavour of Caribbean Jazz within the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival.