Had a really fine show at Tillett Gardens on June 10th. It was recorded live and there will be a cd release party and concert at Yacht Haven Grande on August 8th with the same 7 piece jazz band playing from 7pm to 10pm. The septet is comprised of 2 teenage wonders on saxophone -Malachi Thomas and Jante Samuel, plus Dale Harrigan on trumpet, Abijah Hicks on guitar, Rhett Simmonds on bass viol,Louis Issac on drums, and myself on keyboard. The 2 teenagers are quite exceptional in that they are playing jazz of a sophisticated nature on a high level. The concept is called St.Thomas Jazz and consists of several well known “island favorites” plus some “jazz standards”.

I first came to St. John in 1972 for a 2 week visit and stayed for 5 years! A good friend of mine from college, Gerry Singer was living there with his family. He had a successful commercial fishing business and offered me and another friend Dave Isenberg a job as working partners.

We thought about it for about 5 seconds and said “sure! Why not?”

It was nice work!

We’d be out at the crack of dawn (usually) and be in with our catch by 10:30 a.m. Gerry had a good reputation and loyal clients so we would sell our entire catch by noon or earlier. Plus we ate Real Good! Lobster omelets, lobster and grouper salads grilled yellowtail, red snapper and so forth.

After the Singer’s moved to Hawaii I knocked around and hung out till I ran out of money. At that point the realization came that I had to get a job, or … My friend Dave chose to go back to New York.

Rodney Varlack - 1975 photo by Hannele

My job interview went like this-I spoke with Rodney for about 20 minutes. He asked about my life before moving to St. John-we spoke about music, what kind of activities I liked and so forth, just basically chatting. I asked him as many questions as he asked me. At the end of our conversation, he says to me, “Danny, I’d like you to be one of my tour guides and drive a safari bus. It would be good for you to learn the history and culture of the islands, plus you are educated and speak well so I think that you’d be good at this as well.” My response was “that’s great Rodney, but there’s one huge problem. I hear it’s very hard to get a taxi license unless you or your mom are born here.”

Just then someone says , Danny, this is what you do-go to Motor Vehicles and say I lost my license-they’ll say what kind of license and you’ll say taxi license and –it worked! I drove tour buses for about a year and enjoyed the work. {to be continued}

I have been involved in the local music scene in the islands since the mid-seventies. Back then the scene was vibrant, multi-cultural and diverse. There were scores of nite-clubs and other venues for live music. Walking through Charlotte Amalie, one might pass 10 nite-clubs and hear bands playing anything from Caribbean songs to Jazz, Rock, Blues, Country, Funk and so forth. (One interesting sidebar is that now with way more capital and population here than in the seventies-there is way less less Live Music! One of those anomalies? At that time, I was one of the original members of a 15-piece West Indian dance band named “Eddie and the Movements”. This was a hugely popular band and since it had been conceived in St. John, it was the pride of the island! Back then it was highly unusual to see a “white musician” in a West Indian dance band. however, I was almost always made to feel welcome, respected and appreciated! (And there were times there’d be 2000 West Indians on the beach-and I’d be the only “white” person there).

At that time, I was one of the original members of a 15-piece West Indian dance band named “Eddie and the Movements”. It was a hugely popular band and since it had been conceived on St. John, it was the pride of the island! Back then it was highly unusual to see a “white musician” in a West Indian dance band. Yet I was almost always made to feel welcome, respected and appreciated. (And there were times that there would be 2000 West Indians on the beach-and I’d be the only white person there).

One of my favorite local customs “back in the day” was Fish Fries on the beach. There would be a central sound stage set up facing the sea with booths and trucks lining the edges. Fine homemade West Indian food plus drinks would be served and there would be a big open space in front of the stage for dancing under the stars. Since it was outdoors, entire generations-children to great-grandparents would attend and dance, socialize, eat, drink, or just listen to the Bands play. (there would often be more than one band playing). Some of the venues we played were Pond Mouth in Cruz Bay, St. John, Sputnik Bar and Flamingo Club in Coral Bay, St. John and Coki Beach and Lindbergh Beach in St. Thomas.

I moved back to New York in 1978 planning to study Jazz for a few years and 20 years later, I got back to the islands. I moved back in 2001, and have been freelancing as well as putting together different bands. Had a hot 6-piece in 2001-02 on St. John called “Sweet Tooth” and put together a killer 6-piece jazz band when I moved to St. Thomas in 2003 called “ Smokin’ Section”.

At present am working on interesting medleys of tunes that somehow fit. Also working on vocal interpretations and arrangements as well as doing some composing. And always working on my “chops”.

Am a member of the Barefoot Davis Band-an exciting 6-piece group.” Barefoot “ is a talented singer-songwriter, who writes frequently about his experiences sailing and living in the islands. Morgan Rael is his right-hand man-the primary arranger and on-stage “bandleader”, who does a fantastic job of keeping the spontaneity while also maintaining a high level of professionalism. Each of the bandmates are talented as well as fun to work with. The band can be seen at Lattitude 18 on Monday nights. The band appears frequently at Jack’s Restaurant at Tillett Gardens, Hull Bay Hideaway, and Paradise Point as well as other venues.

I’m leading a jazz Quartet that is appearing at a new nite-club in Charlotte Amalie called Hush. There are high hopes among the musical community for their success. On Friday nights I often go to the Tavern On The Waterfront, where Gerry Harris and Sally Smith perform regularly. Often other musicians will stop by and “sit in”. There’s a great vibe there.

I often show up for “open mic” night on Tuesdays at Latitude 18. It’s hosted by Nicky Russell, a longtime island entertainer and personality. Also support community causes as much as possible. The island musicians are fairly generous with their time for community functions and fundraisers.

I sometimes travel to nearby islands to play music, and have performed in Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, St. John and St.Croix. This upcoming season am looking forward to playing with Joe Colpitt and Rhett Simmonds as a trio, plus continuing with The Barefoot Davis Band.

I enjoy all genres of music and feel that each genre has something to say as long as it’s played with feeling and artistry and of course good rhythm! (to be continued)…

Jamming with the band!