Live Music: Benjy - and Frenz - Set the Alibi "Pon Fyah"

Benjy Myaz - with more than a little help from musical friends - turned the Alibi Lounge into a .... for great live music a few Wednesdays ago. Long known as an "ace of bass" and as a composer and singer of excellent songs on love and other topics, Myaz, along with Alibi house band Pon Fyah (led by Ozuone) and singer Cadia Terrine delivered  a set that not only saw him taking the keyboard chair fora brief but all-too welcome stint, but which continually scaled new heights of quality in terms of  musicianship and genuine feeling - and did so effortlessly.  By the time he got around to his stellar cover of Randi Crawford's "Love You Higher" there was simply no ceiling left.

Taking the audience rapturously through jazz, r'n'b, reggae and pop, bending old standards into intriguing new forms (with knowledge-defying intros and other sonic devices), Myaz & Co showed the stuff that has kept him  an in-demand staple of the music business for the better part of   thirty years.

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It was so inspiring that even "Alibi regular" and noted saxman Nicholas Laraque (who performed his own bill - alongside Maria Myrie - last night) got in on the act, with his typically tasteful yet dynamic note selections on alto.

And Cadia's contributions were too on point to be merely called "background."  Seated to the right of the bandstand, she was very much "foreground" matching, prodding and abetting the sonic takeover. Its the kind of experience that knowledgeble patrons have come to expect of the Wednesday night presentation, just that this occasion went beyond, into "Best of the Best" territory - easily the best presented thus far this year and one of the best in the entire series.

Vocalist Cadia Terrine

Pon Fyah is:
Ozuone - keyboards
Richardo Campbell - drums

Carlton Jarrett - bass