Louis Nurse with his band Louis and the Lynx and Raf Robertson and Band, as part of their continuing community and charity activities, are presenting a concert titled The 2 Pianos, to be staged at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port-of-Spain, on July 5 at 8 pm. The concert will showcase the music of two pianists in the genre of jazz and contemporary music, and is expected to be an evening of fun and fellowship in an intimate atmosphere of safety and security. Nurse is a pioneer in the area of music education, with over 30 years’ experience and expertise as a performer and university lecturer. He is a past student of St Mary’s College, Port-of-Spain, who started his musical career by participating in musical activities in his home district, and over the years contributed significantly to the development of the entertainment industry. During his long career, he has performed for the hotel industry and at functions, events and concerts throughout the world as an individual performer and with the band Louis and the Lynx.
He has developed distance learning and online teaching programmes and materials for musical instruments, and has produced and presented for television, (NCC Channel 4 & 16 and Gayelle) programmes promoting the teaching of music and entertainment using local songs in a Caribbean cultural context. He is the performer and producer of three music CDs titled Dancing Moods All Year, From the Heart and Just for You; a Christmas album, Piano by Twilight; and a religious album, Touched by an Angel. Robertson, whose reverence for the late Kitchener’s (Aldwyn Roberts) music is never in dispute, is agreed leader of the calypso jazz and improvisation genre, which are staples in his concert repertoire and eloquently evidenced in recordings; dating back to Branches (1994). It was he who originally conceptualised a new concert celebrating the Grandmaster’s extraordinary catalogue, locating full length pieces and excerpts in a context that doubles as the backdrop for telling the story of the incredible composer.
His musical career began in the late 1960s, while he was still attending St Benedict’s College in Trinidad in the era of combos playing dance music. After studies in England and the US, he resumed his career as a professional musician with tours in Europe and North Africa. Following his return to the Caribbean in the early 1980s, he participated in workshops throughout the region, lecturing on developing calypso jazz and the potential of the steelpan. He toured Europe, Africa and the Caribbean for several years with pop star Eddy Grant, and performed at Jazz Festivals with other well-known artistes such as the late Ralph MacDonald, Branford Marsalis, Grover Washington, and Roy Haynes. He has arranged music for steelbands and judged steelband and calypso contests in Trinidad, Barbados, and New York. He conducts a pan class for youth called the Birdsong Academy, an offshoot of Birdsong Steel Orchestra.