In a chapter captioned “The View from Tiffany’s Lounge” the author looks at Shake’s New York experience, the US being his final port of migration. Tiffany’s Lounge which was near to his place of residence, was where he spent much of his time, a spot whose patrons became subjects and inspiration for his poetry. It was one of the low points of his life. His illegal status affected his ability …
This may be a short book, but three enthralling stories are entwined in it. One involves the journey of a visionary modern jazz trumpeter who missed becoming a legend through happenstance, nostalgia for home, racism, and his own roving curiosity. A second vividly describes the eloquence of a rebelliously creative poet who heard the vernacular speech of his birthplace and improvisation in jazz as very similar languages; the third tracks the dreams of a reluctant but idealistic politician whose hopes for steering a cultural change evaporated in government faction-fights on his return to his homeland on the island of St Vincent.
The Shake Keane Story (Part 1) Social Share THE SHAKE KEANE story is finally here. Last week Thursday, The Shake Keane Story a short but comprehensive biography of Shake Keane written by Philip Nanton, was launched virtually.
Philip’s well researched and beautifully written biography captures not only Shake’s contribution as poet and Jazz trumpeter/ flugelhorn player but of the man himself in the three environments in which he functioned, SVG, England/ Europe and the US where he appeared to be almost in ‘self-imposed exile’.
Philip first met Shake in 1979 when he served as principal of the Intermediate High School. He has over the years been researching Shake’s role as musician and poet. In 2002 he did a BBC Radio program on Shake looking at Angel Horne, one of his poems written in 1997. He was featured speaker at the launching of Shake’s collection of poems, Angel Horn. He was also featured speaker on the occasion when a bust of Shake was unveiled at the
OWE
“Riff charts the experiences of a gifted, learned Caribbean man who travels to London and cuts his teeth on the jazz scene of the 1950s and 1960s. Nanton’s book connects the brilliant musicians and poets of a thriving creative arts scene while navigating the triumphs and periodic lows of a great personality, poet and trumpet original.”
JULIAN JOSEPH
Shake Keane was the star sideman in the ground-breaking Joe Harriott Quintet of the 1960s. A jazz virtuoso on trumpet and flugelhorn, he was also an original and award-winning poet. What went into the making of this shapeshifter from the Caribbean island of St Vincent?
December 22, 2020
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.
by Dr. Peter Laurie
Keane Story
Do you know who Shake Keane is?
I love jazz, but I’m neither a fanatic nor a connoisseur, so I simply knew that Shake was a jazz trumpeter from St Vincent.
However, I often heard my late dear friend and mentor, Oliver Jackman, rave about the brilliant Shake, whom he not only admired but also whom he knew personally in the Great West Indian Exile of the 1950s. Ah, the pleasures of exile…