Miami Nice

Jamaica, South Coast. The final leg of my little winter excursion. What with no luggage courtesy of Amercian Airlines, the only thing for me to do was just chill and maybe get round to writing that review I promised Andy (aka DJ Spam) of the Spam All Stars, who I had witnessed the week before at Jazid bar in South Beach Miami. Thank God winter had come early in Atlanta, else I would have missed this 'splendicious' experience. I mean, what the hell was I doing having spent all that money to go half way round the world to hang out in some army surplus store with a bunch of security guards and wind battered faces, hunting for long johns? With a shout from my mate Dollar Bill who had already touched base verifying Miami's glorious weather, I hot footed it down the East Coast and kissed the big cold ATL goodbye.

After Dollar Bill's hurried tour of Ocean Drive, we finally stumbled into Jazid bar on South Beach's Washington Avenue, thanks to a tip from the waiter at the Grill Fish restaurant. Jackpot! The place seemed to be heaving with a heady mix of beautiful women (from all corners of the globe, particularly South America and the Caribbean), interesting faces and friendly smiles. All to the backdrop of a pulsating cacophony of hip hop, reggae, latin and Afro Cuban sounds emanating from a tight seven piece band. Which included a bald headed guy (who I later discovered to be Andy Yeomanson aka DJ Spam) controlling the decks, a flute player - Mercedes Abal, a trombonist - John Speck, AJ Hill and Steve Welsh on saxophone, Adam Zimmon on guitar, and leading the proceedings with timbales and vocals was some crazy cat called Tomas Diaz! He enthused the place with his earthy latin creole and reggae laden lyrics like the energiser bunny on tequila and white rum! He soon had the crowd singing along to his infectious toasting and spoilt us with his timbales solos, interspersed with respective solos from the rest of the band. We were even treated to some wild scratching from DJ Le Spam himself.

What a night! Just one of those occassions that you just stumble upon. Kinda reminded me of the night I happened upon Bembe Segue at the Jazz Cafe. But that's another story. Sharing the experience here is just not enough, you'll have to sample the delightful sound yourself with a friend. But if Miami is out of the reach of most of us, then let's hope some discerning promoter will manage to bring the All Stars to somewhere like Cargo or even the Jazz Cafe. Now that would be something, the Miami vibe right in the heart of London. The Tequila's are on me!