Veteran show promoter George Crooks says fans can expect something different at the Evening of Elegance show, scheduled for NYCB Theater of Westbury in New York on October 29. The diverse lineup has Beres Hammond as headliner, with a strong support cast of Monty Alexander, Stephen “Cat” Coore, Dean Fraser and violinist Brooke Alford.
This is the fourth show in two months Crooks has staged featuring the evergreen Hammond. Like the previous, the 2,800 capacity is sold out.
According to Crooks, the other events — which were held in New Haven, Connecticut, New Jersey and Brooklyn, New York — were dominated by Hammond’s rich catalog of lovers rock songs. This time, fans get to hear Alexander’s jazz piano touches, Coore on cello, Fraser playing saxophone and Alford.
“We’ve presented Beres in concert already so we wanted to do something different. We wanted to do something that musically gives it to you,” he said.
Hammond has had a tremendous year on the road. He completed a North American tour in September which culminated in back-to-back nights at Broward Center For The Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale.
Both nights at that 5,000-seat venue were sold out.
Crooks, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica, has lived in the United States for 50 years. He has been a show promoter for over 30 years, staging shows featuring a diverse slate of acts such as Shaggy, Maxi Priest, UB40, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Shabba Ranks and Ninjaman.
Most of those events have been held in New York which has been Crooks’ happy hunting ground for decades. He said the Big Apple’s reggae scene has evolved since the 1970s.
“Those days, they used to play 45s and it was ‘party, party, party!’ Now, it’s more concerts and you don’t have a lot of dances,” he said.
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