…. EMERSON NURSE cont’d

His musical career easily spans over 5 decades, having been professionally active since the mid to late 1960’s. A notable experience was his tour of South America with Patsy Cadet in 1970 whilst being a student at secondary school. Besides collaborations with several of the local bands of the day like Rasputin and the Mad Monks, Rebel Rockers, and The Vibratones, he originated the quartet group Night Train in the early 1970s, which functioned as a performing unit and also recorded a few tracks for gramophone. Emerson spent part of band membership with the Tru Tones, a popular St. Lucian and Caribbean band featuring the likes of Ronald ‘Boo’ Hinkson which performed the 1979 Super Bowl Half-Time Show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had successfully recorded multiple albums during the seventies and eighties. 

In 1977, he along with Luther was part of a memorable and record setting Big Band production by renowned Jazz composer / arranger and trombonist Melba Liston. This fundraising event for Luther’s admission to the Jamaica School of Music featured a cross section of musicians from bands, churches, and ghettos of Castries playing to written sheets on a professional platform. Emerson also represented his Nation at the CARIFESTA (Caribbean Festival of Arts) ceremony on more than one occasion – in 1979 (Cuba), 1982 (Barbados), and 1992 (Trinidad & Tobago) respectively. Other overseas endeavours within this era include Jamaica, Cayenne in the South American continent, and stints with cruise ship bands. 

Emerson represented his island nation St. Lucia at Rockland County, New York in 1984, through a music exchange program hosted by Partners of Americas and St. Lucia via the St. Lucia School of Music where he taught Jazz Piano and Drums for two years. 

Betafé (patois term for Firefly) was another Emerson led combo which comprised Ricardo on drums amongst a host of other accomplished musicians throughout the 1980s. The band played ‘Creole’ Jazz at restaurant and hotel venues including a successful tour of neighbouring Martinique. Betafé was also instrumental in keeping the art form alive via Saturday midday performances at a popular restaurant (Kimlan’s) in the city capital up until during the early 1990s. In the early part of that decade, Emerson was part of an ensemble which represented the St. Lucia School of Music in a concert and workshop at the Crane School of Music in Boston, MA. 

During the period 1985 -1995, Emerson recorded and toured extensively with various artists throughout the Caribbean region, and participated in several Jazz workshops geared at crafting the brand referred to as ‘Pan Jazz’ – an infusion of Steel Pan and Caribbean Jazz music. His involvement with Jazz Festivals over the years include Antigua and Barbados respectively (1988), Parc Floral Festival in Martinique (1989), and regularly at the St. Lucia Jazz Festival from it’s inception in 1993, with either a Piano Jazz trio or quartet, or as part of a larger collective group. He performed sporadically at the Festival spanning the last two decades, up to and including his 2019 Trio set at the Lincoln Center. 

Emerson provided an entire forty-five minutes of original repertoire at the first ever October Jazz in 1992. In 1996 he recorded his first CD entitled “Christmas with Emerson Nurse” and in 1997 he received another M&C Fine Arts Award, this time for Instrumental Music.    

Emerson also honed his craft over the years heavily via lengthy spells of Solo Piano at a variety of the island’s leading hotels. During this time, he was successful in cementing his musical abilities while being able to fully support his family working one job and ‘labour of love.’ 

Noteworthy contributions to his homeland and local society include not just performances at primary and secondary schools, but also judging activities related to perennial Calypso and Steel Pan (Panorama) events associated with the island’s National Carnival celebrations. In fact, it is during the fifteen year period 1987 – 2002 that Emerson became a rather proactive feature of the annual Carnival fixtures; whether by means of musical arrangement, judging panel selection, or on the ‘big stage’ itself alongside either the RSLPF Police Band or ‘All-Star’ assembly that year in semi-finals and finals competitions.       

In 2001 his much anticipated debut album ‘Into The Sunlight’ was released, offering 11 original compositions and featuring saxophonist extraordinaire Luther on a few tracks. The completion of this production was an arduous process, as the songs were first recorded locally before having to be totally redone at a studio in Martinique. 

In 2004, for long and meritorious service in the field of music, Emerson received the St. Lucia Medal of Merit (Silver).  

In 2019 Emerson represented his country in a series of concerts as part of Taiwan’s 100th Independence celebrations. 

Personal

Emerson attended St. Mary’s College (Vigie, Castries) from 1967 – 1972, graduating with a General Certificate of Education in Social Sciences. On leaving the college, he went full time into music, even recording an album, “Making Tracks”, with his band Night Train. 

In his early adult life, he became romantically involved with one of Luther’s younger sisters Andreuille, to whom he became married and together raised a family of four children.