The Ebe Gilkes Quartet was a Guyanese band that became very popular on

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

in the 1950s, led by Trinidadian jazz pianist Edwin "Ebe" Gilkes. Other members: * James Gilkes * Jesus Gilkes * Gilkes Gilkes *Arturo Tappin

History

In the 1950s, low wages for jazz musicians led to many Barbadians immigrating abroad to Canada, US, or the UK. Additionally, travel between British Commonwealth countries encouraged movement between countries of the Caribbean, so clubs and hotels in Barbados were bringing in acts from neighboring countries such as Guyana. Gilkes was a part of the Billy Green Quartet that played in the Coconut Creek Nightclub in Barbados, and by the end of the decade he was the only one to remain in Barbados. By the 1960s, he played at the Bel Air Nightclub in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Island ...

, a venue that was a part of the middle-class nightlife, playing contemporary jazz and

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

. Through the 1960s and 1970s, support for jazz was mainly by foreign tourists, and he played in venues such as the Blue Water Beach Hotel and freelanced in other hotels, playing music for dance and floorshows. Arturo Tappin, a Barbadian saxophonist who was a sideman in the Ebe Gilkes' Band in the early 1980s, went to the US to study jazz formally, and contributed to the jazz scene in Barbados taking a major role in the formation of the International Barbados/Caribbean Jazz Festival. Gilkes played with

Bim ''Bim'' is a 1974 Trinidad and Tobago film written by Raoul Pantin and directed by Hugh A. Robertson. It was described by Bruce Paddington as "one of the most important films to be produced in Trinidad and Tobago and... one of the classics of Ca ...

in the late 1980s as well as other festivals. In 1989, the After Dark Club was opened and featured nightly performances by the Ebe Gilkes Trio. Their style was considered "modern instrumental".

Legacy

Ebe Gilkes was honored in 2012 at the Naniki Caribbean Jazz Safari by two Barbadian chief justices; David Simmons and Marston Gibson.

References

External links

A Lovely way to Spend an Evening
by Carl Moore of the Caribbean Jazz Society Guyanese musical groups Barbadian musical groups Musical quartets {{band-stub