St Catherine High leads six schools into JBSB final

The battle of high school stage bands in season nine of Jamaica’s Best School Band (JBSB) competition is turning out to be quite exciting.

Round two was a revelation as St Catherine High wooed judges with song selections from the Skatalites and Alton Ellis, guided by the very impressive lead singer and trombonist Jeremy Brown. Drummer Daniel Dixon was not to be outdone and also caught the attention of the judges. Like they did in round one, they finished with top scores.

Alpha Boys, the only school to win twice, are defending champions but they will have to pull out all the stops to hold on to the title as they finished the round with the lowest score. Dinthill Technical and first-time entrant Denbigh High School also gave very good performances based on the theme, ‘Foundation Rules’, and finished the round in second and third place, respectively. Papine High and Belair High round out the finalists for the event set for Sunday, April 24, at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

At the end of round two, the judges, comprising Abishai Hoilett of Bebble Rock Music, Sherieta Lewis and Stephen Stewart, decided that all six schools should go to the final since, for the first time, bands submitted videos for round one and were unable to see each other’s performances. “Now they will work harder to put on an even better show in the final,” said Stewart.

JBSB founder, Rayven Amani, noted, “We had a rocky start to this season’s competition due to uncertainties around COVID-19 measures in schools. Thankfully, face-to-face classes are back and bands can now practise.”

The top three bands will win over $500,000 in cash and other prizes, courtesy of the Ministry of Culture Gender, Entertainment & Sport and the Vinyl Record Collectors Association.