Events & Jazz with the Rainforest Hideaway

At the Rainforest Hideaway, we can work with you on any events. We have a vast experience of Corporate Functions, Weddings, Parties etc and are more than happy to discuss your ideas with you!

With Tropic Isle Weddings, we worked closely with them and developed the extremely popular beach barbeques. You can see the details here: http://www.tropicisleweddings.com/beachbbq.htm

And, whether you're celebrating or just dining, there's also the music! Proving ever more popular, we are lucky enough to be joined on certain evenings by one of St. Lucia's most talented and respected jazz musicians, Mr. Emerson Nurse. Emerson is a joy to listen to and his pedigree is almost unmatched, having played at and accompanied an amazing array of musicians at festivals around the Caribbean and beyond. Read more about him below.

EMERSON NURSE
KEEPING LOVE ALIVE

 “Music is love,” says Emerson Nurse, “so it has to be live! It’s about sharing good experiences with your audience and being with them in the moment.” 

Emerson, who plays keyboard at the Rainforest Hideaway Restaurant in Marigot Bay on Wednesday and Sunday nights, is a founder member of the St Lucian jazz establishment. Starting his career with the popular dance bands of the seventies, he has played with Boo Hinkson and the Tru Tones as well as other St Lucian greats. He’s also taken his music off island, appearing at jazz festivals thorough the Caribbean and in jazz clubs in the US alongside Arnie Lawrence, Bobby Watson, Andy Narrel and Rufus Reid.

Although best known as a keyboard player, vocalist and composer, his first instrument was a steel pan.  Not being born into a musical family (although he remembers his father singing in church) Emerson’s earliest musical influence was the steel pan band that used to practise by his home when he was very young. 

“I used to sneak out at night to listen to them and it wasn’t long before they started teaching me some notes. By the time I was seven I was playing along with them. It was then that I knew I was going to be a musician and my whole life has been about music.”

And although, for Emerson, live performances and audience interaction are an important part of the creative process, he is also a recording artist with several albums to his name.  In fact, he is currently composing and getting ready to record a new album which may well feature a special track inspired by his evenings at Rainforest Hideaway!
 
Unusually, for such a dedicated pure jazz musician, Emerson is tolerant and even welcoming of people who come up to the mike during a performance and ask if they can sing. “We’ve had a some very talented dinner guests,” he says, “and I always enjoy having an extra voice, it challenges my style and brings out my creativity.”

In spite of the problems musicians are facing in today’s economic climate, Emerson remains optimistic. “It would be a humdrum world without music and I feel it enhances people’s lives. I have a great job and I can’t imagine doing anything else!”