Sun 2/26 @ 7-8:30PM
Jazz sax player/composer Ronell Regis grew up in Brooklyn, where his parents settled after leaving their native Grenada. Regis himself absorbed the music of their culture as well as the music that surrounded him. Later he moved to Atlanta where he began playing jazz and singing gospel music and spirituals in church. Finally, he came north to Kent State University where he earned his degree in jazz performance in 2022. Still living in northeast Ohio, he’s brought that rich musical with him, which also includes reggae, dancehall, hip hop, afrobeat and R&B.
And he’ll be bringing a new original piece, Grenada to the World: The Suite, to the BOP STOP this week. It’s inspired by his family’s own history as well as that of their Caribbean island and its former prime minster and hero Maurice Bishop as well as today’s Grenadians, both at home and around the world.
“Regardless of being one of the smallest countries in the world, its identity is valuable and rich enough to impact any human,” says Regis. “There is no experience that I can tell better than that of my own family, Regis and Fortune.”
He’ll be bringing a band that includes fellow Kent State student Jonah Ferguson on guitar, recent Oberlin grad Jordan McBride on bass, Josh Stone on piano and Gabe Jones on drums.
Tickets are $20. This event will also be livestreamed on BOP STOP’s Facebook page.
ronell-regis-presents-grenada-to-the-world-the-suite-bop-stop