Ringing in the Holidays on High Seas
Amelia Island’s Dynamic Les DeMerle Quartet, featuring vocalist Bonnie Eisele, is swinging and ringing in the holidays aboard Royal Caribbean’s mega cruise ship, the Harmony Of The Seas.
The Amelia Island Jazz Festival impresarios, Artistic Director DeMerle and its Vice President Eisele, recently completed a highly successful 16th year spearheading the ongoing event. They have taken their energetic show to the Royal Caribbean’s popular jazz room, Jazz On 4.
Headlining nightly, the Quartet performs 3 shows on 6 of 7 nights while sailing itineraries that alternate between the Eastern and Western Caribbean. The Dynamic Les DeMerle Jazz Quartet features DeMerle on Drums, Eisele-Vocals, Daniel Tenbusch-Piano and Lukas Peladeau-Bass. “We love the room, and the capacity crowds each night have rewarded us with multiple standing ovations,” Les reports. Praise has come from the press as well. The prestigious online CruiseCritic.com called their show “the best jazz entertainment I have heard on any ship.”
The Band does not play the same show each night. Their wide ranging repertoire allows them to offer nightly themes that include: Celebrating Sinatra; Essentially Ellington; Broadway, Brazil, Blues and Beyond; Hittin’ The Blue Notes (with the ship’s Orchestra High C’s Horn section sitting in); and Let The Good Times Roll—The Music of New Orleans. In addition, Les presents his very popular jazz enrichment talk with videos, “My Life In Music-from Harry James and Frank Sinatra to The Manhattan Transfer, Wayne Newton and More” to SRO crowds on the final Sea Day of each cruise.
Ports visited in each itinerary:
Eastern Caribbean:
- (Port Canaveral) Orlando, FL
- Coco Cay, Bahamas
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Phillipsburg, St. Maarten
- (Port Canaveral) Orlando, FL
Western Caribbean:
- (Port Canaveral) Orlando, FL
- Coco Cay, Bahamas
- Cozumel, Mexico
- Roatan Island, Honduras
- Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico
- (Port Canaveral) Orlando, FL
During each show Les invites the audience to join the action at the upcoming 17th annual 2020 Amelia Island Jazz Festival which will take place in Fernandina Beach from Oct. 4 through Oct. 11. He also invites them to attend the AIJF’s April 11 Easter Big Band Bash Scholarship Benefit Dinner/Dance at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation. “Given our nightly shows on the ship,” Les added, “the band is tighter than ever, and we plan to keep it happening for all of 2020’s AIJF programs!”
Also, Les sends warm Holiday greetings to everyone back home on Amelia Island with an invitation to join him, Bonnie and the band to sail the Caribbean with them during their cruise contract until March 29, 2020 for a glorious get-away on Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas!
~by Michael Rothschild
