Tolstoy said that “Music is the shorthand of emotion” and “Seretse & the True Democrats” are set to write volumes.


Imagine a “Dave Matthews Band” from Jamaica. A merry group of musicians who possess chemistry and a penchant for group Improvisation that is compelling as it is infectious. Seretse Small, a Jamaican/Trinidadian/Guyanese musician of 20 years professional experience, formed the band. Seretse has traveled the world with Sean Paul and has a recurring feature on BET on Jazz. When Seretse was invited to perform at the wedding of the Brother of Wendell Lawrence he so enjoyed the music that he resolved to start working on some creative material with Wendell and committed to meeting once a week to explore creativity. Wendell brought Karl Gibson as a bass player and the three worked on compositions and musical ideas for a few months. Seretse who at the time played with Sean Paul was on a long break from touring so he decided to put on show so the group needed a keyboardist who was both an avid and skilled improviser and knowledgeable on Jamaican music forms. They contacted Ozou’ne who is an extremely talented and gifted British born Jamaican jazz musician. They did that first show called “In the pursuit of Love, happiness and the Caribbean Way” which was a success and the feedback was wonderful. Since that first performance they have done performances at the Red Bones Blues Café, Village Café and the Miss Cayman Islands Black Tie Ball in Grand Cayman to rave reviews.


The band is called “Seretse & the True Democrats” because their approach to improvisation is a true democracy and the constitution of the group declares that it will “pursue love, happiness and a good jam”.