Jazz 2024 downed the curtains on its two-week-long series of events on Mother’s Day, with “The Ultimate Celebration”, featuring performances from the nostalgic Air Supply to pop-culture icon Chloe Bailey.

Popular faces were present at the show, like the nation’s Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, who was captured on video doing his karaoke rendition of “Just As I Am” by Air Supply as the band serenaded the ten-thousand-strong crowd.

Amidst sold-out tickets, and patrons the world over, Machel Montano believes Saint Lucia Jazz to be the best in the world.

“My night was bigger than Jazz. Tonight was bigger than Saint Lucia Jazz. Saint Lucia Jazz is probably the leading Jazz festival in the Caribbean, and I say the world,” he said.

Machel says this year’s Jazz, back for the second time after being disbanded by a former government, serves as inspiration for other Caribbean country’s musical festivals.

“A lot of the other islands were inspired by Saint Lucia Jazz.”

If continued, the artiste says, the event can gather about thirty thousand patrons to Saint Lucia for the shows.

He implores the government to invest heavily in Jazz and commit a specified entertainment facility to host the events.

“We just proved that we [have] outgrown Pigeon Island. I think the government needs to build a big highway, somewhere in the middle of the jungle and put up villas and hotels, and play plenty of roads, and give us something to hold 30,000 people because we can do that,” he says.

The Tourism Minister, Dr Ernest Hilaire, says the Jazz Committee is already meeting to strategise next year’s shows, making them “even bigger and better.”