An instrumental version of Luther Vandross? ?Dance with My Father? ? one of the top songs of 2003 ? is included in local saxophone player Wendell (Shine) Hayward?s new CD which is dedicated to his own father.

And in a twist of fate, the CD had some challenges which delayed its release until today ? the fourth anniversary of Alfred Frederick Hayward?s death.

Shine Hayward will sign copies of the CD for fans this evening at the official release at the Number One Shed from 5.30 to 7.30. The CD, entitled, ?For You?, is a tribute to his father who was a big influence on his musical career. The event, free of admission, will celebrate his father?s life.

?He bought me my first horn for Christmas when I was ten years old and supported me through college,? said Mr. Hayward.

?He also backed the first Shine Hayward and Friends project and has just been very supportive of everything that I have done. He gave me the impression that he was proud to be my father, but not as proud as I was to be his son.

?I didn?t enter the profession that he was in ? he was a mason/contractor and a very fine mason/contractor ? but that wasn?t of great importance to him. What was important that I did, whatever I did, the best that I could do.

?Mind you, like any father, I guess it would have made him proud to follow in his footsteps. I guess I have followed in his footsteps by simply trying to be the best.?

Added Mr. Hayward: ?He was the ultimate role model for any child, especially young black males. He was the ultimate provider for his family, one of those fathers who fixed anything and everything and who was excellent with his hands and was the ultimate husband. He was married to my mother (Mary) for more than 50 years.?

The CD contains 12 songs, including ?Dance with My Father?.

?It took me a while to get into the (Luther Vandross) song, it was suggested I really listen to the lyrics of the song,? said the musician.

?But I don?t get into lyrics too much, I?m an instrumentalist. I sat down and listened to the words because the person who suggested it felt that what was being said reminded him of myself and my father. At that time the thought wasn?t in my mind to record the song.

?The entire album is dedicated to my father but the first song, ?For You?, just happens to be the title of the song that Kenny Lattimore had done. I thought that that title would be fitting to be the title of the CD.?

According to Mr. Hayward, the CD did not take long to put together, using some new material and old material from his first CD, ?Shine Hayward and Friends?,which was released in 1991.

?It took us two days to do ten songs, but one of the ten songs did not make it because I decided not to use it,? explained Mr. Hayward.

?The other three songs were then pulled from the ?Shine Hayward and Friends? collection. I recorded it at Philadelphia International Studios with the same engineer who did the Shine Hayward and Friends project, Craig White.

?Delays in production meant that the CD was not on the shelves for Christmas, but January 6 was as good a date as any to launch the CD.

?We recorded in August and then I went back to Atlanta in October to put things in place to have the CDs pressed,? Mr. Hayward explained.

?At that time it was supposed to have taken 15 days, but we ran into some problems ? wanting to do everything right ? and finally we were pushing for Christmas.

?Then we had another problem. They discovered there was a glitch on the master which would not allow their equipment to duplicate digitally. We almost had to do another master, had it not been for Steve Easton here in Bermuda at Just Platinum, who advised them to record the master via analogue and then transfer to a digital device that their equipment could read. Steve actually did the first master for us here at Just Platinum.?

Added Mr. Hayward: ?With all of these challenges that were presented to us the time got pushed back to where we are now and the CD ended up arriving here on New Year?s Eve.?

Even that was after another delay, but thankfully another young Bermudian, a college student, came through for the musician.

?I had sent a young man (Jahmal Scott) over to Salt Lake City, Utah to collect them because that was the only way we could get them in at this time of the year,? he explained.

?Utah was where all of the printing and packaging was taking place. The office where I took care of all the business was in Atlanta. They then sent all the information to North Carolina, but things got slowed up there, so just so they could get back on track they sent everything to another plant in Utah which allowed me to move up in the queue for production.

?This company deals with big organisations, the absolute minimum they deal with is 1,000 copies. They are used to dealing with big numbers of CDs for corporations.

?I?m very grateful to Jahmal who was just home on his Christmas break from Canada and ended up missing Christmas with his family. He ended up in Utah and when he was there they discovered the problem with the master so he came back to Atlanta, where he had family and waited for the packages to come to Atlanta. He brought them from Atlanta to Bermuda ? we were determined to get them here.?

Mr. Hayward had stores lined up to sell the CDs during Christmas but missing that opportunity meant that he could use the date of his father?s passing as the next target.

?It was already in the making that the CD was dedicated to his memory and it was just last week, really that we decided that we would do the new release on the anniversary of his passing,? said Mr. Hayward.

?That way it would also give us the opportunity to pay tribute to him. It is going the way it is supposed to go. When you are dealt lemons you make lemonade.?

Mr. Hayward modestly concedes that the CD is not his best work ? that his best is yet to come ? but already word had gotten out about the CD and interest is growing.

?The songs were really not that challenging or difficult, it is an easy listening CD which consists of a lot of songs that people are familiar with and they enjoy,? he said.

?They are songs that I play often at gigs. On my gigs I have people ask whether or not the music I played are on CD and I had to say no. The CD has been well received by people who love beautiful music.

?It is well recorded because the engineers who are involved are really good engineers and my performance is good enough to give a decent presentation.?

He added: ?Having done the song ?Dance with My Father?, which is the attraction for everyone, hopefully once they get the CD in their hands there are a number of other songs that they will take a liking to.?

He pointed out that the ?Shine Hayward and Friends? CD is still in stores. After today the new CD will be available at all music stores, as well as the Tunnel on Court and Reid Streets, Essence on St. John?s Road, 27th Century Boutique and Southside Family Bowl.

?The concluding part of JoAnn Walker?s trip to Zimbabwe with her son Derrick will appear in the Lifestyle section of tomorrow?s Royal Gazette.