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rough guide to ska - various artists They were recorded between 1961 and 1964 and 12 of them hadn't seen light of day in over 35 years. No serious collection of Jamaican music would be complete without prime examples of the music of Rico Rodriguez or The Skatalites, the pre-eminent ska group ever. Their swinging Malcolm X opens the CD, while their jumping version of Baby Elephant Walk which closes it belies the tunes novelty-hit status. Renowned saxophonists such as Roland Alphonso or Tommy McCook and the trumpet of Johnny 'Dizzy' Moore add serious doses of jazzy soulfulness all over the place. Many of the musicians and singers were to be of integral importance to the subsequent reggae revolution…..organist Jackie Mitto and singers such as Cornell Campbell, Lord Creator (a versatile calypsonian from Trinidad), Alton Ellis or Naomi Adams. Reggae legend Toots Hibbert's raucous incantations sear the two Maytal selections, Someone's Going To Bawl and Lost Penny. And on Stranger & Ken's Revelation with the vocals of another legend Ken Boothe you can hear that rock steady is already knocking on the door. A popular trend of the ska era was to base jazzy instrumentals around popular latin songs and renaming them. I'll leave it to the listener to track down Besame Mucho and La Cucaracha. Considering the battered fish and crackle sound quality that often plagues re-releases of classic ska material the sound here is good even if hardly hi-fi. A highly enjoyable slice of crucial musical history. |
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