Emblematic figures of reggae-jazz, pianist Monty Alexander and guitarist Ernest Ranglin come together on this Rocksteady, where they revisit some of reggae's most famous tracks. An undeniable success.
Paying tribute to reggae while freeing themselves from its constraints: Monty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin have been carrying out this task for many years. The reunion of the two jazzmen on this Rocksteady, while it will surprise nobody, will delight many, so well established is their reputation. Guitarist, arranger (notably on Teophilous Beckford's Easy Snappin'), musical director and talent scout at Studio One, Ernest Ranglin is a pillar of the history of Jamaican music. Monty Alexander, for his part, left the island at 17. Off to conquer America, he never forgot his Jamaican origins, claiming them through occasional albums (including the indispensable "Stir It Up") and in concert, where he never fails to play Bob Marley songs.
Their first joint effort, "RAS", in the early 70s, had sealed the union of jazz and reggae, reiterated with "Jamento" in 1978. Thirty years on, "Rocksteady", dedicated to the memory of saxophonist Roland Alphonso, looks at emblematic reggae tracks. Classics by the dozen, but also less evocative pieces such as Nightwork or At the Feast. The album covers a broad period, starting with Double Barrel by Dave and Ansel Collins and ending with the somewhat anachronistic Redemption Song, and lingering mainly on the 60s and 70s. One will thus appreciate the covers of Israelites, Marcus Garvey, taken from Burning Spear's album of the same name, East of the River Nile (Augustus Pablo), Pressure Drop (Toots & The Maytals), or the superb Stalag 17. So many legendary riddims that do not intimidate the two musicians in the least. To reggae's rigid and immovable scheme, they respond with jazz flights, lightning improvisations, breaks and other rhythmic variations. For the offbeat, inevitable, is here only the blank canvas on which the two musicians' interventions are drawn, thus blowing apart the reggae straitjacket.
"happy feeling"
Recorded in only four days in New York, the album's superb result owes much to the complicity of the two men. Used to recording sessions at Studio One, they play in one take, refuse overdubs and editing. Israelites is one of the album's many pearls. On the cover of the first international reggae hit that propelled Desmond Dekker's career, piano and guitar take turns, answer each other, and throw down challenges. The bass line and hypnotic skank of Row Fisherman allow the musicians to reveal the full extent of their technique. On Stalag 17, the originally so crushing bass loses some of its power in favour of Monty Alexander's meditative piano. A notable exception, Toots Hibbert is invited on the cover of Pressure Drop, for the album's only sung track.
The two jazzmen's enthusiasm for taking on these famous riddims is contagious, and the "happy feeling" dear to Monty Alexander is well and truly present. With its remarkable sleeve, which echoes the era when all Jamaican artists, stuffed with Hollywood westerns, took on the names and attitudes of the heroes of the West, "Rocksteady" is essential for any roots lover. But above all it is an opportunity to discover a new face of the protean Jamaican music.
