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My Comments
TDowl, boss, thanks for posting these two enjoyable YouTube videos. I just played both, and will now give my opinion on the performancesOriginally posted by TDowl View Post
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First, of the two groups of musicians, the Jeanette Harris Band (the second video link you posted) is quite clearly by far the more technically advanced and proficient! After just one playing of this video of more than a half dozen clips of the Jeanette Harris Band performing live, it is obvious that alto saxophonist Jeanette has excellent technique and taste. Her backing musicians are likewise not to be taken lightly; those guys were on musical fire in the various video clips!
Like alto saxophonist Jeanette, the British tenor and soprano saxophonist YolanDa Brown is a very tasteful and technically proficient young player. In order to better evaluate YolanDa’s band and her playing as well, I checked out another YouTube video, a live gospel performance where she switches in the middle of her gospel medley from tenor to soprano saxophone:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpRPLE4aBUo&feature=related )
The “problem” with YolanDa’s band in the link that you posted, TDowl, is that the only thing that is “jazz” is her improvisation. The band certainly is not a jazz band in any obvious sense, and I could find little to comment on in the keyboardist’s and the rhythm guitarist’s contribution. Babba, the guy playing the five-string bass, was entertaining (like most reggae bass players are), and the drummer was okay.
Reggae music has its self-imposed limitations, and generally it’s easier for bass players and drummers to appear more advanced when compared with the other members of a reggae band. This seems to be the case with YolanDa’s band, where while the bassist and the drummer are able to easily display their chops to the delight of the audience, the other two band members appear average. To be honest, the synthesizer player and the rhythm guitarist were both boring
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However, YolanDa’s rendition of the medley, starting with the “Drop Leaf Riddim”, was enjoyable, and shows that she is without question a most promising saxophonist! As a performer, she is very animated (I could watch and listen to her all day) and her tenor saxophone tone and phrasing is pleasant, whether it be playing reggae or afro jazz. I particular found her patterning of her bass player’s line in Bob Marley’s “So Much Trouble In the World” to be quite interesting.
By the way, the band solved the “problem” of moving smoothly from the one drop riddim to Fela Kuti’s “Lady” by simply having the drummer solo in between both sections of the medley.
TDowl, thanks once again for posting these two enjoyable sets of performances and giving me a chance to make some comments !
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"Reggae's Limitation"
By the way, my comment about reggae’s ‘self-imposed limitations” reflects a lifelong concern I’ve had with our music. In fact, TDowl, we both discussed this matter several years ago on the Caribbean Track and Field Forum.Originally posted by Historian View Post
A couple of reggae bands have made an attempt to break out of the predictable rhythmic patterns by including another layer above the rhythmic foundation. The groups Third World and Dean Fraser’s now defunct 809 Band immediately come to mind.
In the case of Third World, one of the most creative outfits that Jamaica has ever produced, the searing guitar solos by Stephen “Cat” Coore and the synthesizer solos and phrasings by the outstanding Michael “Ibo” Cooper added a most welcome element to the rhythmic foundations of the drummer, percussionist and bass player. Coore’s experiments on the cello at times merely added to this beautiful tapestry of sound.
In the case of the 809 Band, those guys were so talented that anyone could solo at any time and thereby add “superstructure” layers of sound.
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Finally you style it right Historian "self-imposed limitations"
Too much people think a just drum and bass.
That is why I love the taxi gang as studio musicians. The drum and bass is there but often times you here people like Robbie Lyn, Pam Hall, Dean Frazier and others coming through clear and plain.
Again I have alway criticise the statement that reggae is very limited but when you style it as "self imposed" I have to agree with you 100%.- Don't let negative things break you, instead let it be your strength, your reason for growth. Life is for living and I won't spend my life feeling cheated and downtrodden.
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- Don't let negative things break you, instead let it be your strength, your reason for growth. Life is for living and I won't spend my life feeling cheated and downtrodden.
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By the way Historian, whatever happened to "Nambo" of the 809 band? I know he had bought a home on the northwest side of Stony Hills and tried to settle down as a family man but I haven't heard of him since around 1994/5. Is he still in music?"The contribution of forumites and others who visit shouldn’t be discounted, and offending people shouldn’t be the first thing on our minds. Most of us are educated and can do better." Mi bredrin Sass Jan. 29,2011Comment
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he is still around. He and Dean Frazier are two of the working regulars in the studio these days.- Don't let negative things break you, instead let it be your strength, your reason for growth. Life is for living and I won't spend my life feeling cheated and downtrodden.
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- Don't let negative things break you, instead let it be your strength, your reason for growth. Life is for living and I won't spend my life feeling cheated and downtrodden.
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Thanks Sass. It's good to know a talent such as Nambo is still involved in the business."The contribution of forumites and others who visit shouldn’t be discounted, and offending people shouldn’t be the first thing on our minds. Most of us are educated and can do better." Mi bredrin Sass Jan. 29,2011Comment
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Re: Nambo
Farmah, sorry about this late response. I just checked back online and saw your query. Assasin is correct in his reply to you. Here, also, is a recent feature piece on this outstanding hornman.Originally posted by Farmah View Post
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean.../ent/ent1.html
'Nambo' takes the spotlight
Published: Thursday | August 27, 2009
Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
NAMBO
After years of backing top acts like Sly and Robbie, Dennis Brown and Burning Spear, trombonist Ronald 'Nambo' Robinson gets his place in the spotlight tonight at the Red Bones Blues Café in St Andrew.
Robinson will lead a band that includes bass player Andrew Ayre, drummer Shawn Anderson, Stephen Maxwell on keyboards and his son, guitarist N'namdi Robinson. They will play songs that cover the gamut of Jamaican music - from mento and ska to rocksteady, roots-reggae and dancehall.
"It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but didn't have the time or support," Robinson told The Gleaner.
He said the enthusiasm abroad for classic Jamaican popular music spurred his determination to perform a live set of songs mainly from the 1960s and 1970s, at home.
"Every time I travel I meet young musicians who know everything about Jamaican music. It's not so here where we tend to discard things," he said.
Robinson is originally from east Kingston where many of Jamaica's leading musicians, including the legendary trombonist Don Drummond, got their start playing in venues like the Bournemouth club.
Strongly influenced by Drummond, Robinson began recording in the early 1970s when hornmen were still in demand.
Worked with biggest names
Over the years, he has recorded and toured with some of reggae's biggest names, including Bob Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Freddie McGregor, Maxi Priest, Max Romeo and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari.
His distinct sound can be heard on Marley's Wake Up and Live, Honey by Bob Andy and That Thing, the massive hit from singer Lauryn Hill's Grammy-winning album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
With the advent of the computerised Sleng Teng rhythm in 1984, many Jamaican producers opted for multi-faceted keyboards to create their music and cut production costs. The musicians, especially drummers and hornmen, were alienated.
"Even now, you don't hear a lot of instrumentals on radio, it's just dancehall. Wi trying to change that," Robinson said.
Robinson has recorded four solo albums.Comment
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Nice read Historian, thanks for the info."The contribution of forumites and others who visit shouldn’t be discounted, and offending people shouldn’t be the first thing on our minds. Most of us are educated and can do better." Mi bredrin Sass Jan. 29,2011Comment
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Can you Bossa Nova? I found this this week -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkWXCy3fvesComment
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Limitations, I wonder if most of the musicians play as solo artist before. I do not care for the one drop sound either, back in the 60's we had some wassy keyboard players, and our percussionist needs to vary the patterns, not the same Burro style.
Thanks for the feedback, Yolanda certainly seduced me, so I had to reach out for some unbias comments.Comment
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We still have some but with the computer thing nobody use them much- Don't let negative things break you, instead let it be your strength, your reason for growth. Life is for living and I won't spend my life feeling cheated and downtrodden.
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- Don't let negative things break you, instead let it be your strength, your reason for growth. Life is for living and I won't spend my life feeling cheated and downtrodden.
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More on YolanDa
TDowl, reading those comments that I made yesterday on YolanDa Brown’s performance, I realized that I did not say as much about her as I probably should have. I spent a bit too much time, it appears, in commenting on her backup musicians. (By the way, the musicians impressed me a lot more on the live gospel medley that I checked out on YouTube prior to writing my reply to you yesterday. This is, of course, because contemporary black gospel demands much, much more in terms of technical expertise from musicians when compared to reggae and hip hop.)Originally posted by TDowl View Post
But the truth is, like you, I was mesmerized by this young talent who clearly takes her music and her instrument very seriously! And not only is YolanDa a technically good saxophonist, but she has a likeable onstage persona. There’s nothing boring about this animated young lady, and I intend to pay close attention to future projects from her.
Both YolanDa and the other saxophonist, Jeanette Harris, are beautiful black women.
The only think about YolanDa that didn’t grab me was the grey stockings (LMAO)! I tend to love seeing shapely, attractive women (like YolanDa) in black stockings .
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