(World Fusion, Ska, Jazz, Reggae) [CD] Ernest Ranglin & Avila - Bless Up - 2014, FLAC (tracks), lossless

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Path: ...\Ernest Ranglin - Bless Up (2014) [FLAC]
01 -=- 01  - Bond Street Express.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
02 -=- 02  - Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
03 -=- 03  - Sivan.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
04 -=- 04  - Bless Up.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
05 -=- 05  - O Meets R.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
06 -=- 06  - Joan's Pen.flac -=- CDDA (99%)
07 -=- 07  - Follow On.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
08 -=- 08  - El Mescalero.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
09 -=- 09  - Blues for a Hip King.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
10 -=- 10  - Rock Me Steady.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
11 -=- 11  - Stuff I Am Looking For.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
12 -=- 12  - Ska Renzo.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
13 -=- 13  - You Too.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
14 -=- 14  - Mystic Blue.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
15 -=- 15  - Good Friends.flac -=- CDDA (100%)
16 -=- 16  - Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro (Home).flac -=- CDDA (100%)
Summary 99,94% CDDA
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Guitarist Ernest Ranglin is an elder statesman of Jamaican music. A self-styled composer and improviser, he has traveled and collaborated widely during his 80 years. In California last year, he teamed up with three much younger musicians from South Africa, the U.S. and Israel. The four musicians bonded and quickly recorded an album, named for the San Francisco street where they rehearsed: Avila.
Ranglin made his first guitar out of a sardine can and wire. In the '50s, he became one of the creators of the pre-reggae ska sound — and possibly the first guitarist to play the damped, staccato guitar lines Jamaicans call "scratching." Ranglin played on Bob Marley's first studio session and on Millie Small's 1964 breakout hit "My Boy Lollipop." Despite all his roots and pop credentials, Ranglin's true musical destiny lay elsewhere: in jazz.
The Avila song "Ska Rango" resembles old-school swing with a reggae lilt. What's not to love? Ranglin and his young music collaborators put a Jamaican rock-steady feel to the South African jazz classic "Mannenberg" — the song that put the great jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand in those days) on the map. Ranglin's take is both an homage and a reinvention.
Ranglin has an easy grace to his playing that lets him bridge continents and decades without breaking a sweat. His song "Memories of Senegal" has a tricky rhythm, but when Ranglin takes a solo, he soars like a bird, untroubled by the shifting terrain beneath him.
It's rare and refreshing to find a musician who has experienced so much and somehow held onto all of it. Ernest Ranglin is a walking, guitar-picking musical history book. On his newest project, Avila, you can feel the way the other three players — young, but also seasoned — respond to his masterful facility with Caribbean, American and African idioms. This is music built to last by a sage old cat who still happens to be one of the most interesting, and classiest, guitarists around. (npr.org)

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It was cosmic good fortune that brought legendary ska/reggae guitarist Ernest Ranglin together with an international trio of musicians for a 2011 High Sierra Music Festival one-off performance. The chemistry that was discovered that night led to studio sessions, and a debut album released the following year. Now, the quartet’s recorded another set of Ranglin’s originals. On “Bless Up” he’s, once again, joined by Avila’s lineup — drummer Inx Herman, keyboardist Jonathan Korty and bassist Yossi Fine.The 11 instrumental tracks blend Ranglin’s jazz approach to the ska and reggae style he helped create back in the ‘50s and ‘60s with Avila’s rock and world elements. The results are polished yet display a degree of swing and rhythmic grace. The members dig deep within the exploratory moments of “Blues for a Hip King” and just as easily put down a solid rhythmic foundation on “Rock Me Steady” even as it deceptively moves through its melodic complexities. “Sivan” offers a buoyant musical mood, while the title track mashes up reggae with touches of jazz and lounge. And, of course, besides his compositional contributions Ranglin still shows that his hybrid playing style remains vibrant throughout the album, particularly during “Stuff I am Looking For.”While the quartet are able to insert a jazz-flavored number amidst the ska and reggae tunes without it seeming like an abrupt transition, “Bless Up” missed a conceptual opportunity that united these musical forces. The opening song, “Bond Street Express,” may set up good vibes and get us into a sunkissed groove but it would have worked better to have the contemplative piano-led jazz piece “Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro” properly bookend the album. Instead, it arrives in the second slot and then returns as a reprise as the final song. As they do their best to reinvigorate island sounds, Ranglin and Avila’s latest just needs a subtle switch in tracklist programming to completely reach its potential. (John Patrick Gatta, jambands.com)

Ernest Ranglin - guitar
Eric Levy - Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, harmonium, melodica, piano, Wurlitzer
Jonathan Korty - Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, piano
Michael Peloquin - chromatic harmonica, sax (baritone, tenor)
Charlie Wilson - trombone
Modesto Briseno - flugelhorn, trumpet
Yossi Fine - bass
Inx Herman - drums