ALBUM REVIEWS

Anthony Joseph

The Rich Are Only DefeatedWhen For Their Lives (Heavenly Sweetness)

Tigana Thomas Love Has Found Its Way (Self Released)

In 1982, The Crown Prince of Reggae, the late Dennis Brown released a lovers rock/R&B smooth groove “Love Has Found its Way” to moderate success in the US and UK. The song has a staying power, however, that proves that one can’t keep a good song quiet. Guitarist Tigana Thomas from Trinidad explores the song’s potential to remain a danceable tune whether falsetto voices or full-bodied jazzy guitar strums take the lead. In this case, singer Jolene Romain sings the verse while Mya Scott sings the chorus refrain. The interplay

Theon Cross Intra-I (New Soil/Marathon)

Creole griot and poet Anthony Joseph, self-described Black surrealist, on this album directly and subliminally name checks Caribbean literary pioneers — Sam Selvon, Kamau Brathwaite, CLR James, Anthony McNeill — as a celebration of many island lives: a praise-song for a poet, “Kamau” the liquid textologist, an anthem for ancestors, “The Gift”. Rising cadences on fiery recitations saying “listen to this,” reveal a Caribbean literary heritage married to music evolved in its evocation. This is not the poetry of protest but a dissertation for the diaspora. The new UK jazz heroes, Shabaka Hutchings, Jason Yarde, et al, give the music here more urgency than a Congo Square memory, more variety than the Blues, altogether re-framing Joseph’s words beyond the bluesology of Gil Scott-Heron and the dub poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson. The frenetic swing of “Language” balances the dub rhythm of “Maka Dimwe”. Confident, eloquent, a classic.

Available at iTunes between voice and guitar adds a layer of alternating sonic elements that are interesting enough to make this new cover of a classic song listenable beyond a few bars. The Caribbean “romantic getaway” aesthetic evoked by this recording reinforces a popular notion of what is sought after in these isles by tourists. If this song is part of the soundtrack of visitor engagement, that is not a bad thing at all.

Caribbean heritage remains strong in a newer generation of Britishborn musicians at the forward edge of a recent wave of jazz there. Theon Cross — Jamaican dad and St Lucian mom — is the boundary-pushing tuba player who is evolving the role of that instrument, and critically, reinforcing the cultural legacy of the islands as a lynchpin for a modern jazz that moves away from the blues as the music’s foundation. With that knowledge and ancestry, he improvises and fuses jazz with dub, dancehall, soca, UK hip-hop, grime and “other sounds connected to the Afro-Caribbean diaspora.” Critically, sound system culture exudes from the sonic profiles of the 10 songs on this album. The extended Caribbean, beyond Windrush, brings island ideas to global audiences. While the tuba is not generally the first instrument one thinks of as a lead, Cross has found a way to move the sound and musicality beyond comedic artifice towards ethereal reinvention.

Available at iTunes

Available at iTunes