js So Mr Mann of a million different hats decides to make a go of the reggae thing while reggae itself is under going a huge surge in international popularity, no big surprise there. The problem is though, that successfully mixing reggae and jazz is not a simple thing. Done properly, reggae is a “moment form” style of music, the events are frozen in time and the musicians and listeners have the freedom to move horizontally in their meditation. Jazz, like most rock and classical music is very linear, one idea flows to the next in an attempt to create a narrative. Miles Davis applied moment form to jazz and funk for a while in the mid-70s, but that’s a whole nother discussion. Meanwhile, taking a reggae rhythm and trying to create a long winded RnB/jazz jam session weakens the reggae and makes for boring jazz too. The other problem is this, ask any reggae musician, people from a rock or jazz background really don’t get reggae and the serious reggae musician can feel this immediately. Fortunately, the reggae part of this album is supplied by the excellent Tommy McCook Band from Jamaica, while Mann and company do their jazz/rock solos on top.

Having said all that, taken for what it is, this isn’t a bad record. I’m sure if you dropped this at a party it would set an irie mood and everyone would lively up themselves. Also, if you like kitsch exotic cover tunes, a place where Mann always excels, you can’t go wrong with reggae versions of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “My Girl”. Actually, putting a reggae beat to “My Girls” very Jamaican sounding bass line is one of the best fits on here, but it just has a hard time holding up under the strain of a long-winded Allman Brothers style work out.

Sean Trane A rather cheesy attempt to capitalize on the nascent ascent of the Jamaican island musical movement, as Marley was slowly rising to fame and Clapton help with his I Shot The Sheriff rendition; Mann’s album went much less noticed though, despite an obvious and blatant attempt at commercialism with cover of the Beatles’ Ob-la-di. With a star-studded guest list (Mick Taylor, Albert Lee and Pat Rebillot), the cast also included the big group of Tommy McCook Band and if they fill out sonically the background of the album, they’re rather lame: they sound like a instrumental wedding day group on a Caribbean cruiseship.

Produced by Ahmet Ertegun himself, the album is so cheesy, that’s it’s a bit laughable about it’s credibility (it lacks the drive and rebellion of reggae) and renders it difficult not to take swipes and cheap shots at it. Don’t get me wrong, the musicians are stellar and all, but the concept is so flawed that you could bring Coltrane or Coleman that even them wouldn’t have saved it. The Fab Four cover is so ridiculously muzak-y that it’s almost insulting to the original. Even the traditional Rivers of Babylon is not exactly enthralling. The best track is probably the Swinging Shepherd with Taylor’s cool guitar intervention (he was in his last Stone days) and Rebillot’s Rhodes solo, but even then it lacks power and dive. The sidelong My Girl is no better really: plenty of gentle music with extended soloing (including a wha-whaed-out guitar in the background from Taylor), but ultimately it stays quite lame.

Some world-fusionheads will probably like this album and in itself it’s not a bad album per se, but for a 70’s-reggae fan like me, this is absolutely atrocious, especially having discovered it two decades after its initial release. I can’t even call this album’s content inoffensive, because my general musical aesthetics are really irritated and at the same time bored and would leave me indifferent if it wasn’t for the huge-production means engendering this equally-huge artistic fiasco. Best avoided if you ask me, but if you’re into Caribbean musics, you’re likely to differ from me.