Note: All story type elements of this 'review' are fictional. COOL AS HELL, but fictional. The basis for them, however, are actual (like the entire first paragraph, which doesn't really say anything in regards to the album anyway, as usual)
So the wife and I like to go out every once in awhile. Being situated where we are usually, we’re typically far more open up to the idea of going to a Soca show for the jump up and having a daughter three and a half months away from turning two who seemingly has more explosive energy in her bones than the Frankenstein monster definitely doesn’t hurt in that respect. We’ll also (DUH) do the Reggae show as well, however, depending on the artist and have done so more than quite a few times here. A Reggae show, a Roots Reggae show, from good artists is really an experience as well with the energy coming in handy there also and needless to say the same is the case for a Dancehall show. However, there are occasions where we like to ‘get our adult on’ and do something which goes against the grain of our combined nearly fifty-seven earth years (she’ll be twenty-nine in December) and just Jazz it up. Unsurprisingly, the Caribbean is a very interesting place for Jazz fans with various festivals on various islands virtually year round and I shouldn’t have to name you (luckily, because I don’t know all of their names) some of the various musicians who may not make such a great living just playing Reggae in some artist’s touring band or as a studio player, or some of the older former Calypso bandleaders turned Jazz musicians. Still more, there are just certain artists who make that their niche, whether making a living stateside or somewhere else playing routinely around the world, or even playing at home (biggup Mr. Connis). The music is LOVELY, it’s generally Jazz, by definition, but definitely more Reggae or Calypso by category and, again, sometimes I like to grab up the wife and play make-believe that I actually am a big grown twenty-eight year old and not the world’s largest big ass eight year old (which I am). She doesn’t seem to mind too much as it’s potentially one of the couple of times a year she gets to see her husband not wearing shorts and unusually large sunglasses and, between me and you, I really think she’s starting to like the music as she drifts dangerously closer and closer to the big 3-0.
However, what I have to talk about today is something which didn’t occur at home. Instead, it was during a recent trip to the States where we found ourselves seemingly ‘stranded’ in a non-Reggae area (don’t you hate when that happens???). Saturday night, absolutely nothing to do, I hugged up with my laptop and tried to find anything which may have been going on in the area and found absolutely nothing (of course). That was until I decided to check my email and amidst the tons and tons of review requests you beautiful people send me all day, everyday (as if I don’t have shit to do with my time, but write these big ass things), I found an email from my good friend Marc from Walkup Records (Bigga Haitian, new album in eStores now, Sak Pasé), dealing with a new release from veteran Reggae saxman Jerry Johnson with whom he had been working to master his brand new album, Just Cooling. Johnson’s is a name which definitely doesn’t jump off the paper in terms of popularity, but when you do even the slightest bit of research you see the man’s credentials are some of the strongest in the game as the list of artists with whom he has played in the past (and apparently with some of whom he continues to play with to this very day), is incredibly impressive and, doing what he does, his credentials almost speak for themselves: After all, Burning Spear, Horace Andy, John Holt, Sugar Minott, Judy Mowatt, Beres Hammond, Fred Locks, Shaggy, Steel Pulse and even the late and greats Alton Ellis and Dennis Emmanuel Brown just couldn’t be wrong and they’ve ALL counted on Johnson’s talent, in one way or another, over the course of his career. Well, it just so happen that Marc also mentioned that Johnson was on tour and a brief search revealed that he was in our neck of the woods performing and, in fact, debuting his album, the aforementioned Just Cooling, to the masses. By that time, having done my proper research [real time: enough to do this review obviously], I was convinced that Jerry Johnson’s a worthy night, so I packed up the better half and headed out to see the show. In my research, I also discovered that Just Cooling wasn’t Johnson’s first go around on an album and he has several pieces already out and, just as was the case with those, the album is released via his very own (named after himself) label. With the clips that I heard, even before we left to the show, I was very impressed. What Johnson does is to essentially take more well known pieces and transfers them to his very own style, with his saxophone generally playing the role of ‘vocalist’ or ‘lyricist’, which isn’t very different from what you’ll typically find on projects like such and on Jazz albums, but his style is one which is very light and colourful and very digestible, even for some crazy Dancehall, Soca seeking jump up fans like my wife and I.
So we arrived at the venue fashionably late, only to see that we had missed out on Jerry Johnson! He wasn’t playing what we had come to see, instead he was playing material alongside an outstanding trombonist by the name of Neville Anderson. The duo was dealing with material which was apparently released on an album they released earlier this year by the name of Brass Rootz International. I only caught bits and pieces of it but if you come across it, you might want to also add it to your collection. Then, after we were seated and a brief intermission (seemingly so Johnson could ‘reoxygenate’ himself), the show of Jerry Johnson’s brand spanking new album, Just Cooling was underway. Unsurprisingly, the first tune Johnson drew for was the album’s BEAUTIFUL title track. This song, I’m kind of sure I recognized from somewhere (which was a familiar feeling I had throughout the evening), but I also recognized it is the very powerful, kind of ’controlled spiraling’ type of vibes that it was. It also highlighted (for the first of several times on the night), Johnson’s outstanding bandmates (people like Clark Gayton and Sidney Mills) who so nicely accentuated his sound. The first tune up was also one of the real highlights of the set/album. Now in a very nice and welcoming mood, having successfully had the senses well opened, if I recall correctly the next tune he gave us was the first of (at least) two back to back odes to Reggae heroes as he dove in on ‘Let Love In’, a ‘cover’ of Dennis Brown’s classic of the same title. Were the Crown Prince around today, I’m sure he’d have loved this piece. This one was a bit more structured than the opener, at least initially, but as it went on, it seemed as if Johnson loosened up and began have a really great time with it. I also noted how the tune kind of retained that old school sound (it is nearly forty years old, after all, but definitely had a very modern sound to the vibes as well, which was very nice. Then (and I’m sure of it) was ‘Breaking Up’, a take on Alton Ellis’ classic Studio One piece of the same name and definitely one of my favourite presentations on the evening. This one almost made me want to grab up the wife and have a little dance because it was damn smooth and, of course, that sound is just so familiar that it hits largely elusive chords within Reggae heads each and every time, myself definitely included. The next tune up, I believe was called ‘Reggae Soldier’ or something like that, it was remarkable in the fact that despite Johnson’s very nice (and slightly more forceful than up until that point in the evening), he was largely outshone to my ears because the one-drop on the thing was MIGHTY! Wonderful sax playing, still, but that backing was simply unforgettable. Also unforgettable is the tune ‘Olivia’ by the equally unforgettable US R&B band, The Whispers, which the US born Jerry Johnson went after next and did a very nice job with. Tunes like this really, although they’re probably well apart of almost everyone’s memory to some degree by now, you REALLY never recognize how much you like them until they’re given to your in your favourite style and I remember saying to my wife that we had to stop and get that CD before we left. The very fittingly titled ‘Ballroom Ska’ ended the first half of the show and did so in a very strong order.
After a quick break (little restroom, little bottle water), Jerry Johnson fired up the second half of the delivery of his new album, Just Cooling with what was BY FAR my personal highlight for the entire evening. RIDICULOUSLY, my ears caught the sound of the ULTRA familiar and ULTRA sweet Drop Leaf riddim as Johnson gave a version of the riddim for Maxi Priest’s cut of the tune ‘I Believe In Love’. There was even singing (for the second time in the evening by my count, following Breaking Up), which was such a nice touch! TEARS with this one boy! I love that song and it was surprising but so nice that Jerry Johnson had chosen to remake it. Well done! ‘Burdened’ with continuing that level of vibes was a tune called ‘I Miss You Mom’. This one wasn’t one of my favourites of the set (following a lovely intro), because I didn’t feel that it necessarily did much in the way of variation (it was too straight forward for my tastes), but again, the musicianship there was very CRISP and well done as it was throughout. ‘Break Your Promise’ (another tune which I was certain I knew), reenergized things for my tastes and it did so with a very LUSH and HEALTHY sound. This one actually moved a bit and following it was a helluva fun time definitely. Then Johnson and company gave you something just to make sure you were still paying attention and on the same page with him when he drew for the head knocking and foot tapping ‘Discovery Bay Ska’, taking us to the greatest parish on earth (ST. ANN’Z!). There were nary a still butt in a seat throughout the entire tune and my one tangible (and consistent) critique of the set/album kind of struck me at this moment and I’ll expound on that in a moment. The next tune, the penultimate piece, ‘City Vibes’ was definitely one of the best also. This one was just ANGRY! The one-drop here was literally upset with us, we had disappointed it and were paying the price! In the midst of the storm, it was also brilliant and Johnson gave the fans a very nice treat as he didn’t he seemed to overstand what was at play here and didn’t overplay the matter and let all aspects of the composition shine and be heard. And finally, Johnson told the audience that we didn’t have to go home, but we had to leave the venue following the performance of his final tune ‘House of The Rising Ska’, a kind of a scaled back (thankfully) take on The Animals’ ‘House of The Rising Sun’. It’s kind of an unusual choice, to say the least, but it was well dynamic and BIG sounding, pretty much the type of thing you might expect to hear closing off such a solid set.
At the end of the night and looking back now, two things really stand out. The first being what I alluded to: Quite a bit of the tunes from the album were just too short. With just twelve selections and the longest of them checking in at just over five and a half minutes (Ballroom Ska) and only one other tune coming in over five minutes (I Believe In Love), the thing kind of comes and goes before you REALLY get into it. The other thing being that, although the album will say ‘Jerry Johnson - Just Cooling’, it’s a little bit ‘restrictive’ in my opinion and it doesn’t tell anywhere near the whole story. The BAND here, along with Jerry, definitely makes the vibes what they are and as I said, there were a few times when Johnson seemed to kind of fade into the background and the ‘background’ itself came alive and became the star. So I think Johnson should kind of think of a cool name for his band. As for us: following the evening, we returned back to the hotel, I emailed Marc back and told him that the show was very good and asked him to send me a copy of the album so I could write a review for it (of course, he had already done that). Jerry Johnson’s night of Just Cooling was definitely one for the more mature Reggae and Jazz listener and should you be so inclined to check him out (yes he’s still on the road) at some point, hopefully you’ll take that into consideration. My wife and I had a great time and when we got back home we continued (and still do) have great times enjoying the madness, enjoying the jump up, but definitely at some point we’d like to check Jerry Johnson again, who just gave us one cool ass night.
Rated 3.75/5
Jerry Johnson/CD Baby
2009
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