Jamaican jazz-reggae innovators two of the best

Guitarist Ernest Ranglin and pianist Monty Alexander may not have invented jazz-reggae but these two Jamaican-born musicians are certainly innovators in their fields and bring something special to the cross-over of the styles.

Ranglin is widely credited with being the man who invented reggae's predecessor ska, and brought it to wide acceptance when he produced the hit My Boy Lollipop for Millie Small in '64. And in a rich musical career, 60-year-old Alexander has played alongside Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie and Judy Garland, and back in the early 60s was a regular at the New York hangout of Sinatra's Rat Pack, the club owned by Jilly Rizzo.

Their careers have run in tandem and sometimes crossed over since their early days in the studios of Kingston.

In the late 50s, Ranglin and Alexander were in a studio band known as Clue J & His Blues Blasters which worked with producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd at Federal Studio in Kingston.

In the first wave of ska, Ranglin recorded a young Bob Marley singing It Hurts To Be Alone, to which he contributed the memorable guitar line.

But Jamaica was too small to contain the talents of Ranglin and Alexander and both left for work opportunities overseas, Ranglin to London and Alexander, briefly, to Florida before he was spotted by Rizzo and invited to play at his New York club.

In '64 while Alexander was making it in New York in his late teens, Ranglin was in London playing Ronnie Scott's jazz club in a nine-month residency and winning the Melody Maker magazine poll for best new jazz star.

Despite his hand in creating ska - "I dont think I invented it, I think it should be we" - Ranglin always considered himself a jazz musician, even though he toured with reggae star Jimmy Cliff in the early 70s.

Inevitably the paths of these two famous Jamaican expats often crossed - they toured together in the 70s and recorded a series of reggae-jazz albums for a German record label - and in the 90s when they recorded together they made acclaimed albums that juggled jazz improvisation and reggae rhythms.

The appealing amalgam is heard on the albums Below the Bassline of '96 (under Ranglin's name) and Rocksteady of last year. Individually they have also crafted albums with reggae-jazz influences: Alexander in '99 with his Bob Marley tribute Stir It Up, in 2000 with Monty Meets Sly and Robbie when he teamed up with the famous Jamaican rhythm session, and Goin Yard in 2001; Ranglin on Memories of Barber Mack (in '97 with Sly'n'Robbie) and Gotcha! (2001).

But when they come together, their intuitive understanding of jazz, which they live for, and reggae rhythms, which live within them, makes for something special.

"Music is about the relationship you have," Alexander told the Herald three years ago when he came to play the arts festival in Wellington.

"That's what you hear when the music takes off and you get goosebumps, it's because of that unspoken thing which happens between people.

"It didn't come out of a book or off a blackboard from a teacher who knows about chords and harmony, it draws on a deeper well."

With that in mind it is also comforting to note that the pair are bringing to New Zealand longtime members of Alexander's touring and studio group, Hassan Shakur on acoustic bass and Quentin Baxter on drums.

Ranglin has already impressed New Zealand audiences twice, at the Womad in Auckland in '98 and again at Womad, New Plymouth in 2000. Alexander's trio played Wellington in 2002.

But to see these innovators together should be a rare and memorable experience.

Performance

* Who: Ernest Ranglin and Monty Alexander
* When: Tomorrow night
* Where: St James, Auckland