Cedric was a jazz nut. Enrolled at Alpha Boys aged eight, he was soon revelling in Ruben Delgado’s new jazz course. He flourished under Lennie Hibbert’s directorship, before setting out in the early sixties with Sonny Bradshaw’s big band, followed by a residency with Leslie Butler and Hedley Jones playing jazz at Club 35 in Montego Bay; then stints with the bands of Granville Williams, Cecil Lloyd and Teddy Greaves. “Kind of easy listening jazz, mixed with some of the regular pop stuff, for dancing.”
Amazingly, by the end of the decade Cedric was living in Philadelphia, on the verge of moving in with the Arkestra. He jammed up in the hills with Count Ossie, at Rockfort; and towards the end of his life, he jammed on the New York subway. Sonny Rollins was his main man. Have another listen to him on Door Peep Shall Not Enter.

It’s all magnificently expressed in these two highlights of the Africa Calling LP, recorded at Treasure Isle with Errol Brown for producer Sonia Pottinger in 1977.
Expertly explosive brass arrangements and brilliant soloing, electric keys and wah wah guitar gently counterposed to nyabinghi group-drumming; with uncontrived spirituality, nothing easy or halfway-house.
Bim.

Shades of Brown. Leroy B sounds like Dennis B, over Glen B’s immortal Wicked Can’t Run Away rhythm. Typically expert digi do-over by KJ, with an ace dub.
Creativeness pon the dance.

Top-notch digi sufferers from 1987. Plenty of Dennis in Leroy’s singing.

Super-heavyweight Aggrovators roots. Barry Brown at his very best; deadly, sombre horns; lethal Tubbys dub. Scorcher.

A top-notch selection of High Note and Gay Feet rhythms, expertly mixed the old-fashioned way by Duke Reid’s nephew, Errol Brown.

Laid-back rocksteady soul from Noel, out of the Chosen Few — coupled with a fun Ike Bennett organ workout.

Superb, soulful, easy-rocking, Philly-dilly reggae. Old-school call-and-answer vocals, full of personality and charm; beautifully arranged, with criss horns. Class.

Young bros Glen, Dalton, Noel, Cleveland and Danny, irresistibly doing over MJ for Geoffrey Chung. ‘She makes my motor purr.’

Tasty, brilliantly-arranged, minor-chord instrumental of the Tonight rhythm, led by the saxophone of Cannonball ‘Money Generator’ Bryan; with a secret-weapon piano-lick on the flip.

1966 rocksteady, elegantly heartfelt as Nat King Cole.

Rock Fort Rock and China Town excursions.

Soul jazz from the jazz pianist plus trio. The first half’s a bit soft, before Aquarius marks the dawning of the funky stuff — Evil Ways, Shaft, Booty Butt — ending with a cooking cover of The Meters’ Funky Miracle.

Groovy version of the Deodato-CTI Gershwin interpretation; with a Willie Lindo. The dub does the trick.

A rollicking organ-and-drums grounation workout.
Plus Ken Boothe taking liberties with Nat King Cole’s Hazy Lazy Crazy Days Of Summer.