*** Ernest Ranglin

MEMORIES OF BARBER MACK

(Island Jamaica Jazz)

Still think Jamaican guitar is all "um-chekka, um-chekka"? Not for guitarist Ernest Ranglin, whose pedigree stretches back before the birth of ska, when the Afro-Cuban flavored "mento" beat ruled Kingston. Dedicated to mento sax legend Rudolph "Barber Mack" McDonald, Ranglin's latest instrumental disc reaffirms his status as the seminal Jamaican ska and jazz guitarist with pecky, bebop-approved tones supporting bluebeat stomps, dub grooves, and danceable reggae ballads, all fleshed out by Sly Dunbar's dead-on hi-hat and snare and a tasteful acoustic bass, piano, and percussion section. Ranglin has more in common with jazz greats like Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel, Django Reinhardt, and Charlie Christian than with latter-day reggae sidemen like Earl "Chinna" Smith. Memories of Barber Mack finds him drawing on quick, snappy runs, gypsy jazz slurs, hooky melodies, and grand, wrist-flapping flourishes -- plus, of course, the occasional "um-chekka, um-chekka."

-- James Rotondi