I’ve had cause recently to criticise a couple of Latin-influenced sessions for their show-off ‘hit or shake everything in reach’ attitude allied to minimal jazz input, so let me welcome with enthusiasm a largely Latin – or Caribbean to be precise – issue which comes from the soul and shows they really mean it!
I was lucky enough to review Andy’s debut album under his own name (Silvershine, JJI November, 1991) and while this new set is quite different in style, it is just as full of interest for its warmth of feeling. One can almost feel the sun on one’s back when listening to such energetic romps as Give Me The Highlife, Come Back Gal and the marvellous Jamaica By Night – all also composed by Andy! The CD was Arts Council funded, it appears, but for once the public’s money was well spent.
Andy’s regular (for forty years!) pianist Sam Brown stars on Jamaica By Night with a percussive solo and drive in the rhythm section, but most of the piano work is by Bernardo Sassetti, and jolly good it is too. He can play good blues, as on Everyday I Have The Blues, but his forte seems to be Latin (I understand he is Portuguese) and he makes a marvellous contribution to Come Back Gal, despite competition from a drummer and two percussionists: a name worth noting.
Not all the ‘guests’ play on all tracks, while Otrum has tenor sax and congas only, but whatever the line-up, they all play with spirit and commitment, and it would be invidious to single out any player. Except, of course, Andy himself, now 74! He has given them good material to work on, a group feeling which seems to be infectious, and a firm, warm lead which produces telling effects without one iota of unnecessary bravura (the curse of so much Latin-inspired music). Do try it.
Discography
Give Me The Highlife; Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen*; Port Antonio*; Mango Time; Everyday I Have The Blues; Jamaica By Night*; Otrum; Come Back Girl (44.35)
Graeme Hamilton (t); Andy Hamilton, Jean Toussaint (ts); Bernardo Sassetti or Sam Brown* (p); Chris Lampley (g); Wayne Batchelor (b); Winston Clifford (d); Patato (pc); with Jesus Allemany (t); Dennis Rollins (tb); Mark Hamilton (ts); Nana Tsiboe (pc); Roy Forbes (v). London, January, 1994.
(World Circuit WCD 039)