Jamaica Me Crazy

Willie Williams : See You When I Get There
taken from the album “Armagideon Time” on Studio One (1979)

Rico : This Day
taken from the album “Man From Wareika” on Blue Note (1977)

The food spot formerly known as “Jamaica Me Crazy”, located a block away from us on Nostrand Ave., has changed its name to “Belly Full”. Wow. These tunes don’t have much in common other than their national identification. Jamaica = Reggae, right? Anyway, peep it, and steer clear of the steamed cabbage unless you’re gonna be home alone tonight. Brussel Sprouts = Gas From Hell, right?

Willie Williams has a firm standing in the Reggae Hall of Fame for his tune “Armagideon Time”, which is also the name of this LP. You’ve probably heard the tune, it’s been on a bunch of reggae compilations, the riddim has been re-used and sampled aplenty, and Soul Jazz recently put out the disco version as a single. “A lotta people won’t get no supper tonight, a lotta people going to suffer tonight”. But I think I prefer this super soulful, distant sounding “See You When I Get There”, not to be confused with the crappy Gamble & Huff tune of the same name. The little rhodes noodling is perfect.

A reggae record on BLUE NOTE?! It might be the only one of it’s kind. Rico Rodriguez plays trombone on more records than you knew existed. His own albums are rare and few, but they’re out there. He’s still making new ones, too. Chris Blackwell, the head honcho behind Island Records, was the exec-producer of this one, so I don’t know how it ended up on Blue Note- I like picturing a massive ganja cloud and some 70’s jazz cats vibing with their dread-head-carribean counterparts. Ernest Ranglin is still doing jazz-reggae fusion projects that sound good too, but he never made it to that high tribunal of musical masterminds that is the Blue Note Brotherhood. So, mad props to Rico.