Tommy McCook - Blazing Horns / Tenor In Roots (CD)

All Music Guide

Saxophonist Tommy McCook is remembered primarily for his role as a founding member of the seminal ska band the Skatalites, who played such an important part in the development and maturation of ska before it morphed into the slower rocksteady genre and later into reggae. But McCook was no slouch in those later categories of music either, as this wonderful twoforone reissue makes plain. The Blazing Horns segment of this disc was originally issued on LP in 1979 on the Grove Music label, and consists of 9 tracks originally produced by Vivian “Yabby You" Jackson. As one might expect, given the producer, the sound is dark and dread, and the album's title track is presented here in an extended “showcase" version, with a dub mix appended at the end of the conventional instrumental track. The program then adds a Bside track cut for Yabby You at around the same time and another oneoff track that McCook made for Bunny Lee. All the mixes are courtesy of King Tubby and Prince Jammy, which tells yo...u all you need to know about the sound quality and general ambience. As good as those selections are, though, the remainder of the album is the real treasure trove: it consists of twelve tracks McCook recorded over wellloved rhythms provided by producer Glen Brown, and which were released only informally on a whitelabel album that never received commercial distribution; those who own the Shanachie label's brilliant (and now sadly outofprint reissue collections Check the Winner, Boat to Progress and Doulbe Attack will recognize the backing tracks immediately. McCook makes most of them his own, although on a couple of tracks his playing is almost absent. The Glen Brown material alone would be worth the purchase price, but the first part of the collection is every bit as worthwhile. Very highly recommended. Rick Anderson, All Music Guide Read more Less