Hi-Bop Ska by the Skatalites – The Gateway Album to Ska-Jazz Addiction 

By Charles Benoit, host of This Is Ska Jazz

In my first draft, I briefly discussed the early Jamaican recording industry, the formation of the Skatalites, the story of their tragic ending and eventual reunion, and later recordings by individual band members and, much later, recordings and tours by a reformed band.  

Briefly turned out to be 3,500 words. 

With draft #2, I’m going to jump right into discussing the album I force on people recommend to people who ask about ska-jazz, The Skatalites 1994 release, Hi-Bop Ska.*

Ska fans were not surprised by this album. They were excited to see so many of the original members – Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso on tenor saxes, Lloyd Knibbs on drums, Lloyd Brevett on bass and Doreen Shaeffer on vocals – but they were not surprised. The band had released two albums in the 80s, and in 1993, put out a CD that was a mix of originals and re-recordings of Skatalite classics. So, while very much welcomed, a new album in late 1994 wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise – especially to jazz fans – were the heavy-hitting jazz cats who joined in.

  • Trombonist Steve Turre, the guy who played with Ray Charles, Woody Shaw, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Dizzy, Herbie, Tito, Mongo, and Horace. The guy who made seashells a respected musical instrument. The guy in the Saturday Night Live band and on who knows how many jazz albums. Yeah, that guy. 
  • The late, great trumpet master Lester Bowie, founder and life-long member of Art Ensemble of Chicago, Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy and the supergroup The Leaders, trumpeter on 1994’s Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool album (Time magazine’s Album of the Year) and David Bowie’s 1993 Black Tie White Noise. (No relation, but both were known for their impeccable white coat stage attire. And general coolness.) 
  • David Murray, the Grammy winning saxman (Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane), Village Voice’s Artist of the Decade for the 1980s and Guggenheim fellow, founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet and the cat with a hundred or so album appearances to his discography. 
  • Monty Alexander. And I’m just going to say, jazz piano legend since even the briefest career description will run two pages. 

As for Hi-Bop Ska – re-issued in 2018 as a double album by Jump Up Records – it’s 12 tracks of ska-jazz perfection, starting with a spoken introduction by Skatalites leader Tommy McCook: 

“In the winter of nineteen sixty and four came this movie to Jamaica. The Skatalites took the music from the movie and put it to the ska, and came up with this sound. It’s called The Guns of Navarone.”  

What follows is seven minutes of brilliance, with blistering solos (in order of appearance) by trumpeter Nathan Breedlove, trombonist Will Clark, tenor saxman Roland Alphonso, a second trombone solo by Steve Turre, another tenor sax solo, this one by Tommy McCook, and a piano solo by Monty Alexander. 

Bandleader, trombonist and author of the forthcoming book, The Trombones of Ska, Josh Britton was blown away by Turre’s solo:

 “It’s as if Curtis Fuller or Frank Rosolino had jammed with Tommy McCook and Lloyd Knibb back in the 60s; it’s THAT awesome. This was really the first time, perhaps since [original Skatalites trombonist] Don Drummond, that ska trombonists were matching jazz trombonists from a technique standpoint, and it seriously raised the bar for trad-ska trombonists going forwards.”

Track two is David Murray’s classic Flowers for Albert, and who better to feature than the man himself, locking the jazz in that ska groove. The eight-minute jam, Ska Reggae Hi-Bop, closes out side one, with Lester Bowie and Monty Alexander – on the melodica – in the spotlight, the two swapping riffs and trading fours. The album also features vocals from original Skatalites member Doreen Shaeffer (Your Wondering Now), ska and reggae legend Toots Hibbert (Split Personality) and pioneering ska singer, producer and DJ Prince Buster (Ska Ska Ska). 

I could go on praising this album for hours (just ask my friends), but it’d be so much easier if you listen for yourself. If you’re a jazz cat, a ska lover or simply a fan of great music, you’re gonna dig this album. But be forewarned, Hi-Bop Ska is a gateway album to ska-jazz addiction. Just look what it did to me.

Till next time, peace, love and ska!

*For information on all those skipped-over details, check out Heather Augustyn’s Don Drummond: The Genius and Tragedy of the World’s Greatest Trombonist and Operation Jump Up: Jamaica’s Campaign for a National Sound; the comic book series by Adam Reeves, Don Drummond: Ska’s Fallen Genius; Simmer Down, John Masouri’s bio on the early years of the Wailers; the first 280 pages of Lloyd Bradley’s massive This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica’s Music; and the first four chapters of Mick O’ Shea’s Pocket Guide to Ska. Or you could just buy me a cup of coffee and let me ramble on.