Search - New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble :: New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble

With members culled from the New York area's most celebrated ska groups--Devon James on guitar; Freddie Reiter on sax, flute, and vocals; Victor Rice on bass; Rick Faulkner on trombone and vocals; Johnnathan McCain on drums and lead vocals; and Cary Brown handling keyboards, vocals, and brake drum--you know this outfit has to be better than good. And with late Skatalite member Tommy McCook on board, as well as the three original vocalists from Hepcat, this debut set may well be the Ensemble's best--authentically Jamaican yet with chops enough for any stateside jazz fan. Unlike most bands who follow the lead of the less-schooled bands of England's '70s "two-tone" era, the Ensemble's gang of musicians has the technique and heart to make original discoveries within the expansive ska-meets-jazz turf first staked out by the Skatalites. Like the Skatalites, the Ensemble's complex, tight arrangements and improvisations take creative flight within what, in the hands of others, can be a simple form, and, again, with an eye to keeping faith with that seminal Jamaican group, the Ensemble's instrumentals speak to a wide range of musical experience. --Elena Oumano