Lord Tanamo Festival Jump-Up (2-CD)

Two CD set. By the mid-1960s, ska was in full swing, but while the driving, energetic sound dominated Jamaica's musical landscape, other genres, such as rhythm & blues, calypso and the home-grown style of mento were also widely popularized by local acts. And of these performers, few proved more popular and versatile than Joseph Gordon, a singer-songwriter who, as Lord Tanamo, had been at the forefront of the island's music scene since the '50s. Yet despite his popularity, it was not until mid-'60s that a long-player dedicated to his output finally saw issue. Released by leading Kingston-based producer Lindon Pottinger, the musically varied Festival Jump-Up provides the focus for Disc One of this collection, with it's original 12 tracks augmented by Tanamo's best-loved ska recordings from the period, including his oft-imitated rendering of the standard, I'm In The Mood For Love. Disc Two collects 28 of the most popular ska and R&B sides issued between 1963 and 1964 on Pottinger's revered Gaydisc and SEP labels, their number including numerous significant Jamaican hits by the likes of Jimmy James, Roy Panton & Millie Small, Winston Samuels and Dobby Dobson. The result is a musical cornucopia of rare, high quality authentic early-Sixties Jamaican sounds, many of which have remained widely unavailable on any format until now.