Bob Marley’s 80th birthday celebrated in style by Jazz Jamaica at Jazz Café

Jazz Jamaica’s celebration of the 80th anniversary of Bob Marley delivers more than expected. The audience chorusing with vocalist Kianja Harvey-Elliott on ‘Is This Love?’, ‘Wait In Vain’ and ‘Three Little Birds’ is no surprise given the place of those anthems in universal consciousness, but the way the tentet led by double bassist Gary Crosby (pictured below - photo by Pat Pascal) enhances the melodies with precise, punchy arrangements by a horn section comprising trombonist Harry Brown, trumpeter Mark Kavuma, and saxophonists, David Kayode (tenor) and Camilla George (alto), who all take effective solos throughout the evening, raises the temperature in the room.

Yet there are important historical dimensions to the gig other than an acknowledgement of Marley’s genius. Clicking, clacking, choppy rhythms point to the post-war revolution in Jamaican music, where a blessed offbeat opened the door to firstly ska, then rocksteady and reggae, and the inclusion of  ‘Simmer Down’, an early Marley hit, underlines this lineage. But when the horns drop out and Crosby, pianist Emily Tran, guitarist Roland Richardson and percussionist Satin Singh gel on a version of ’Surfin’ there is a deeper time travel at play, as the composer of this charmingly breezy, bluesy strut, Jamaican guitar legend Ernest Ranglin, Crosby’s uncle, played the tune on this very stage almost 30 years ago.

Ranglin as a bridge between JA and UK is consolidated by ‘My Boy Lollipop’, the chart-topper he arranged for Mille Small that brought ska to Britain in 1964, and it proves a joyously rousing closer. Talking of connections, drummer King David Elechi, a steady anchor to the rhythm section also impresses as a member of Luke Bacchus’s quartet, which opened proceedings. Showcasing songs from the young London pianist’s forthcoming album the band, which also includes double bassist Menlik Clafferty and steel pan player Marlon Hibbert, plays excellent original material inspired by Caribbean folk culture as well as black British history, both pre and post-Windrush, and songs such as ‘Parakeet’ are marked by lyrical, legato themes and sparkling high register flurries from Bacchus.

As for the take on ‘Concrete Jungle’ it has the brooding anguish of the Marley original, and he may have been intrigued by the royal treatment of his music as well the crown of dreadlocks worn by Bacchus, proof positive that Rastaman vibrations are still blowing in the air.