| More Resurgence CD and Record Scans |
Page last revised: 5/1/10
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In early 2008, saxophonist
Cedric "Im" Brooks 1973 LP, "From Mento To Reggae To Third World Music"
received it's overdue release on CD, on VP Records. In addition to
reggae an African music, the following mento songs are included:
"Nobody's Business", "Sly Mongoose", "Salt Lane Girl" (a CD bonus track). There is also "Hop Merry Hop" and "Third World", both Pocomania tracks. |
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In 2004, Respect Records re-released the above Hummingbirds CD. It gains a new title ("Mento A Go-Go") new (inferior) cover art and, sadly, loses the band photos. Besides the music, what remains the same if the difficulty of finding this Japanese only release. |
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"Original Jamaican Music", by the Rod Dennis Mento Band, on the
Penthouse label. |
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I've heard that
this 2001 Jamaican CD can be found at retail shops in
the UK. It may take a trip there or to JA
to acquire this largely instrumental release. The
major on-line retailers don't carry it, nor have I ever seen a copy in NYC. |
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Incidentally, Rod Dennis is not in this or other
line up. The band was actually called "The Red Devils Mento Band". When this
was garbled in an print article
to "The Rod Dennis Mento Band",
the name stuck. The band is lead by
Carlton James. In 2006, the band would record a Bob Marley cover with Jamaican jazz keyboardist Monty Alexander. Band member Carlton James performed live with Monty in a memorable 2006 show in NYC. See the Mento and Jazz page for details and pictures. For much more on this act, visit the Carlton James and The Rod Dennis Mento Band page. described there are two other RDMB CDs that are very difficult to find.
These four scans below, courtesy of Jurjen Borregaard of Amsterdam confirm that mento vinyl continued in Jamaica well into the age of the CD. All also from 2001 and on the Penthouse label is the label from the LP version of the above Rod Dennis release. This is followed by a single drawn from this album: "Brown Skin Gal" backed with "No Body's Business".
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Harder to find than the Rod Dennis CD is "Authentic Mento" a 2001 CD by old-timers Blue Glaze Mento Band. Clarinet is featured on this CD, as played by band leader Vincent Pryce, who also wrote an original track, "The Farmer". |
| Blue Glaze (sometimes called the "Blue Glades Mento Band") were "discovered" after playing mento together for 40 years. Comparisons were drawn between Blue Glaze and The Buena Vista Social Club. Blue Glaze would next record with Stanley Beckford. Sad news was received in October of 2004. Vincent passed on the 4th of that month. |
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Here is a photo
of The Blue Glaze Mento Band, featuring the biggest rumba box
I've ever seen.
Dan Neely
identified this photo as coming from mid-2005 and taken at Devon
House at the Rukumbine show. |
Video of five songs from a
live 2003 performance by The
Blue Glaze Mento Band backing
the late Stanley Beckford can be seen on the
Stanley Beckford
page.
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In June of 2009, Dan
Neely shot this video of Blue Glaze. It's great to see how well
the band bounced back from the death of its leader and clarinet player
Vincent Pryce in 2004. As you will see in this rendition of
Toots And The Maytals' "Sweet And Dandy", a fife
player, Ferdie, has been added to the lineup.
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Blue Glaze (sometimes called
the "Blue Glades Mento Band") were "discovered" after playing mento together
for 40 years. Comparisons were drawn between Blue Glaze and
The Buena Vista Social Club.
Blue Glaze would next record with Stanley Beckford.
Sad news was received in October of 2004. Vincent passed on
the 4th of that month. In April of 2010 I heard from P. Béchard, of Gwened, Brittany who alerted me to the a French web page about Blue Glaze that includes video. It can be seen at http://www.chartres.tw/2010_04_08_BGMB.html
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 Another group of rediscovered old-timers: "Dance Music and Working Songs From Jamaica" by The Lititz Mento Band. This CD was released in Germany in 1993 on GEMA. Their sound is interesting, as there is no percussion, banjo becomes strictly a rhythm instrument, and fiddle is a featured instrument. Two video clips featuring Lititz fiddler Theodore Miller can be seen on the Mento Video page. |
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Here is another photo of The Lititz Mento Band. This shot is from the 1980s and was taken at the Upper Deck in Montego Bay. |
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This
1995 CD contains 7 mento tracks by Chris Welch and his group. |
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Toots Hibbert adds raucous mento harmonica (and some backing vocals) to a cover of Sweet And Dandy. Notable band members include lead singer Lanford Gilzene, who had a short lived career recording rasta reggae in the mid-1970s, banjo player Wesley Balds, who, at 80 years of age is old even for a mento musician, and backing and sometime lead vocalist and shaker player Donnett Clarke, who has the distinction of being the rare woman in a rural mento band. Balds previously played with the Sunshine Mento Band, as did rumba box player Courtney Clarke. Two YouTube videos of Gilzene and The Blue Light Mento Band can be seen on Mento Videos page here.
For more more label and jacket scans and song clips also see this site's:
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