Roots Architects - From Then 'Til Now (Fruits Records)

While the emphasis on the two aforementioned albums was predominantly vocal, with ‘From Then ‘Til Now’, Matthias Liengme shifts gears entirely towards the instrumental realm, collaborating with a stellar constellation of over 50 of Jamaica’s finest session musicians. Comparisons with similar albums by Jamaican veterans like Ernest Ranglin or Monty Alexander will likely be drawn quickly and are certainly not overstated, because ‘From Then ‘Til Now’ has become an absolute gem of an instrumental album. 

This is, of course, the kind of album that you best savour in its entirety, filled with compositions where instruments like trombone, guitar, organ, or flute engage in delightful dialogue with each other time and again. If you were to insist on us highlighting a few, we’d choose the opener ‘1000 Light Years’, where the trombones of Calvin ‘Bubbles’ Cameron and Everald Gayle take the lead, ‘In The Shadow’, featuring a delightful interplay between Glen DaCosta’s saxophone, Sheldon ‘ATiiBA’ Bernard’s flute, and Vin Gordon’s trombone, and finally ‘Memories Of Old’, where Ernest Ranglin’s guitar melodies resonate as only he can make them, and Tyrone Downie’s organ work transports us back to the heyday of Jackie Mittoo.

Usually, we refer to the album credits for a list of all musicians who contributed. However, due to the specific focus of this project, we’ll make an exception this time and provide you with the full list below (even if it’s just as a posthumous tribute to all those who are no longer with us):

Drums:

Lowell ‘Sly’ Dunbar, Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace, Mikey ‘Boo’ Richards, Fil Callender, Stanley ‘Barnabas’ Bryan, Albert “Ilawi” Malawi

Bass:

Robbie Shakespeare, Lloyd Parks, Boris Gardiner, Jackie Jackson, Errol ‘Flabba Holt’ Carter, Christopher Meredith, Howard ‘Spred’ Bedasse

Keys:

Robbie Lyn, Ansel Collins, Michael ‘Ibo’ Cooper, Tyrone Downie, Franklyn ‘Bubbler’ Waul, Bernard ‘Touter’ Harvey, Tony ‘Asher’ Brissett, Dennis ‘Jah D’ Fearon, Lloyd ‘Obeah’ Denton, Mathias Liengme

Guitar:

Ernest Ranglin, Radcliffe ‘Dougie’ Bryan, Michael ‘Mao’ Chung, Dwight Pinkney, Winston ‘Bopee’ Bowen, Stephen ‘Cat’ Coore, Dalton Browne, Fil Callender, David ‘Little David’ Trail, Leebert ‘Gibby’ Morrisson, Papis ‘Peace’ Diouf, Josu Santamaria

Percussion:

Bongo Joe, Christopher ‘Sky Juice’ Burth, Harry T, Derrick Stewart, Alvin Haughton, Bongo Herman, Alphonso Craig, Joseph ‘Junior Congo’ Sutherland, Mathias Liengme

Horns:

Vin Gordon, Karl ‘Cannonball’ Bryan, Glen DaCosta, Dean Fraser, Calvin ‘Bubbles’ Cameron, Llewellyn ‘Lew’ Chang, Arnold Brackenridge, Sting Wray, Everald Gayle, Dwight Richards, Sheldon ‘ATiiBA’ Bernard, Claude ‘Jah See’ Jordan