Pop Music Review : Jamaica’s Skatalites Throw Some Curves

Believe the T-shirts that read “Ska, Reggae, Rocksteady: It All Began With the Skatalites,” at the Whisky on Sunday, where the Skatalites made their Los Angeles-area club debut. This was the studio band when modern Jamaican music was being fashioned in the mid-’60s, and its accomplished, hour-plus set of ska chestnuts was rapturously received by a packed house.

The Skatalites re-formed a few years ago--tenor saxophonists Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso, bassist Lloyd Brevette and drummer Lloyd Nibbs are the founding members in the current, 10-piece lineup--and ran smack into another ska revival.

It only took Nibbs’ drum roll kicking off “Freedom Song” to turn the dance floor into a sea of bobbing heads, but the Skatalites threw a few curves at these new fans--like the healthy jazz influence on ska. The arrangements Sunday featured catchy horn statements followed by a series of solos subtly prodded by Brevette and Nibbs as they maintained the relaxed but forceful groove.

The vintage instrumentals “Man In The Street” and “Guns of Navarone” were highlights, but the Skatalites also adeptly mixed in occasional vocals by Dion Nibbs, including a “Simmer Down/Turn Your Lamp Down Low” medley of two early songs Bob Marley recorded with them. There was a sameness to the material, but in the hands of these rhythm masters, the sheer infectiousness of the songs won out.