Pop Music Review : Raymond Myers Makes the Caribbean International

Raymond Myers’ performance at the Long Beach Museum of Art on Wednesday may be a harbinger for Caribbean music. The former lead singer with Nigeria’s Soul Vibrations reggae group used the Jamaican sound as his musical base but mixed in Nicaraguan carnival and soca rhythms, plus an occasional dash of salsa, into his pair of hour-plus sets.

Myers is staying in Los Angeles while recording, so his capable, well-rehearsed septet didn’t quite have the spark and cohesion of a full-time unit. The band never failed to deliver solid, vibrant rhythms, but the solos were lacking at times--alto saxophonist Vince Suzuki took several well-received solos, but his tone fell on the shrill side of Junior Walker, and he was too prone to favor high-register squawks over a full-bodied sound.

The occasional nature of the band may account for the inclusion of such easy reggae crowd-pleasers as Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up,” “Stir It Up” and the Peter Tosh arrangement of “Johnny B. Goode.”

But Myers paid even more effective homage with fine performances of one of Marley’s most beautiful love songs (“Waiting in Vain”) and all-time dance floor rave-ups (“Lively Up Yourself”), although the latter lost focus with a solo by Suzuki that had little apparent relation to the song.

There was a general flagging of momentum near the end of the first set--though the salsa rhythm foundation of “Latino Soy” was solid enough, the solos did let things down. Myers recovered strongly with the soca rhythm of “Spirit of Carnival”--Myers’ timbales solo both elevated the energy level and gave a kinetic dimension to his stage performance that at times was too laid back.

The soca-style rhythms always did the trick for Myers; the group really hit its stride early in the second set with its adaptation of a traditional Nicaraguan rhythm in “Mayaya Lasinki.”

With Myers on timbales and percussionist Marcel Adjibi shifting from congas to djembe , the song sparked the evening’s first display of ICLS--i.e., Instant Conga Line Syndrome, the tendency of an American audience to form a conga line at the first hearing of a carnival-esque Caribbean rhythm.

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Myers cemented the momentum by shifting to a dance-hall-roots reggae combination on “Viva Mi Corazon,” with Oneida James digging deep into the bass line. With the potential pop appeal of its “La La La La/Viva Mi Corazon “ chorus, it’s conceivable that Myers could follow Big Mountain into the ranks of bilingual reggae hit-makers.

More consistent, strong material like the old Soul Vibrations staple “Black Culture” would help, but it was hard to argue with the deftly delivered rhythms or the enthusiastic audience response on a hot summer night.

With groups including Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca also on the local scene bringing the Afro-Cuban tradition to life by blending soukous with salsa, it will be interesting to hear what develops from the kind of pan-Caribbean rhythm synthesis Myers is now exploring.