Festival Jump-Up

Now, the first CD here is something of a revelation, containing as it does the first ever reissue of Lord Tanamo's extremely rare 1965 LP Festival Jump-Up. Here are mento and calypso tunes performed by one of Jamaican music's early stars. Ironically, by 1965 the ska era was in full swing and Lord Tanamo had enjoyed a ska hit with ‘Come Down’ in 1963 – not on the original album but gathered with 12 other bonus tunes on disc one – so the recording of this album must have been seen as a time capsule of sorts. For anyone interested in calypso/mento, Festival Jump-Up is a fascinating document, lively and cheeky but also old fashioned (compared to the then ruling ska sound). Tanamo recorded for Sep and Gaydisc, two labels owned by Lindon Pottinger, the first black Jamaican to set up his own recording studio on the island in 1961.

The Pottinger name is now synonymous with Sonia Pottinger – Lindon's wife and Jamaica's first and, for decades, only female record producer and label owner – but what's contained here are Lindon's efforts. Disc two contains 28 tunes he recorded and released across 1963-4, largely ska. Of special interest are four cuts by Jimmy James – who would later be a stalwart of British black music and enjoy several disco hits in the 1970s. Superb liner notes and packaging make this essential for anyone interested in the development of Jamaican music.