Duff Review: Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra "Tombstone"

Vintage Vault Records
LP/digital
2021

(Review by Steve Shafer)

After releasing two Skatalites tribute albums, the magnificent Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra--an incredibly gifted platoon of ska and jazz musicians led by Eitan Avineri (The Allentons)--have finally recorded an album of their own ska-jazz-big band originals (mostly written by Avineri), plus one Chris Murray cover that's been part of their live set for several years now. And, boy, it's been worth the wait. Tombstone is packed with memorable songs, features impeccable and compelling performances, and is one of the best sounding ska records in recent memory. It's a class album from start to finish.

As its title and cover art suggest, Tombstone has a loose Hollywood Western movie theme to it. Lead track "Monolith Ska" is one of several dramatic widescreen cinematic cuts (also see "Naftuli")--music that can fill the vast expanse of Monument Valley (featured in many of John Ford's Westerns), while "Tombstone" (which sounds a bit like The Specials "Vote for Me" in parts) has some menace to it, which is appropriate, since it was the location of the notorious Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Ford made a movie about it, too: My Darling Clementine). "Nostalgic Ska" is bright and chipper; "Grizzly Ska" is majestic; "Fortified" is a lovely jazzy reggae cut that could have come off Ernest Ranglin's Monty Alexander-produced Below the Bassline album; and "Sunrise from the East" is an awesome spaghetti Western ska track via the Far East.

Interestingly enough, the two cuts that don't really fit in with the theme of the album--but are great, nonetheless--are the two vocal cuts. Having said that, they're both about picking yourself up when you're in the dumps and seizing the fleeting day. It's wild to hear Chris Murray as a crooner fronting a big band singing "Moment" from his album Raw (key verse: "Hope and dreams are what we're made of/And those dreams should never die/It was given, this reason for living/Each moment the present no future can buy"). And we veer into Dean Martin/Rat Pack territory with "Habit of Happiness," co-written by The Aggrolites' Jesse Wagner and Avineri. Wagner urges the listener to rewire their brain to help survive this insane ride we're all on:

When the times, they seem tough
And you feel you've had enough
You give up and say there's nothing else that's left
To do
Oh, that ain't you
Let there be
An extraordinarily
Create that habit of happiness!

Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra's Tombstone is one of the best ska albums released in 2021, and will be high up on ska fans' playlists for years to come.

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Jah Jazz Orchestra "Introducing Jah Jazz Orchestra"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Comprised mainly of Swiss and French jazz musicians with a serious love of '60s-era Jamaican music, Jah Jazz Orchestra is a superb ensemble that is as equally comfortable playing ska, rocksteady, and reggae as they are jazz. Their Introducing Jah Jazz Orchestra (Vinyl LP/CD/digital, Brixton Records, 2020; available in the USA through Jump Up Records) is a magnificent debut, warmly and vibrantly recorded, and full of both '60s JA ska classics and well-chosen American jazz standards. Jah Jazz Orchestra's musicianship is off the charts (they make it all seem so effortless) and their improvisational skills are formidable. They're easily in the same league as Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (when TSPO is in a ska-jazz mood), Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra, NY Ska Jazz Ensemble, and Jump With Joey. Introducing Jah Jazz Orchestra opens with a terrific version of The Skatalites' "Ska La Parisienne" (which I was first introduced to back around 1989 at a Scofflaws gig)--and they also cover Lloyd Knibb's "King Solomon." Other highlights are a knockout take on Joe Henderson's "Black Narcissus," which is full-on jazz in its first several measures, until the rocksteady rhythm section kicks in, and the tune's incredible melody is explored by a variety of instruments. Dizzie Gillespie's pioneering Afro-Cuban jazz cut "Manteca" (co-written with Chano Pozo and Gil Fuller) is repurposed as "Manteska" and transformed into a breakneck speed ska track that keeps the original's wonderful shifts to jazz-lounge--of course, TSPO also recorded this for their live 2006 album Gunslingers (it's right up their alley). Jah Jazz Orchestra also cover Gillespie's "Tin Tin Deo" (composed by Chano Pozo and Gil Fuller), which I was first introduced to by TSPO (for better or worse, most of my knowledge of jazz standards has come through ska). Duke Ellington's "The Mystery Song" is recast as a fantastically slinky and sophisticated reggae-jazz cut. One of the most radical reimaginings is Jah Jazz Orchestra's cover of Fats Waller's "St. Louis Shuffle" (renamed "St. Louis Skank"), which they've turned into a sprightly skinhead reggae instrumental that would've made Jackie Mittoo proud. Without a doubt, this is one of the best ska records of 2020--one that I'll be revisiting many, many times.

Duff Guide to Ska Bullet Points: Rudebeard, Some Ska Band, Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra!

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

• Despite the abundant awfulness of 2020, this year has offered up a few good things: I managed to publish my first book (shameless plug, I know), and Scotland's Rudebeard have offered up their second digital EP since the start of the summer! Rudebeard's Disgrace EP (Digital, F and J Records, 2020) is anything but--it's a mini-masterpiece. The protagonist of "Disgrace" readily owns up to his host of shortcomings ("I’m a drunkard, baby/I’m a stoner, antisocial drinking-on-my-owner/Just a child with an adult’s body and face...I ain't no saint/Just a sinner") on this wild, riff-heavy spaghetti Western modern ska track (the synths and subject matter remind me of Magazine's "A Song from Under the Floorboards"). "Are You Ready" is a jaunty lockdown song (which may or may not have a long shelf-life, depending on humanity's--really America's--ability to act for the common good) anticipating the full reopening of things: "It's gonna be chaos/It's gonna get rough/The night they let us back in the pubs/It's gonna be apocalyptic, baby/Get ready." The band drolly dedicate the song to Scotland's city centre police, who will have their hands full. Yet, Rudebeard are also quite capable of delivering the genuinely moving ska ballad "World Keeps Rolling On," about a friend who's died: "Since you're gone/Well, the world kept moving on/It's pretty quiet down here/But it's pretty lonely." And this brings us back to how 2020 just keeps on sucking. A very good friend of mine, one of the most decent human beings I've ever known, unexpectedly passed away earlier this summer. And this song brought tears to my eyes, as it so unapologetically expresses all the sadness, grief, and permanent hole-in-yer-heart that everyone feels when someone close is gone forever.

• Rochester, New York's Some Ska Band have just released two excellent dubs--with Agent J at the controls--of instrumental cuts off their great 2018 debut album It's Going Down: "American Dublines" b/w "Forty Dubs" (Digital, self-released, 2020). For those not yet down with Some Ska Band's album, "American Dublines" (from "American Skalines") is a bright, very '80s, Beat-inspired song, while "Forty Dubs" (from "Forty Thieves") is a Prince Buster (think "7 Wonders of the World") meets Dick Dale mash-up. Agent J's production inserts some sonic distance between the music and listener, removing some of the originals' "Is it live or is it Memorex?" immediacy in favor of the depth of seemingly vast space. Highly recommended. 

• Perhaps in another timeline Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra's extraordinary original track "Bedouin Ska" (Digital, self-released, 2020) was included on the soundtrack to David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia--it's the aural equivalent of edge-of-your-seat action and high drama, being played out in the expansive and exquisite desolation of the Sinai desert, with (to white Westerners) an exotic cast of characters and their mysterious customs and cultures. For all of their Skatalites obsession, this cut makes me realize that WST is really America's answer to Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. 

Duff Review: Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra "Tunnel Vision"

Self-released
Digital single
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

While Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra's previous releases have been focused almost exclusively on covers of classic Skatalites cuts, this new digital single is the first to feature one of the band's original songs. And what a fantastic track it is! Typically, Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra blends '60s ska and Jamaican jazz with '40s style American big band jazz, but on this outing they mix in some reggae and the results are outstanding. The tune is wonderful, the arrangements are compelling, and the musicianship is absolutely top-notch. Word is that this is the first in a series of forthcoming singles and I suspect that you won't want to miss what's coming next down the line.

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