The Hyltonaires: Big Bamboo

Valentine's Day special! The Hiltonaires, who began as the house band of the Jamaica Hilton, bring us a great mento record full of good humor with hints of ska rhythms beginning to creep in at certain points. Many of the songs are covers of calypso and mento standards, although there are a couple that I was not familiar with. The instrumentals on this album are good and the vocal harmonies are a bigger focus here than in most mento music. The album was produced by Coxsone Dodd and released on his Coxsone label. I'd guess this was recorded in the late 50's. The record skips once on the track "Matilda".

Matilda by EasyJams