Ernest Ranglin & Avila

Bless Up

   ^{Ernest Ranglin — Bless Up}   ♦Ξ  New Album Showcases 11 New Ranglin Compositions That Blend Ska, Swing, Jazz, Rock and World Music to Explore the Entire Range of his Musical Expertise Bless Up brims over with a delicious easy feel, transporting the listener to a place where the skies are always blue, the water is always warm and the music is always just right.
♦Ξ  Noted Jamaican guitarist who could play ska, reggae, and jazz with equal skill.
Born: June 19, 1932 in Robin's Hall, Jamaica
Location: Manchester, Jamaica
Album release: May 20, 2014
Record Label: Avila Street Records
Duration:     72:55
Tracks:
01 Bond Street Express     4:02
02 Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro     5:02
03 Sivan     5:37
04 Bless Up     4:46
05 O Meets R     0:52
06 Joan’s Pen     3:16
07 Follow On     4:49
08 El Mescalero     4:28
09 Blues for a Hip King     5:58
10 Rock Me Steady     4:08
11 Stuff I Am Looking For     0:10
12 Ska Renzo     5:06
13 You Too     5:25
14 Mystic Blue     4:41
15 Good Friends     4:49
16 Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro (Home)     10:46
℗ 2014 Avila Street Records
Written by:
♦Ξ  Ernest Ranglin     1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
♦Ξ  Abdullah Ibrahim     2, 9, 16
♦Ξ  Tony Mindel     5
♦Ξ  Jonathan Korty     8
Credits:
♦Ξ  Ávila Primary Artist
♦Ξ  Modesto Briseno Flugelhorn, Trumpet
♦Ξ  Jonathan Chi Editing, Engineer
♦Ξ  Yossi Fine Bass, Mixing, Producer
♦Ξ  Michael Fossenkemper Mastering
♦Ξ  Abdullah Ibrahim Composer
♦Ξ  Jonathan Korty Composer, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, Piano
♦Ξ  Eric Levy Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, Harmonium, Melodica, Piano, Wurlitzer Piano
♦Ξ  Oscar Robert Mindel Tributee
♦Ξ  Renzo "Little Ska Renzo" James Ranglin Mindel Tributee
♦Ξ  Tony Mindel Composer, Editing, Mixing, Producer
♦Ξ  Michael Peloquin Chromatic Harmonica, Sax (Baritone), Sax (Tenor)
♦Ξ  Ernest Ranglin Composer, Guitar, Producer
♦Ξ  Michael Scully Editing, Engineer, Mixing
♦Ξ  Jason Silverio Design, Inspiration, Layout
♦Ξ  Terry Way Photography
♦Ξ  Charlie Wilson Editing, Mixing, Trombone
What People are saying about Bless Up:
Ξ♦Ξ  “At 81, Ernest Ranglin is still one of the greatest and subtlest musicians on the planet that you might not have discovered. The man credited with inventing ska — that’s his arrangement in Little Millie Small’s “My Boy Lollipop” from 1964 — is still making vital music.” — David Dye, World Café / Heavy Rotation: 10 Songs Public Radio Can’t Stop Playing
Ξ♦Ξ  “Avila’s groove, anointed with Ernest Ranglin’s silky, playful and masterful lines, combine sweetly to indeed Blessus Up.” — Inside world music
Label: http://avilastreetrecords.com/artists/ernest-ranglin-avila/
Ξ♦Ξ  “Bless Up brims over with a delicious easy feel, transporting the listener to a place where the skies are always blue, the water is always warm and the music is always just right.” — World Music Central
Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny
Ξ♦Ξ  A pioneering force behind the rise of Caribbean music, guitar virtuoso Ernest Ranglin was born in Manchester, Jamaica, in 1932. He began playing ukulele as a boy, soon graduating to guitar; while in his teens he began performing live both locally and in the Bahamas, often in tandem with the young Monty Alexander. Ranglin's session work at the famed Studio One helped give birth to the ska phenomenon, which during the late '50s began taking Jamaica by storm. He finally began attracting international notice in 1964 when he traveled to London to perform at Ronnie Scott's jazz club, so impressing its owner that he remained on as the venue's resident guitarist for the next nine months. There he made a number of solo records for the fledgling Island label, and also collaborated with Prince Buster; additionally, Ranglin teamed with Jamaican singer Millie Small to cut the international smash "My Boy Lollipop." He soon returned to session work, arranging classics including the Melodians' majestic "Rivers of Babylon"; with his guitar leads on the Wailers' "It Hurts to Be Alone," he also laid the foundation for the rise of rockers reggae. Though remaining perhaps best known for his jazz prowess, in the 1970s Ranglin toured with Jimmy Cliff; in 1973 he was awarded the Order of Distinction from the Jamaican Government for his contributions to music, and continued touring and recording regularly throughout the decades to follow, most notably signing to Chris Blackwell's newly formed Palm Pictures label to issue 1998's In Search of the Lost Riddim. E.B. @ Noon and Modern Answers to Old Problems arrived two years later, Grooving appeared in early 2001, and Alextown and Surfin' followed in 2005. :: http://www.allmusic.com/
Studio albums:
Ξ♦Ξ  Guitar in Ernest (1959), Island
Ξ♦Ξ  Wranglin’ (1964), Island
Ξ♦Ξ  Reflections (1964), Island
Ξ♦Ξ  Guitar in Ernest (1965), Federal Records (different from 1958 Island version)
Ξ♦Ξ  The Exciting Ranglin (1966), Federal Records/RCA Victor
Ξ♦Ξ  Boss Reggae (1969), Federal Records
Ξ♦Ξ  Mr. Ranglin With Soul (1969), Federal Records/RCA Victor/Steady Records
Ξ♦Ξ  Softly With Ranglin (1969), Federal Records/Twilight Records/Merritone
Ξ♦Ξ  Today’s Best (1969), Federal Records
Ξ♦Ξ  A Mod A Mod Ranglin (1970), Federal Records
Ξ♦Ξ  Ranglin Roots (1972)
Ξ♦Ξ  Ranglypso (1976), MPS
Ξ♦Ξ  Be What You Want to Be/From Kingston JA to Miami USA (1983), Konduko/Vista Sounds
Ξ♦Ξ  We Want to Party (1989), Rooney
Ξ♦Ξ  True Blue (1990), Rooney
Ξ♦Ξ  Play the Time Away (1996), Grove Records/Runn
Ξ♦Ξ  Below the Bassline (1996), Island Records
Ξ♦Ξ  Memories of Barber Mack (1997), Island Records
Ξ♦Ξ  Tribute to a Legend (1997), Kariang/K–Jazz
Ξ♦Ξ  In Search of the Lost Riddim (1998), Palm Pictures
Ξ♦Ξ  (2000), Tropic
Ξ♦Ξ  Modern Answers to Old Problems (2000), Telarc
Ξ♦Ξ  Grooving (2001), Blue Moon
Ξ♦Ξ  Gotcha! (2001), Telarc
Ξ♦Ξ  Alextown (2005), Palm Pictures
Ξ♦Ξ  Surfin’ (2005), Telarc
Ξ♦Ξ  Order of Distinction (2006), Double–Side/Double Disc DVD Collectors Edition AIX Records
Ξ♦Ξ  Ranglin & Friends (2010), Dubtonic (download only)
Ξ♦Ξ  Avila (2012), Avila Street Records
Ξ♦Ξ  Bless Up (2014), Avila Street Records
MySpace: https://myspace.com/ernestranglin
Label: http://avilastreetrecords.com/
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By BOB BOILEN • August 16, 2014
Ξ♦Ξ  At 82, legendary guitarist Ernest Ranglin still plays the ska, reggae and jazz that he's championed and helped perfect for more than half a century. Ranglin was a key figure in shaping the sounds of ska — influenced by New Orleans jazz and R&B — in Jamaica in the late 1950s. But most of the world wouldn't hear of ska until producer Chris Blackwell teamed Ranglin up with a Jamaican singer named Millie Small. Together, they recorded "My Boy Lollipop," a song that became a smash at the height of Beatlemania and helped put ska and Jamaican music on the map forever.You've probably also heard Ranglin if you've seen the James Bond film Dr. No — particularly the scenes set in Jamaica. The effects of Ranglin's fluid and rhythmic playing on Jamaican music, from mento to reggae, are deep and long–lasting. But his work as a jazz artist is equally amazing, and here at the Tiny Desk he does a bit of everything, including music from his lyrical and wonderful album Bless Up. So watch as this humble, charming gentleman makes magic on guitar, with his talented young band Avila holding down the beat. (photo by Sarah Tilotta/NPR)
Gary von Tersch, Apr 29, 2014
Ξ♦Ξ  A vividly enchanting, genre–bending 16–song project (eleven new Ranglin tunes among them) from the newly energized ska and reggae master guitarist — whose signature, muted upstroke and chord clustered sound was the backbone of a number of hits by the likes of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, the Skatalites and Toots and the Maytals. Sympathetically accompanied by a band that came together in Sonoma, California called Avila, with Yossi Fine on bass, Jonathan Korty on keys, Michael Peloquin on saxes and chromatic harmonica, trumpeter Modesto Briseno, trombonist Charlie Wilson and multi–instrumentalist Eric Levy, Ranglin ingeniously adds modernistic jazz (think Wes Montgomery), rock and world music strains to his patented, Jamaica–rooted sound — constantly stretching musical boundaries and experimenting with a wide variety of flavors, rhythms and textures while encouraging his international band to do likewise. The aggregation’s jaw–dropping virtuosity is especially evident on tracks like the panoramic “Bond Street Express,” the Strayhorn/Ellington–like title song, a pair of sultry reggae numbers (“Follow On” and “You Too”), a meditative “Bra Joe From Kilimanjoro” (the Abdullah Ibrahim classic) and the dub effects–enhanced “Ska Renzo.” Ranglin is one of those few visionary musicians who are able to seamlessly blend the past, the present and the future with his in–the–pocket yet constantly adventurous fretwork. A great follow–up to 2012’s Avila outing. :: http://singout.org/ 
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Ernest Ranglin & Avila

Bless Up

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