Jolly Boys: Why GeeJam Recordings Launched with a Septuagenarian Jamaican Mento Band

March 11, 2011 

By Patricia Meschino, New York

70-Somethings: Jamaican Mento Group the Jolly Boys, who now cover Amy Winehouse and Iggy Pop,once played For Errol Flynn

 

Eleven years after he sold his UK-based hip-hop label Gee Street Records to Richard Branson’s V2 Records, Jon Baker expects his recently launched GeeJam Recordings to successfully impact the US market with an unlikely flagship act: septuagenarian Jamaican mento group The Jolly Boys.

GeeJam, a full service label/management company with offices in New York and Kingston, has partnered with eOne Music for the Jolly Boys’ album “Great Expectation,” scheduled for release on May 3. Recorded at Baker’s GeeJam Studios in Port Antonio, Jamaica (utilized by Drake and Amy Winehouse, among others), his co-production alongside Dale Virgo, nimbly weaves mento’s defining instrumentation (banjo, maracas, thumb piano) into spirited, signature interpretations of contemporary hits including Winehouse’s “Rehab” and Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger,” and New Order’s “Blue Monday.”

Jamaica’s first recorded music, mento is characterized by topical, often risqué subjects addressed through artful double entendre, like its Trinidadian counterpart, calypso. “All Jamaican music, ska, reggae, dancehall, come from mento,” declares the Jolly Boys’ lead singer Albert Minott, 72. “My grandparents told me when the slaves were tired they would sing mento songs in the sugar cane fields.”

Detractors view Baker’s “modern mento” concept as gimmickry but he staunchly defends its significance in establishing the genre among a broader audience. “Mento interpretations of familiar songs opens up the entertainment factor,” says Baker. “Mento was once Jamaicans’ social-political mouthpiece with songs about everything from excessive rum drinking to corrupt politicians, topics that are heard in their modern repertoire and that’s an important linkage.”

A near capacity crowd of 600 heartily cheered mento’s modern and traditional strains when the Jolly Boys performed at New York City’s Hiro Ballroom on February 24, which commenced the US campaign for the Jolly Boys’ “Great Expectation.”

“People compare them to the Buena Vista Social Club: incredible musicians with an incredible sound; once people hear it, they dig it,” says Ed Micone of Paradigm’s New York office who is handling their bookings, which includes dates at nightclubs, casinos, performance arts centers and festivals throughout the US and Europe.
The Jolly Boys’ have honed their musical craft since the 1950s when they were called the Navy Island Swamp Boys performing at star-studded soirees hosted by American actor Errol Flynn in Port Antonio. Rechristened The Jolly Boys by Flynn, the group has existed in various configurations ever since, performing at hotels within Jamaica’s resort areas.

Their enduring career and mento’s historical importance steer the marketing for “Great Expectation” says Chuck Mitchell Vice President, Jazz, Classical and Adult Music at eOne.

 

On February 18 a five-track digital EP “Classic Mento From Port Antonio” was released on iTunes to acquaint listeners with the Jolly Boys’ roots and generate interest in the forthcoming album’s modern mento expression. “Great Expectation” will be serviced to triple A, alternative and world music formats, public broadcasting and non-commercial outlets,” says Mitchell, “and we’re looking into branding and licensing to get this music heard on television and in movies, associations that extend beyond the core world music crowd.”

 

Another enthusiastic partner is Chris Hutton owner of the Dublin, Ireland, based investment company Shamrock Solutions, which funds albums through capital raised by the UK’s Icebreaker Management Services. Shamrock has done over 100 album financing deals in Europe, says Hutton, and has now moved into the US market with Baker as their stateside representative. “This project has fantastic potential,” says Hutton. “My kids love the Jolly Boys and so do my 80-something year old parents which is indicative of their widespread appeal.”

With Baker’s 30 plus years in the music business, which includes an association with punk impresario Malcolm McClaren in late-70s London and running Chris Blackwell’s Island Jamaica imprint in the mid 90s, he brings a discerning eclecticism to the various Jolly Boys projects which include a forthcoming reality TV show and a docudrama about Minott’s life, “A Jolly Boy”.

“They are part of a greater narrative about Jamaica’s heritage that has been overlooked,” observes Baker. “This music is getting people’s ears as something that time almost forgot but is now reinvented in a more accessible way.”

Article taken from Billboard.biz, click link below to see original article

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/jolly-boys-why-geejam-recordings-launched-1005070822.story

THE JOLLY BOYS JOIN SADE AS SPECIAL GUESTS

Following a personal invitation from Sade, Jamaica’s legendary and iconic The Jolly Boys have announced that they will join Sade on their European tour this spring.

The Jolly Boys, once the toast of Jamaica with their traditional ‘mento’ music, have after five decades been enjoying a remarkable revival.

It was the legendary film star Errol Flynn who, having purchased a small swathe of Northeast Jamaica, would stage wild parties at his home, and provide his favourite entertainment in the form of a local mento band, whom he nicknamed The Jolly Boys.

Mento originated as country folk music, with origins in African sounds, but with influences from European and especially Celtic music. It pre-dated and influenced everything from ska to reggae to dancehall. However, the electrification of Jamaica and its independence in the 1960s led to the decline of mento music and a new musical voice, reggae.

It was in 2009 when music producer Jon Baker suggested The Jolly Boys record a new album featuring some surprising contemporary cover versions,[1] that mento music and The Jolly Boys were re-introduced to both Jamaica and the world. The album ‘Great Expectation’ released last year went on to receive rave reviews.

Singles from “Great Expectation” Album by The Jolly Boys by geejamstudios

In their 60-year existence a changing cast of at least 18 members has come and gone but now, as noted by The Observer’s Sarfraz Manzoor, ‘The Jolly Boys are finally getting the respect they deserve. With a combined age of 382, they make the Rolling Stones look like the Jonas Brothers’.

Since the release of their album, the band has performed on the BBC’s Later with Jools Holland, as well as mesmerising audiences at the Cambridge Folk Festival, Secret Garden Party and The Big Chill. Now Sade’s audiences will experience The Jolly Boys’ special brand of Jamaican magic.

Sade Live plus special guests The Jolly Boys – full ticket information:
Friday 27 May                M.E.N. Arena, Manchester                       0844 847 8000

Sunday 29 May              LG Arena, Birmingham                             0844 338 8000

Tuesday 31 May             The O2 Arena, London                             0844 856 0202

24 hour credit card hotlines: 0844 847 2450, 0844 209 7352
Online: www.ticketmaster.co.uk www.seetickets.com

Additional ticket and tour information can be found at www.SADE.COM and www.marshall-arts.com.

For information on The Jolly Boys visit www.jollyboysmusic.com. Great Expectation is available to purchase now on PIAS/Geejam Recordings.
For further information, please contact:

Ben Martin @ Marshall Arts

ben@marshall-arts.co.uk / + 44 20 7586 3831

Emmanuel Road by The Jolly Boys,

Produced by Dale Virgo & Jon Baker

Recorded in the Geejam Studios

Emmanuel Road – The Jolly Boys by geejamstudios

BUY ON ITUNES!!!!!!!

http://popculturevideomagazine.blogspot.com/2011/02/jolly-boys-jamaican-style.html

Errol Flynn gave this amazing band their name over 50 years ago.But it was John Baker who brought the Jolly Boys and their Mento style music to the Hiro Ballroom in New York, where they impressed even the most blase hipster. The Jolly Boys’ recent album, “Great Expectations” charted in eight European countries within the top-10 during 2010. ;Go and get it! Errol Flynn named this amazing band over 50 years ago in Jamaica, however, the Jolly Boys have only recently been noticed by the world. They rocked the HIRO ballroom and impressed even the most blase New York hipster. John Baker took the Jolly Boys out of their native land, to share Mento music with us. Find out more in this interview about a story much like the Buena Vista Social Club – Jamaican style. Their recent album, “Great Expectations”, charted in eight European countries within the top 10. Go and get it! jollyboysmusic.com

The Jolly Boys – HMV Institute, Birmingham – 16/12/10
On a bitterly cold night in Birmingham, when I even had to remove ice from the inside of my windscreen before I could get out, four Senior Citizens from Jamaica brought the warmth of the Caribbean to the HMV Institute.

The Jolly Boys have been around in one loose form or another since the 1950s when they formed in Port Antonio, Jamaica. The music they play is little known outside of Jamaica, overshadowed as it is by its big cousin, Calypso, its boisterous child Ska, its proud grandchild Reggae and its swaggering great-grandchild Dancehall. But trust me Mento was there first, and in the form of The Jolly Boys it’s assured itself a place not just as a musical footnote in the Jamaican family tree but as a valid 21st century artform. In that sense, the Jolly Boys are the Buena Vista of Jamaica.

“This is Rebel Mento: delivered with all the ‘swagga’ of today’s dancehall kings.”

Through their association with ex-Island A&R man Jon Baker and Producer and drummer Dale Virgo, the Jollies have taken some musical icons of the past few decade, stripped them back and redone them mento style. Try and imagine The Stranglers’ “Golden Brown”, The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”, New Order’s “Blue Monday” and Iggy Pop’s “Passenger” performed on banjo and marumba box; or better still their show-stopping version of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” sung as if it had been written just for them. Amy? A who dat?

“With the Jolly Boys you’re in the presence of the mento monarchy.”

Don’t expect the sort of quaint show put on for tourist hotels (although these hotels have arguably been the saviour of the music and musicians in putting bread on the table) – this is Rebel Mento: delivered with all the ‘swagga’ of today’s dancehall kings. But with the Jolly Boys you’re in the presence of the mento monarchy.

The five guys on stage that night weren’t the full complement of Jolly Boys since the older octagenarian members don’t travel so well these days, but the spritely septuagenarians were ready to rock Birmingham, no matter how freezing the hall was: the dapperJoseph “Powda” Bennett on maracas and backing vocals – with his jaunty quasi-bowler hat perched on his head and his shirt tucked carefully into his trousers, delighting us and himself with his lovely flowing dance moves and neat, precise steps; founder member Derrick “Johnny” Henry hunched over his marumba box (like a cross between a cajon and a giant thumb piano) plucking away at the big metal strips to form the bass lines; Lenford “Brutus” Richards in his diamond patterned tank top on guitar and banjo quietly holding it all down; at the back the ‘youngster’ of the band Dale Virgo on kitdrums and, of course, ‘cock of the walk’, centrestage in loud check trousers and waistcoat, posing up the house with his skinny ‘marga’ self and hilarious one-liners, the unforgettable frontman, vocalist and sex symbol extraordinaire that is Albert!

“Albert Minott is the Mick Jagger of Mento”

I don’t know any other way to put it but that Albert Minott is the Mick Jagger of Mento (or maybe Mick’s the Albert Minott of Rock’n’Roll, I’m not sure). He’s easily got the same stage presence – loose, self-assured, slightly dangerous and well, yes, dammit, even sexy! (Mick’s probably in the same age range now as well!). And the man’s a poser through and through, but for once in my life that’s not meant as a criticism. Hands in the air, arm outstretched, chin jutting out and a running commentary between songs that just had everyone howling. “Yes, baby, yes! Jolly Boys coming up the road.” ‘Yeah, movin’ down the line, we gonna catch up pon yu.” “Yeah Mon, The Jolly Boys, The Jolly Boys – Jamaican styleeeee!”

“Yes, baby, yes! Jolly Boys coming up the road.”

You cannot help but like this guy! His enthusiasm for what he does is totally infectious. No wonder TVs Adrian Chiles said he wanted him as his grandad! But also very professional: sadly the newly opened HMV was for whatever reason, devoid of people that night (The Jolly Boys deserved a lot more than this) – however Albert and the boys played as if they were in front of huge festival crowd. It was freezing inside the hall (I, like everyone else, kept all my many layers on including scarf and wooly hat the whole night!) and it was absolutely treacherous outside – but inside these ‘old guys from a forgotten era’ brought the Caribbean with them and rocked the house every second they were on stage, showing us all what it takes to be a real musician. If you ever get the chance: go and see the Jolly Boys. You won’t regret it!

“If you ever get the chance: go and see the Jolly Boys. You won’t regret it!“

In the meantime their new album is worth searching out. “Great Expectation” contains – along with the tunes mentioned above – their versions of “Perfect Day”, “Nightclubbing”, Blondie’s “Telephone”, Steely Dan’s “Do It Again”, “I Fought The Law”, “Ring of Fire”, and the Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.

www.jollyboysmusic.com/

Also check their video for “Rehab” (with a cameo appearance by Errol Flynn’s wife, Patrice), filmed by Rick Elgood who is currently on tour with the Jolly Boys, making a documentary film about them. Watch this space for more details when it’s released.

www.youtube.com/watch

The Jolly Boys! – they certainly made me happy.

Glyn Phillips
WorldMusic.co.uk

Sitting and Watching by Divine Brown (Tribute to Dennis Brown) by dalevirgo

This is a tune I did last week with Canadian Superstar – Divine Brown… This is a Tribute to Dennis Brown,, Happe Birthday Dennis Brown… bless…

http://www.divinebrown.ca/

http://www.facebook.com/divinebrown

http://twitter.com/divinamarrom

Seek the father (Letter to Kartel) – D.A.Jay by dalevirgo

This Song was inspired by Kartel, bleaching, free mason and acts of madness teaching the youths. Kartel a talented artiste but Jah know rasta is like him head gawn more time.

A probably this song kartel a sing now…