various artists 'Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa' Double LP (UK, Honest Jon's Records, Catalogue #HJRLP38) Brand new/unplayed copy of Honest Jon's label Double LP issue of amazing collection of mega-rare recordings, circa the late 1940s through the early 1960s, documenting the revolutionary Calypso music scene of West Africa. Honest Jon's Records does it again! British labels excel at this level of global archivism and presentation of worldwide recordings/rarities and here is another excellent UK label (along with Soul Jazz, Soundway, Blood & Fire, Pressure Sounds, et al) proferring their assemblages for all to hear. Gatefold cover contains copious liner notes, photographs, etc. A superb package all around!

'Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa celebrates the West African counterpart of the 1950s Soho scene uncovered in the Honest Jons's series, London Is The Place For Me. Issuing from centuries of to-ing and fro-ing between England, the West Indies, and West Africa, the same musical styles -- calypso, highlife, jazz -- overlap, proliferate, and adapt, with local traditions freshened up and thrown into the mix. With numerous faces and reference points cropping up in both milieu, this contemporaneous music-making is brimming over with the same passion for life, sparkling topicality, and extravagant, magpie creativity. The inter-war dance bands of British West Africa are often strikingly Similar in sound to Trinidadian orchestras like Lovey's String Band (credited with the first calypso recordings in 1912). However, the first West African calypso recordings in the modern style are from Freetown, Sierra Leone in the early 1950's, by Ebenezer Calender and Famous Scrubbs. In arrangements blending African and European instruments, the brass plays out the legacy of colonial military bands, albeit hair-down and a little ramshackle now; and the beautiful Creole lyrics are as quick and musical as any classic calypsonian's. Decca also organized the first calypso recording session in Ghana, down the coast, where a sound interchangeably designated "calypso" or "highlife" ruled urban dancefloors, courtesy of The Tempos and its spin-offs including The Rhythm Aces. The invasion of King Mensah of Ghana, and The Tempo's money-spinning tour of Nigeria at the start of the 1950s sparked a decade of musical innovation. Bobby Benson's new highlife 11-piece included the great trumpeters Victor Olaiya and Roy Chicago and his calypso "Taxi Driver" was their first, huge, signature hit. (By contrast, little is known about the Nigerian Rolling Stone ). The Mayor's Dance Band was run by the celebrated Erekosima "Rex" Lawson, whose trademark blend of Igbo lyrics over a Calabari rhythm reflected his mixed parentage. Steven Amechi was from eastern Nigeria, and the guitar solo on "Nylon Dress" is by the king of Igbo highlife, Stephen Osita Osadebe. Saxophonist Chris Ajilo and his band The Cubanos didn't produce much calypso-highlife, but rather, cooking Afro-Cuban jazz with traditional roots, exemplifying the open hybridity of all these forms. By the early 1960s, calypso was fading in West Africa, and U.S. soul and rhythm and blues were poised to replace Caribbean influences. Still, the dying embers would produce its most classical exponent, Godwin Omabuwa, Nigeria's own Lord Kitchener. Omabuwa cut only a few records, but his mastery of the genre was a fitting end to the heyday of calypso in British West Africa. Deluxe double LP in a beautiful gatefold sleeve.'

Artists/Tracks on this Double LP are as follows:

Famous Scrubbs - 'Poor Freetown Boy' Bobby Benson And His Combo - 'Taxi Driver (I Don't Care)' Chris Ajilo And His Cubanos - 'Ariwo' Roy Chicago - 'Olubunmi' Mayor's Dance Band - 'Bere Bote' Steven Amechi And His Empire Rhythm Skies - 'Nylon Dress' Ebenezer Calender And His Maringer Band - 'Fire Fire Fire' Famous Scrubbs - 'Scrubbs Na Marvellous Boy' Godwin Omabuwa And His Sound Makers - 'Dick Tiger's Victory' Rolling Stone And His Traditional Aces - 'Igha Suo Gamwen' E.T. Mensah And His Tempos Band - 'The Tree And The Monkey' Bobby Benson And His Jam Session Orchestra - 'Calypso Minor One' Ebenezer Calender And His Maringer Band - 'Cost Of Living Nar Freetown' Ebenezer Calender And His Maringer Badn - 'Me Nar Poor Old Man Nor Do Me So' Bobby Benson And His Combo - 'Gentleman Bobby' Victor Olaiya - 'Yabomisa Sawale' The Rhythm Aces - 'Mami' Ebenezer Calender And His Maringer Band - 'Arria Baby'

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