Andre Tanker Five - 1969 - Afro Blossom West

Andre Tanker Five 

1969 

Afro Blossom West

01. Old Lady Walk A Mile

02. Party In The City

03. Hamburg

04. Ho Ba La La

05. Do Me So La So So

06. Lena

07. Wachi Wara

08. Are You Lonely For Me Baby

09. Don't Let Me Lose This Dream

10. Swahili

Andre Tanker - vibes, vocals.

Clarence Wears - guitar

Clive Bradley - bass.

Kester Smith - drums, timbales, vocals.

A jazzy combo from the Caribbean – led by a singer who also plays some really wonderful vibes! The rhythms are strong, with a definite dose of calypso in the mix – but the overall sound is much more in the jazz side of the spectrum, thanks to fluidly melodic sounds from Andre Tanker on vibes! Tanker also sings a bit too – but he's open to Latin modes and soul jazz styles, which makes him sound a lot different than anything you might expect from a late 60s album recorded in Trinidad! In fact, a few of these tunes even hit a boogaloo groove – which is perfect for the vibes – and others maybe echo some of the groovier Verve records modes of the time.

When this album was first released in 1969, the young combo around vibraphonist and singer Andre Tanker conveyed a new style mix, which apparently naturally merged quite different musical influences into a new whole. At the centre of the music of the Andre Tanker Five was jazz in its Caribbean, Trinidadian style, a combination of the modern jazz of those days and the sounds of the extremely popular steeldrum bands of the time. A very decisive addition is typical for Trinidad: Calypso. Calypso stands for the attitude to life of this young generation of musicians, for the 'Good Time Feeling' and the desire to incorporate danceable Caribbean rhythms and Afro-Latin grooves into their individual style.