The Great Jamaican Songbook, Vol 1

Cleveland Watkiss is known both as a gifted jazz vocalist and a founding member of Metalheadz – the drum’n’bass outfit led by DJ Goldie. Not one to be restricted by musical genres, Watkiss now has followed in the wake of the likes of Rod Stewart and Diana Krall – who both experienced great success singing The Great American Songbook (Gershwin, Irving Berlin, etc) – by choosing to sing Jamaican reggae songs for this album. Yet there’s something of a paradox in calling the songs here The Great Jamaican Songbook as, unlike the GASB, only one tune (‘Night Nurse’) is anywhere near a standard.

While he should be commended for not singing ‘One Love’ (and other obvious tunes), I don’t think many of the songs here are really that ‘great’: Lee Perry’s ‘Curly Locks’ was enjoyable when Scratch used his remarkable production technique on the vocalist; here it sounds like a simplistic nursery rhyme. Also: performing the tunes as reggae but without the likes of Sly & Robbie as a backing band is a mistake. Watkiss should have been more adventurous and seen if these reggae songs worked as jazz ballads (or drum’n’bass anthems?) in the way Berlin and Gershwin’s classics do.