Although not as well-known as Skatalites trombonist Don Drummond, Rico Rodriguez (or just Rico) was just as strong a player and as in-demand as his better-known counterpart, as Trombone Man makes clear, packing 52 tracks from 1961 to 1971 onto two discs. The earliest sides here reveal Rico to be a player who was unconcerned with how things were labeled, with tunes like "Blues from the Hills" perching one foot in R&B and the other in ska, while "Duck Soup," credited to Drumbago's Orchestra, steeps its steady pulse and ringing horns in thick nyahbinghi drums years before reggae would herald the Afro-thump as its spiritual heart. Rico's loping horn lines graced a few full-length albums in the late '60s. Tracks from Blow Your Horn, Brixton Cat, and the entirety of Tribute to Don Drummond fill out much of the rest of the collection. Trombone Man ends its survey in 1971, making it a cliffhanger of sorts considering the wealth of great cuts that Rico laid down later in the decade, including the deep reggae classic Man from Wareika. Nevertheless, Trombone Man is an excellent introduction to one of the great instrumentalists of Jamaican music, whose work puts him in the same class as Jackie Mittoo, Augustus Pablo, and Dean Fraser.
© Wade Kergan /TiVo