Ernest Ranglin is a grand old man of both jazz and Jamaican music, a creator of "world music" before the category existed, adding his bubbling guitar lines to the earliest ska and reggae recordings. Following In Search of the Lost Riddim, recorded in Senegal, New Answers to Old Problems is a mix of jazz and Afro-pop, a thick and stimulating brew cooked up with seven other musicians in a London studio. Many of the musicians have Nigerian backgrounds, including bassist Orefo Orakwue, keyboardist Joe Bashorun, and percussionists Olalekan Babalola and Olakunle Ayanlolo. Famed drummer Tony Allen worked with Fela Anikulapo Kuti. There's more here than the percolating polyrhythms of West Africa, though, with ska and Afro-Cuban touches working their way in as well. Ranglin's world-pop connections have likely interfered with his getting his due as a jazz guitarist. He's simply one of the best, whether he's digging into the rhythmic mix or letting his high-speed, chromatic runs float, tumble, skitter, and twist in joy across the warm layers of percussion and electric keyboards. Bashorun and tenor saxophonist Denys Baptiste share the solo space with Ranglin, planted deep in the percussion and bass-heavy grooves. Sylvia Tella's gritty voice ups the pop quotient on several tracks, and tenor saxophonist Courtney Pine makes a forceful guest appearance on "Inflight." It's entertaining, danceable music, and Ranglin's guitar ensures there's a lot going on. --Stuart Broomer
Review
The fluid inventiveness of guitarist extraordinaire Ernest Ranglin first reached beyond Jamaica with reggae's global insurgency in the mid-1960s and thereafter. Anyone who dug the Wailers' "It Hurts to Be Alone" or the Melodians' "Rivers of Babylon" has encountered the inimitable Ranglin sound. The guitarist penned eight of the album's ten compositions, influenced by recent work with West African musicians, including present sidemen Orefo Orakwue (bass guitar), Olalekan Babaloa (congas, percussion) and Olakunle Ayanlowo (talking drum). Ranglin incorporates the lyrical wellspring of Afro-pop guitar styles, but this is essentially a jazz outing, given to extended improvisations, as in "Swaziland," complete with a witty "Reveille" quote by tenor saxophonist Denys Baptiste. Sylvia Tella adds a throaty, wine-sweet vocal presence to five tracks, including a West African-flavored "Many Roots" and the haunting, reggae-tinged anthem, "Profiles." The latter features some blistering organ work by Joe Bashorun, who also solos on Ranglin's Latin-jazz invocation, "Inflight," further seasoned by tenor sax wizard Courtney Pine's superb guest turn. -Michael Stone -- From Rhythm Magazine
