A Jolly night of mento at Redbones

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

The Jolly Boys, who came out for the second set to cheers from the very full house at Redbones Blues Café, 1 Argyle Road, New Kingston, on Saturday night looked strikingly different from The Jolly Boys who had taken a break after a take on Marley's Three Little Birds.

It wasn't only that the band was bigger, lead singer Albert Minott, Joseph Bennett on maracas and Derrick Henry on rhumba box augmented by Donald Waugh (banjo), Dale Virgo (drums) and Lenford Richards (guitar) to make up the new Jolly Boys, the touring outfit for a month-long UK stint. They looked different. Gone was the rural look that accompanied Kisilo and Talking Parrot; this was a slick-dressing (Bennett's fedora literally stood out) bunch.

As a band, they sounded different, too, Virgo handling a trap set to anchor the 'modern mento' with remakes from The Jolly Boys' Great Expectation album, due out September. However, some basics did not change, prime among them the rum-soaked vocals of a charismatic Minott. And in both sets he declared repeatedly, indicating a section of the crowd as he did so, "we love you over there, we love you over there and we love you over there."

The love went both ways, peaking in effusiveness for Rehab, The Jolly Boys making the sole restart of the night on which songs were played out in full as the audience chorused "no no no". But that gush of excitement built on a steady, deep appreciation from the first set which carried over into Perfect Day at the 'modern mento' start, going through to Golden Brown and Nightclubbin.

Quizzical bemusement

Minott dropped steps, including a slow-motion Cabbage Patch before Blue Monday; Bennett got his twirls on, notably on Ring of Fire; Henry wore an expression of quizzical bemusement as he sat on the rhumba box and held down the bassline. The bond among the three was evident, Minott going across to Bennett and Henry from time to time as he sang. And when Minott came closer to the audience to press flesh, drop more legs (he could have been the Rider on the Storm, when he lifted an extended left leg at the end of that song) and declare from closer range "we love you over there, we love you over there and we love you over there", it was jolliness all around.

In the end, Tommy Cowan, in exuberant MC mode, amplified the audience's request for another go-round of Rehab with "hit me one more time!", which The Jolly Boys duly did and seemed as if they were ready, willing and able to hit Redbones over and over and over again.