Page last revised: 12/9/20

Background

Many of the releases from mento's golden-age were targeted to tourists. This continued into the 1960s, with most (but not all) mento LP releases having strong tie-ins with the hotel where the band performed. Not only did the jackets celebrate the hotel (often to a greater degree than the band), but judging by the large number of surviving autographed LPs from this decade, the LP was sold at the hotel as well. This practice continues , as today's mento bands performing at hotels typically have a CDR for sale. These hotel LPs span the rural, jazz and folk styles.

Assorted Mid-Period LPs

Surprisingly on the RCA label, here's a very good middle period hotel LP: "Souvenir Album" of Ocho Rio's Falcondip hotel. Not that you can tell from the jacket. The band isn't pictured; music isn't even mentioned. It's not until we read the label before we know the group is called The Falconaires. Its a rural lineup, albeit with an electric rhythm guitar, including some real good banjo playing (on the deliciously sharp sound of ukulele banjo) and fine vocals with more and one lead singer and some high pitched wordless throat singing and mouth trumpet that accents a few songs.

Living up to their name, here are the The Happy Smilers with their LP, "Plantation Inn", on the Kalypso label. Dan Neely has identified one of the Smilers as golden age singer Robin Plunkett. Contrary to speculation I had previously posted, the guitarist, Euton, is not Euton  (Lord) Gayle.

Though instrumentally spare, superior lead and backing vocals make this LP an good listen. As of mid-2003, a group by this name was active and performing at the Plantation Inn in Ocho Rios! Because they are favorites of mine and it is out of print, a clips from this LP can be heard on the More Artists and Favorite Song Clips page.

Here is an eponymous The Happy Smilers  LP on the Kalypso label. The short band bio that appears on the previous album's back jacket is repeated here. Unusual for such albums, there's a date on the label: 1975. The sound is similar to the previously described, though the other album's highlights make it a better set. The Plantation Inn, where the band performed, continues to be well promoted, the name appearing on the label and back jacket.

"Calypso Beach Party", an obscure LP by The Goldenaires on the Federal label. Ken Khouri's son's Richard and Paul handled jacket design and recording duties respectively. Along with the expected middle period repertoire, there are two pleasing instrumentals. Good mid-period rural mento performed by:

Lebert "Jack" Brown - banjo and singing Clinton "Pork Oil" Gordon - vocal. guitar, drum, dancer Oswald "Youth" Jackson - vocal maracas, rumba box Lionel "Water Bird" Davis - guitar and band leader

Vincent "Pepper" Bogle:
leader, rumba box, bass

Oswald "Ossie" Williams:
lead guitar
[and most probably banjo]

Ralph "Chess" Lindsay:
guitar, vocals

Isiah "Calypso" Barrett:
vocals and drum
 

This LP spawned a single on Sue Records, as seen here.

Billed as King Dixon and His Merry Boys,  this act competed in a 1961 calypso competition, as seen here.

"Rose Hall Calypso", an LP on the Dynamic Sound Recording label by "Danny"   (Gloucester) Hill. The notes and photos of the artist would lead you to believe that the Rose Hall resort's featured performer is a solo act. But Danny Hill leads a rural mento line up, even if the banjo player opts out on a few tracks. This is smooth, polished rural mento in vocals and instrumentation, and the song selection assures that there is nothing in this set that the patrons of Rose Hall could find objectionable.

"Ska-Lip-Soul" is an interesting LP from 1965 by Price Buster on the label that bears his name. Its an interesting mix of mento and ska, as broken down below. It also includes pretty good liner notes.

 

Wings Of A Dove	The old spiritual as a ska/dance band mento hybrid
Respect	Soul with a ska beat
Cut Munno	Dance band mento, with a rural flair
Mek It Tan Deh Goosie	Dance band mento
Sammy Dead Medley	Jamaican folk/mento as ska
Dance Jamaïca	Rural mento with brass
Mr Wonderful	An old standard in ska
How Can I Tell Them	Ska
Day-O	Jamaican folk/mento as ska
And I Love Her	Cocktail jazz
Matilda	The Anancy folk song as ska/dance band mento hybrid
Rum And Coca Cola	Calypso hit as ska

On this LP, Composer chooses a number of great mento songs of that time, avoiding the over popular, more touristy ones that were flogged to near death in the next decade's wave of hotel LPs. The music is decidedly mellow featuring Composer's laid-back vocals, piano, hand drum and maracas accompaniment. It sounds nothing at all like the classic, intense single Composer recorded for MRS in the 1950s   (but then again, nothing did).

All of these tracks along with another eight that are similar in source and sound can be downloaded from at least one on-line music service, as described on the Can I Buy Mento? page.

"Mr. Gayle who plays the banjo and sings is ably assisted by":

Oswald Jackson - Rumba Box
Lionel Davis - Guitar
Cleveland Brown - Flute and Maracas,
Abraham Lewis - Drums

Abraham Lewis also appears on an LP by The Joy Makers, as seen below.

Aimed at the tourist, tracks include 4 familiar mento selections, plus 8 originals written by Cornel Lumiere. The music is best described as easy listening as played by a jazz combo. Lloyd Wilks has a fine polished "popular vocals" delivery. The Soulettes sound great, though they are criminally underused throughout. The familiar tracks are "Day-O" (which includes some of "Hill and Gully Rider"), "Yellow Bird", "Jamaica Farewell", and "Island In The Sun".

The booklet includes music for
the originals and lyrics for all
selections, along with monochrome
photos of Jamaican scenery and
people . But the artist photos
found on the other jacket are not
included anywhere in this LP.

The pages with the lyrics to the
four "all-time favourites"
can be seen right.

An LP on the Island Music Records label from the late 1960s called, "At The Courtleigh Manor" by the unoriginally named Calypso Joe. ("Calypso Joe" has served as a name for songs, artists, records, movies, toys, musical instruments, etcetera beginning decades before this release.)

This is an urban hotel LP, with a jazzy lead and a rhythm electric guitars dominating the sound. The songs are familiar 1960s mento band

Bass - Herbert Nelson
Guitar - Fritz Collash
Drums - Bertie King
Bongos - Sonny Bethelmy
Maracas - Freddie Golbraith
Clarinet - Joscelyn Francis
Piano - Mapletoft Poulle

On cuts, "Nobody's Business", "Rocky Road" and Jackass Corn:

Clarinet: Bertie King ("Ace Jamaican clarinetist ")
Drums - Donald Jarrett

Thanks to Dan Neely for pointing out that Mapletoft Poulle was co-composer of Jamaica's national anthem   (along with Hugh Sherlock and Robert Charles Lightbourne). "Dip and Fall Back" from this LP is included on and names Trojan's  2006 CD compilation "Dip And Fall Back".

Another LP from this era, with Mapletoft Poulle and His Orchestra backing the vocals of Lord Fly can be seen here. From the liner notes of that LP, here is Mapletoft's resume:

Mapletoft Poulle has led an Orchestra since 1942 and has always been interested in Jamaican folk music. He has accompanied Jamaican shows playing Jamaican Mento music in Puerto Rico at the Caribbean Festival of Arts in 1952, in Trinidad at the Celebrations to inaugurate the Federation of the West Indies in 1958, in Cuba in 1959 and in the U. S. A., in the show "Sun Over The West Indies". He performed with the Ivy Baxter Dance Troupe for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England on her visit to Jamaica in 1953 and for Princess Margaret on her visit to Jamaica in 1955 on both occasions playing Jamaican Mento music.

The music on this hotel album is best described as mento-jazz. Tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 & 10 are familiar songs from the mento repertoire. In fact, "She Pon Top" is a remake of a Motta's popular golden age dance-band track. The band plays very professional and polished cocktail jazz. The rhythm on these tracks is distinctively Jamaican and Motta's distinctive piano playing is also evident.   (Read on for more on the impressive line up of musicians on this LP.) A worthy successor to the Mento Jazz of the 1920s. The other tracks are straight jazz, except for the last track, John Canoe, which is a fine drum and fife pocomania performance.

The notes on the back of the jacket do describe the music rather than just the hotel, but regrettably does not list the musicians:

When we decided to produce an album of typical Jamaican music with a subtle hint of cosmopolitan sophistication, we could think of only one name: Baba Motta, the island's ever-popular band leader. We found Baba Motta at the picturesque Myrtle Bank Hotel in downtown Kingston, on the waterfront of the city's busy harbor, and here in the setting in which the band was accustomed to play, we had the pleasure of recording the music contained in this album.

All visitors to Jamaica have heard "Linstead Market," and here Baba injects a new twist. We will not spoil your listening by describing his arrangement - we want you to hear it for yourself.

In "Wheel And Turn Me", one may again notice Baba's unique style. The sly lyrics of "She Pon Top'" will delight the attentive listener and for a change of pace we have "Solitude," "Music of Latins", "In Bond" and many others.

The ability of the Calypsonian to take a current political situation and set it to music is aptly demonstrated here in "Make We Federate," a humorous description of the possibilities of the newly formed West Indies Federation. Whichever your favorite Jamaican music, we feel certain that you will find it here in an unusually attractive-performance. Baba and the boys wish you pleasant listening!

Happily, Dan Neely was able to provide some personnel info for this LP, and there are some familiar names, but not from mento: Roland Alphonso is on sax and Clue J is on bass. The drummer was someone interesting as well, but Dan could not recall exactly who it was.

More happiness, as Brian Keyo provided the rest of the roster: Ken Williams is on drums, Leo Wilson was on trumpet, and Ernest Ranglin was on guitar. Motta takes vocals on three  tracks, but Brian thinks it might be Roy Shurland on "Music Of Latins". It also sounds like a percussionist is on most tracks, perhaps Larry McDonald.

In January of 2006, I heard from Tennille Wilson, granddaughter of Leo Wilson. She was able to provide the following information about her grandfather:

My grandfather was Jamaican born & raised. He worked with Baba Motta for over 10 years. He played at the Myrtle Bank Hotel on Harper Street in Kingston, where they were the resident band for about the same time. He left after that to go to the Tower Isles Hotel and started the Leo Wilson Quartet and the Leo Wilson Trio. He then went on teach as a music professor for a school for underprivileged boys from 1977 thru 1985. He then went on to be musical director Elim Gospel Hall on Shortridge Road in Jamaica until his death in 1997.

Song clips from this LP cam be heard on the More Artists and Song Clips page.

Below is "Ram Jam" by The Price Brothers on the Thunderbolt label. This is the only LP by this mento-reggae act. For more on the namesake hit single, click here.

The music is purely mento-reggae. There's a combination of original songs and mento covers. "Food In The Bed" is Chin's "Night Food". "Donkey Want Seabath" is "Hol 'Em Joe".

Although its not uncommon for mento acts from the 1950s to today to record a Quadrille, the above is the only Jamaican Quadrille LP I've come across. Several Quadrille singles can be seen on the Naaman Lee page.

Quadrille has its beginnings in 19th century France as a dance and accompanying music. Quadrille moved into Britain, and into its colonies as well. Quadrille was an antecedent to both square dancing music in America as well as to mento in Jamaica. This site makes it clear that mento is still a active in Jamaica, a find like the LP above indicates that neither has Quadrille been totally forgotten. However, Dan Neely notes that in Jamaica, quadrille is rapidly being

lost. He explains that a lot of mento bands lament the fact that although they can play quadrilles, they don't have any reason to, as they can't find anyone to dance it properly anymore. And there is an increasingly smaller number of people who can teach it, despite everyone's best efforts.

     Eddie Brown - guitar and voc.
     Jellicoe Barker -  guitar and voc.
     Hubert Porter - maracas and voc.
     Monty Reynolds - rumba box
     Levi Burke - bongo

The music is smooth and pleasing with notable acoustic guitar and strong vocals and harmonies. Banjo is not utilized. Lead vocal chores are shared, with Barker and Porter each singing lead on four tracks, Brown on three, Burke on one and Reynolds sticking to backing vocals.

Because it was released on the NYC-based Ritmo, it is relitively east to find and afford for a 1960s mento LP. Two clips from this LP can be heard on the Other Artists & Favorite Song Clips page.

The liner notes by by future Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga describe Silver Sea's American television appearances and other significant performances. He goes on to explain that this calypso album is, in fact, mento, "a term, which, strangely enough, is not at all well known in Jamaica".

Some copies of the LP contain a lyrics pamphlet insert, as seen below:

Robin Bleakley, of Louisville, Kentucky alerted me to the LP, "Conch Ain't Got No Bones". It was released on a label designated as Sounds of The Caribbean   (A division of Request Records Inc, 66 Memorial Highway, New Rochelle, NY). Robin explains:

I noticed the "Silver Seas Calypsos" LP and that the songs on this release are virtually the same and in the same order, though the last two on Side A of that album are missing from this one. Instead, this LP was two songs by Hubert Smith   (who I believe is from Bermuda). The rest are credited to The Island Champions.

	Side 1: 1. Conch Ain't Got No Bone * 2. Reincarnation 3. Coolie Gal 4. In De Land of America 5. Wrong Man 6. Mary Anne  *   * by Hubert Smith	Side 2: 1. Caroline 2. Big Bamboo 3. Why Oh Papa Gone   (Charlie's Cow) 4. Banana   (Jamaica Banana) 5. Rock You Body   (...In Time) 6. Daphne's Be-Bop Walking

As seen below, in the list compiled by Olivier Albot of France, Silver Seas member   (Lord) Jellicoe Baker recorded a string of LPs.

LP	Label	Year
Jamaica Treasure	Trade Winds   (WIRL)	?
Sunny Jamaica	WIRL L/P 1910	1963
At The Sheraton	WIRL 1040	1965
A Man & His Calypso	WIRL 1046	1966
Big Bamboo	Federal	1965
Big Bamboo   (re-release)	(Ken Khouri Production)	1966

"Jamaica Treasure" seems to have been made for tourists at the Kingston airport on their way back home. Very pleasant. Some tracks are ballads accompanied by a single folk guitar   (Fly Me To The Moon, Moon River, etc.) and are sung by featured band member Pee Wee Bailey. The Jellicoe tracks are light calypsos. 'Remember Ma & Pa' is a slower cover version of the Lord Creator song. This maybe the first Jellicoe album   (circa 1962). It may also be the same album as 'Sunny Jamaica' on WIRL .

Two Lord Jellicoe tracks, "Zombie Jamboree   (Back To Back)" and "Big Bamboo", can be heard on the 2006 CD compilation "Dip And Fall Back".

Above is "Yellow Bird" by Jamaica Duke and the Mento Swingers -- a promising name and the jacket would lead you to expect some ribald songs. But the content of this LP on the Dynamic Sounds label turns out to be quite bland. The music is also quite tame, in spite of featuring banjo, violin and clarinet. Yet, there seems to be a relatively large number of this LP available on the internet and in used record stores, pointing to its popularity. To the the bottom right is "Yellow Bird" released on a nearly forgotten format -- mento on 8-track tape! Below, left is an autographed copy that reads, "Sincerely Yours, Jamaica Duke 27 Jan 1973 Montego Bay Jamaica".

The Mento Swingers: Jamaica Duke - lead singer Olia Gonzalez - clarinet Charles Harrison - banjo Vernal Vassel - violin Percy Gayle - maracas Alwyn Stanford - guitar Paul Wilson - bass Sidney Gregory - bongos

A different Jamaica Duke track can be heard on a newly released Trojan collection as seen on the Can I Buy Mento? page. "Jamaica Farewell" from this LP is included on the CD 2006 compilation "Dip And Fall Back".

Duke and His Jamaica Five released at least two rural LPs:

"Kalypso and Ska", on the Kalypso label, is solid rural mento with good banjo playing . The closest this comes to ska is a sprightly rhythm on some tracks. There is no back cover -- flip the jacket over and there's the exact same image. A variation of the jacket can be seen to the right.

Left, courtesy of Miss Pat of Dublin, Ireland, are scans from "An Evening with Duke and his Jamaica Five at the Royal Caribbean Hotel", also on the Kalypso label. The back jacket is blank.

Right, are scans of the same LP but with a variant jacket that features the same image on the front and back.

The sound is similar to the "Kalypso and Ska" LP above. A number of songs of Trinidadian origin are featured, but the sound is strictly rural mento.

The sound is enjoyable but hard to classify as strictly rural or dance band. Hand drum, fife and maracas keep things at least partially grounded in mento's rural roots. But jazzy electric guitar replaces banjo and adds to a dance-band feel. Some tracks feature vibraphone   (!), but its not played in an overtly jazzy fashion. One track is a remake of their popular song "Mermaid", a version of which can be heard on one of the Valmark CDs. 

Incidentally, Denzil recorded a single on Kalypso at the end of the 1950s or the beginning of the 1960s that has been in print since, though his name has become detached from the recording.

At least two Latin music LPs were released from the Arawak hotel. This one, "Tropical Dance Party" keeps a foot in mento territory by employing Hubert Porter as the singer for the band   (Luther Williams and His Orchestra). Of the 18 tracks, 14 are merengue and cha cha instrumentals. The four with Hubert's vocals are "Seven Bells", "Reincarnation", "Water Melon" and "Shake Senora" -- familiar songs, but with a slick jazzy-Latin sound.

Janet Enright. She was a VERY well respected jazz guitarist in the 1950s who stopped playing almost entirely after she got married. I think she played with Don Drummond on and off throughout the 1950s.

Second, is the explanation that Jamaican calypso is called mento. But so polished is pianist Lloyd's group, that they play just a few mentos, veering off into a variety of other musical styles and material. Thanks for Brian Keyo of Massachusetts for dating this album as being from 1958.

Below, let, is the same album as released on a pair of 7" EPs. Below, right, shows that the Tower Isle Hotel still stands, though its been renamed "Couples Ocho Rios". Courtesy of Larry Maleszewski of the US is this photo of the hotel from 2004. Fifty years later after Tower Isle mento recordings first appeared, mento is still performed on those grounds.

Above is the "Tower Isle Hotel" LP on the Tower Isle label, by various artists. Its a real mixed bag. From a mento perspective, there are two fine dance band mentos and a ska track   ("Nice Girl Ska", which is a ska rendition of "Brown Skin Gal") voiced by Harold Richardson. There's a song that veers more towards being cocktail jazz voiced by Harold's fellow Tickler, Donald Slue. There's also instrumental ska, cha cha, meringue and, some genuine vocal schmaltz by one Louis Sparks. The back cover is blank. The front cover is blank but for an emblem glued onto the jacket.

Below is "Calypso Volume 2", this time on the New York-based Fiesta label. The jacket has less info, no band photo, but an upgraded image of the hotel.

"Calypso Volume 2" features more dance-band mento, with piano and clarinet as featured instruments. In spite of the remaking a number of The Ticklers hits, neither vocalist appears to be Harold Richardson.

The five members of The Tornados include singer Lloyd Robinson, who recorded several well remembered rock steady and reggae tracks, as well as Charles Cameron, better known as ska harmonica player Charlie Organaire. 

Thanks again to Brian Keyo, not only for this picture of Dennis Sindrey from 7/11/02, but for personally confirming this spelling with the artist. The very next day, Dennis was part of Lord Tanamo's mento combo at the Legends of Ska concert.

The popularity of "The Pill" and "Treasure Chest" was at least in part due to the cover model, who was known as "Madam Wasp". In May of 2006 I heard from her daughter, Nadine Taylor, who was kind enough to provide the following info. Madam's real name was Elizabeth Cespedes-Brady, who was known to be a Rhumba Queen in addition to being a model for calypso albums jackets. She is Jamaican and now resides in Canada. She comes from Cuban and Asian   (Indian) background. Her beauty and flexibility in dance was attestable to the gifts and talents she inherited from a combination of these cultures. She married Carl Brady of Byron Lee's Dragonaires.   (Carl is still an active member of this venerable band.)

See also:

For more more label and jacket scans and song clips, also see this site's:

• Can I Buy Mento? page for scans of mento releases that you can buy today.

• The individual artists' pages.

• The More Artists and Favorite Song Clips page

• The "More Golden Age Album scans" page

• The "More Golden Age Single scans" page

• The "More Middle Period Single scans" page

• The "More Resurgence CD scans" page