Toots & the Maytals/Skatalites, Flamingo Cantina, June 6/June 8

Toots & the Maytals/Skatalites

Flamingo Cantina, June 6/June 8

Toots & the Maytals have long held a special place in my musical heart. Back in the mid-Seventies, they were the first Jamaican band I ever saw, the band that really opened my ears to reggae. This show at Flamingo Cantina recalled 20 years ago to the week that I took the woman who has now long been my wife to see Toots & Co. at the long-gone Austin Opry House on our second date. Proving right away that he hasn't lost much in the ensuing two decades, Toots greeted the sold-out Flamingo crowd with an onslaught of his classic tunes. Opening with "Time Tough," the first song off of his first American album and a salute to his Memphis influences, he followed with the characteristically cranked-up "Pressure Drop," which had the throng singing along to its refrain, "pressure's gonna drop on you, you, you." From that point on, Toots had the crowd in the palm of his hand as he turned out one crowd-pleaser after another. This music took its name from Toots' 1968 song, "Do the Reggay," and he is perhaps the last touring Jamaican artist who still delivers that original churning, bubbling reggae beat. "Monkey Man" and later "Sweet and Dandy," the song he performed live in the studio in the movie The Harder They Come, had the massive bouncing ecstatically. Before the night was over, the Soul King of Reggae and his current Maytals lineup, including two young female backup singers, had served up dance-happy crowd-pleasers "Funky Kingston," "Reggae Got Soul," John Denver's "Country Road," and yes, "Louie, Louie." Two nights later, the same venue hosted the return of the fabulous Skatalites, Jamaica's original riddem 'n' jazz powerhouse that has inspired two subsequent ska revival decades after their early-Sixties inception. The band retains original members Lloyd Knibbs (drums), Lloyd Brevitt (acoustic bass), Lester Sterling (alto sax), and Doreen Shaeffer (vocals). Joining Sterling on the front line were a new trumpeter, trombonist, and tenor saxist. These horns soared in unison most righteously on the obscure "Two for One," recalling the loose-limbed swing of the renowned New Orleans horn section from countless Fats Domino records. The band also cranked up a litany of their ska classics including "Phoenix City," "James Bond Theme," and the tune that put Bob Marley on the map, "Simmer Down," here featuring Shaeffer's vocals. When I die, I want to ride to heaven on a ska riddem.