ROCKAMOVYA | HARRISON | HORSEMOUTH | MARCUS | RYAN | WILL
It was a tour in February 2006 that brought these five musicians together. That month Groundation would be performing strictly Bob Marley and the Wailers’ music in honor of the King of Reggae (dob 6/Feb/1945). Influenced heavily by classic recordings of Burning Spear, Abyssinians, and Bunny Wailer, when it came to who would play Drums, Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace was Groundation’s first choice.
Fellow Bay Area musician Will Bernard had performed with Groundation a few times before and his work over the years with John Medeski, Stanton Moore, and Lonnie Smith made his guitar a perfect voice to add to the Groundation Jazz/improvisation sound. He and Horsemouth would join Groundation for a 3-week tour of the West Coast of America.
Following the tour experience Ryan Newman, Marcus Urani, and Harrison Stafford of Groundation, along with Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace and Will Bernard stepped into Prairie Sun studios and recorded some live jams and group improvisations. They perform an array of Jamaican popular music from Ska to Dancehall and beyond.
A large body of the work here is Roots Reggae music; a logical reflection of the Groundation sound, not to mention Horsemouth is one of the original creators of that particular style. However, they do venture out into new territory with a couple of instrumental tracks including the intro Rocksteady groove “Take the Night” a Will Bernard composition. Throughout the album Will’s majestic lead lines and wild tone experiments along with Marcus’s patchwork of Analog Synth., B-3 Organ, and Rhodes Piano lines add
new depth to the texture of Reggae. All of this combined with the distinctive wailing cry of Harrison Stafford on vocals, the thunderous bass of Ryan Newman, and the often-emulated Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace makes for some of the freshest sounding music today.
All Content ©2008 Rockamovya