Ital Corner

Let’s be clear here: Linval Carter, a.k.a. Prince Jazzbo, was not the most gifted of the roots-and-culture deejays who came to prominence in Jamaica in the 1970s. He got into a legendary beef with his contemporary I-Roy and every time they exchanged diss tracks Jazzbo came out looking like something of a fool. But when he kept to his own musical business he could regularly produce very fine performances, and when he teamed up with the brilliant (and crazy) producer Lee “Scratch” Perry for Ital Corner the results were both weird and magnificent. Half the credit goes to Perry himself, who was peerless at creating propulsive, spooky, and utterly unique instrumental grooves with his house band the Upsetters. Those backing tracks (all of which will be familiar to Perry fans from other releases) provide a perfect setting for Jazzbo’s meandering apocalyptic on songs like “Prophet Live” and “Natty Pass Through Rome.” Jazzbo may not have been as quick-witted and as fleet of tongue as I-Roy, but he was always deeply serious, and he never sounded more so than when recording under the supervision of Lee “Scratch” Perry.