Dean Fraser

reggae musik- sax Dean FRASER Big Up! 1997 72.42 label: Island: Jamaica Jazz Dean Fraser [t&a&s saxes]; Idris Muhammad [d (right)]; Sly Dunbar [d (left)]; Jon Williams [p]; Maurice Gordon [g]; Wayne Batchelor [ac b]; Larry MacDonald [perc]. [...] In the meantime Dean had been awarded a Musgrave Medal for Outstanding Musical Achievement by the Jamaican government, and somehow found time to guest on albums by Buju Banton, Maxi Priest, Beres Hammond, Beenie Man and several other top-flight reggae names as Jamaican dancehall music gained a valuabuable foothold on the international charts. He was often joined to these sessions by his old friend Sly Dunbar, himself a key member of the Xterminator set-up despite his many other musical activities; not least as one half the world famous Sly & Robbie production team. Yet both he and Dean had other musical ambitions to fulfil, outside of the cut and thrust of making hit dancehall records. After two highly regarded albums with Ernest RANGLIN (см.) and Monty ALEXANDER (см.) – two legendary veteran JA musicians – this innovative Island subsidiary label was in the process of redefining the boundaries between jazz and reggae and master saxophonist Dean Fraser, with his early experience of playing in one of Jamaica's most renowned big bands was the ideal choice to continue in a similarly progressive vein. Recorded in Jamaica and New York in just a few days and containing several inspirational ‘one take’ performances, Big Up! is a master-class in the art of jazz/reggae virtuosity, yet still the whole project gels with vibrant immediacy.