Video of the Day: Cleveland Watkiss shares single ‘Babylon Too Rough’ from new album The Great Jamaican Songbook
Mike Flynn
Friday, March 11, 2022
Multi-award-winning singer Cleveland Watkiss MBE – also a recent recipient of the 2021 Ivors Composer Award For Innovation – is back with one his most personal projects to date with his new album The Great Jamaican Songbook
Released on 25 March the album will be supported by a series of live dates around the UK from spring onwards. This roots-reggae orientated showcase, interpreted via his virtuosic jazz technique and deep love of Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown and Burning Spear, features hidden gems from labels such as Studio One, Coxsone Dodd and Tuff Gong, producers like King Tubby and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry in a unique blend of jazz and reggae.
Joining Watkiss on the album and tour will be a band who feature a who’s who of leading UK jazz, pop, reggae and funk including multi-instrumentalist Orphy Robinson MBE, versatile trumpeter Byron Wallen, Jamaican saxophonist Ray Carless, as well as bassist Delroy Murray, keyboardist Phil Ramocon, guitarist Alan Nolan Weekes and drummer Carl Robinson.
Dates are: Boisdale Canary Wharf, London (album launch, 26 Mar); Brewhouse, Taunton (6 Apr); The Lighthouse, Poole (8 Apr); Bristol Beacon (9 April); Phoenix, Exeter (10 April ); Salisbury International Arts Festival (29 May); Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Jazz Festival (10 Jun); Nocturne Live at Blenheim Palace Reggae Day (17 Jun) and The Junction, Cambridge (22 Sept).
See the video below and for more info visit www.clevelandwatkiss.co.uk