Tommy McCook & The Aggrovators Super Star-Disco Rockers

First re-press since its original release. When The Skatalites splintered after Don Drummond’s arrest for murder, McCook led The Supersonics for Duke Reid in the rocksteady and early reggae years, before becoming the pre-eminent horns arranger of the roots era. Having already fallen under the spell of John Coltrane’s free jazz, Tommy had found a deeper meditational mood in the percussive rhythms of Count Ossie’s Rastafarian drummers, and he brought this spiritual dimension into the militant rockers sound of the late 1970s. McCook recorded extensively for Bunny Lee, and ‘Super Star Disco Rockers’, released in 1977, is a strong showcase for his meditational style of playing. The track ‘Lamb’s Bread Herb’, a reworked version of Yabby You’s ‘Death Trap’ with an overdubbed ‘steppers’ drum pattern, is a mystical highlight. Bunny Lee: “When Tommy join up with Bobby Ellis on trumpet, that is when he develop what we call his ‘far east’ sound. And especially when he play flute like on ‘Death Trap’ it give it that ‘far east’ sound. Or sometimes Tommy play clarinet for a different flavour. But mostly he play the tenor sax with that deeper, lower tone, like on ‘Tommy’s Rocking Vibration’ – hear that big horn there!” Other tracks include two cuts of Frankie Jones tunes, (‘African Jumpers’ and ‘The Night Rose Of Sherron’, both popular cuts with Fatman’s sound system) and instrumental versions of Johnny Clarke and Cornell Campbell songs. Several tunes feature the higher alto sax of Lennox Brown alongside Tommy’s tenor, and two tracks actually feature Lennox Brown alone. ‘Super Star Disco Rockers’, originally released on Dynamic Sounds’ Weed Beat label, was overdubbed and mixed at King Tubby’s Studio, where Bunny would line up the horns players in a spirit of healthy competition. Featuring, among others: Sly & Robbie, Earl "Chinna" Smith, Tony Chin, Ansell Collins, Ossie Hibbert, Bobby Ellis & Lennox Brown.