Deadly Headley: 35 Years From Alpha (On-U Sound, 1999 [orig. released 1981])

Headley who?  Well, you may not have heard of Headley Bennett, but chances are you've heard him.  He's a sax virtuoso who's played in session bands behind everyone from Bob Marley to The Abyssinians to Culture, Alton Ellis, Gregory Isaacs, The Gladiators, The Wailing Souls, Barrington Levy, John Holt, and many more as part of acts like Sound Dimension, Creation Rebel, and Prince Far I's Arabs.  35 Years From Alpha, his only solo album, represents the only time he's stepped out from the shadows into the limelight -- and judging from the lack of recognition this album received, it will forever be his only shot.  (The title, incidentally, refers to the fact that the album was recorded 35 years after he left the prestigious Alpha Cottage School in Kingston, which produced alumni like Tommy McCook, Don Drummond, and Rico Rodriguez.)  Also featured prominently on this Adrian Sherwood production are Sherwood standby Bim Sherman and Roots Radics drummer Lincoln "Style" Scott.  Not surprisingly, then, the drum and saxophone are dominant sounds on this album.  Specifically, drum, bass, and sax account for about 90% of the music on 35 Years From Alpha (with a little piano and trombone, courtesy of Rodriguez, thrown in on a couple of tracks).  Also not surprisingly, this sound gets old real quick.  Is there any wonder why, beyond Dean Frazer, there are so few sax-led instrumental reggae albums?  This audio Nyquil goes a long way to explaining why.  The meandering sax and muted drum and bass accompaniment that rarely settles into a standard reggae "hiccup" rhythm seems like it would appeal more to classic jazz fans than to reggae fans.  Adding to the monotony is the fact that 2 of the 3 tracks that feature Bim Sherman are re-hashes of songs he'd already done, "Danger" ("The Danger") and "Dangerous Woman" ("Without a Love Like Yours"), neither of them particularly great in the first place.  Only after the first four tracks ("Another Satta" being, well, another version of the Abyssinians' "Satta Massagana") does the music seem to settle into a bit of a groove that would appease the typical reggae fan, but the damage has already been done.