Harold Butler

Harold Butler – Africa On My Mind – Waterlily

If you went to Aquarius studios in the seventies – you was looking to make a certain kind of album. Herman Chin Loy had put a lot of time and money into Aquarius – it had a sound.

It had an ethical feel that leaned towards Jazz more than anything else..

And so Harold Butler - master keyboard player set about making a reggae-jazz album. In much the same way that Ernest Ranglin did for the same company.

Executive producer is listed as Lloyd Chin-Loy – which I would guess is a brother to Herman and Trevor the most well known of the Chin Loy family in reggae music.

Looking at the line-up of musicians – you see some great players of instrument – Boris Gardiner on Bass, Leslie Butler on Piano, Willy Lindo on guitar.

But all the while you can't help thinking that if you was making a reggae-jazz album this was a job for the Now Generation band.

Drop Val Douglas, Mikey and Geoffrey Chung into this album – and it would have been a lot different, not better just different..

Still Harold Butler creates some wonderful melodies on this nine track set. And what is really important is that someone tried to create

something a little bit different. And that can't be bad.