Word: calypsos
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...sextet opened the concert by launching into Rollins' new calypso "Salvador," from his recently-released album This Is What I Do. Scott provided the first fireworks of the night with his dazzling, percussive piano solo (although his occasionally audible singing served as a distraction in this performance as well as at various points throughout the night). Scott and See-Yuen divided time between their primary instruments and kalimbas for the calypso "Global Warming," a tune which simultaneously reflected Rollins' environmental concerns as well as the African influence in Carribean and American music. Anderson proved a worthy front-line counterpart...
...Rollins closed out the performance with another calypso, the West Indian folksong "Don't Stop the Carnival." Rollins seemed to feed off the energy of the crowd, playfully examining the entire range of his tenor saxophone, conjuring the highest altissimo wails and lowest foghorn blares. He then paused, while the band played on, to restate some of his environmental qualms. "We gotta live easy on the planet," Rollins implored. "Stop driving all those SUVs." Perhaps realizing that he could touch his audience much more powerfully with his horn than with his words, he finally sighed and said, "Y'all understand...
...Every Sonny Rollins album contains the obligatory calypso number and this album opens with an original titled "Salvador." Though entertaining, this piece lacks some of the joyous swagger associated with Rollins' other Caribbean interpretations. Rollins digs marginally further into his improvisatory bag on the two other originals, the funk-infused "Did You See Harold Vick?" and the slow blues "Charles M." to greater effect. Just as in his live performances, the standout sideman on this album is pianist Stephen Scott. The vibrancy of Scott's solos safeguard the moderate pace of the album from becoming sluggish. His swinging, soulful contribution...
Their unavoidable hit is a mix of calypso-inflected insults ("Get back, you flea-infested mongrel!") to a hip-hop-cum-pop beat. But it's the hook that has become an ironic anthem. The singer shouts, "Who let the dogs out?" The reply is a male chorus of "Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof...
When Greenberg presented the idea, group leader Isiah Taylor, 50, rejected it. He thought the song was too Caribbean for the American charts. He was probably right. The original version was a soca (soulful calypso), a horn-heavy, up-tempo form that is played at Caribbean carnivals across the U.S. every summer but has never really caught on. When Baha Men finally recorded Dogs, they explored beats more familiar to American audiences--throwing in some junkanoo (Bahamian festival music) percussion to give it their signature flair. The result is the catchy rendition you've heard so often: urban, with...