Hi - Bop Ska (1994)

"Recorded 30 years after the breakup of the original Skatalites, Hi-Bop Ska finds the band's blend of R&B, jazz, and Afro-Caribbean music continuing to sound healthy and exuberant. On this project, the Skatalites are joined by distinguished guests who range from Jamaican icons Toots Hibbert (of Toots & the Maytals fame) and Prince Buster to such jazz improvisers as trumpeter Lester Bowie, saxman David Murray, pianist Monty Alexander, and trombonist Steve Turre. Bowie and Murray were best known for avant-garde jazz, but you won't find any dissonant, quirky outside playing on this album; from Alexander's "Renewal" and Murray's "Flowers for Albert" (dedicated to free jazz explorer Albert Ayler) to remakes of "Man in the Street" and "Guns of Navarone," the music on this mostly instrumental CD is quite accessible. The jazz guests get room to blow, but they are aware of the fact that Hi-Bop Ska is a ska project first and foremost." (Allmusic)