" 'Pledge To My People' is like a breath of fresh air" --"Kernel" Chuck Foster

Liner Notes:
Pledge to My People

What could be more honest and believable than a New Orleans artist enamored with the sounds of the Caribbean in which this city is awash, yet unafraid to hold onto its legendary jazz, gospel and R&B traditions? And what could possibly be more appropriate than this artist emerging from the studios of Allen Toussaint, himself a musical icon throughout the islands?

Introducing New Orleans' Cool Riddims & Sista Teedy (Tricia Boutté), the anchor and the kite. Sista Teedy sends her powerful voice soaring into a stratosphere of experimental reggae sound. Here is an uncompromising singer who takes chances, daring to add a jazz vocal to a reggae one-drop if she so desires, or allowing a Frank Zappa-ish guitar solo to freshen the mix. She has no fear knowing she's firmly rooted to Cool Riddims, a nine-piece band led by drummer Gregg Casmier and keyboardist Sean LaRocca.

The core lineup of Sista Teedy, Casmier and LaRocca debuted on the New Orleans reggae scene in early 1995, surprising the community with an original sound far beyond the bland approach of copying commercial reggae so typically heard here. On hindsight it seems obvious: Casmier, as New Orleans's leading reggae drummer, has propelled many local reggae projects, and LaRocca's longtime love of Jamaica's music has given sharp focus to his musical career as well. Sista Teedy provides the other crucial piece of the puzzle with a rich vocal career of both background and lead singing alongside artists as diverse as Allen Toussaint, Professor Griff & Public Enemy, the JFK Gospel & Concert Ensemble and a Finnish trad jazz band called the Riverside Rascals.

Barely off the ground in 1995 the band quickly received a crucial vote of confidence from Jamaican reggae legend Joe Higgs, who chose Cool Riddims to back him up at the 14th Annual International Reggae Music Awards ceremony based on his assessment of Casmier as "a real reggae drummer…he doesn't overplay, he stays in the pocket and he's happy there."

Pledge To My People includes eight original tunes written by the three core members and carefully worked into the repertoire over the past year. Casmier and LaRocca collaborated on arrangements graced by horn charts that hearken back to the roots of reggae. While Casmier's one-drop drumming style hones in on a particular era of reggae, the horns traverse the years of Jamaican rock steady, rockers and lovers rock. This unswerving reggae foundation gives freedom to other members of the band, committed as much to jazz as they are to reggae, to venture outside the expected boundaries.

But no one travels aloft as far as Sista Teedy as she incorporates all the styles she's learned over the years. Without apology she embraces jazz as her first love: "Everyone says I sound like a jazz singer singing reggae, but that's what I am." At the same time her love of reggae is tied to the feel and the message of the music. One of the most refreshing elements of the original lyrics is that they remain true to her idea of consistency and commitment to ideals, shown also by the band's frequent free appearances at benefit shows. Cool Riddims stay a comfortable distance away from the trite universal messages so often heard from American reggae bands, speaking instead from the heart about local issues and offering personal insight into how to make a difference.

Sista Teedy appears as a background singer on several NYNO releases, and ultimately will also release R&B albums under her given name of Tricia Boutté. But Pledge To My People, completed first by her request to Allen Toussaint, she considers to be her first true expression of herself as an artist. Once heard, it will be obvious that her voice is too strong and beautiful to be contained within any one style of expression.

Gene Scaramuzzo

CD Tracks

1. Thanks And Praise
2. I Can't Keep It To Myself
3. Betcha By Golly Wow
4. Music All Around
5. Untitled
6. Brother
7. Made For Us
8. Babylon System
9. Pledge To My People
10. Each One Teach One

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