Rifle Road
Rifle Road, a revealing name for a road in a tense area in urban Kingston, is where this musical odyssey is coming from. It’s about Rohan Reid, one of the most gifted musicians
of his generation. In countless live music sessions in Jamaica, he always impressed with his confidence and dexterity. On bass and guitar, he was effortless, never workmanlike, never labored, just the real deal.
Reaching for a wider landscape, he came north to Orlando, Florida, and his talent blossomed. A wave that’s now reaching you, cresting with his brilliance on bass, piccolo bass, guitar, and his banjo playing is another dimension. His composing, another side of his evolving talent, is summed up perfectly in “I Have Much To Say”. The cover songs take on new life: “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love”, refreshed with a reggae feel, and the Latin groove on “Rifle Road,” is in the cut. The players are a perfect fit; Phillip Martin’s saxophone, and the astonishing Sisaundra Lewis, also Mrs. Reid, who brings home, one of the best recent versions of “Lets Stay Together”. The talent here, to use a Jamaican vernacular “must bus”, meaning talent that is rising to the surface so fast, must break out inevitably. It may well be that Rohan Reid with Rifle Road, has made the album of his generation.
Dermot Hussey
Program Director, XM 101
“The Joint”