Nitty Gritty & Tenor Saw were a pair of whip smart, nasal voiced Jamaican singers whose slang heavy style recalled the improvised witticisms and scat laden asides of Eek-a-Mouse and Toyan, but who softened their street bred style with an undeniably sweet sense of melody borrowed from more formal stylists like Horace Andy and Sugar Minott. Their careers caught fire just as Jamaican music was undergoing an epochal stylistic shift, as producers like Prince Jammy and George Phang were beginning to discover the efficacy of digitally programmed rhythms. Tenor Saw’s “Pumpkin Belly” is a landmark slice of early digital dancehall that finds the swift-tongued singer delivering boasts and insults over Prince Jammy’s Casio programmed “Sleng Teng” rhythm, while Nitty Gritty’s “Everything I Try” features a dancehall oriented version of the immortal “Truth and Rights” rhythm that finds Sly Dunbar adding some innovative percussion accents. Most listeners will be immediately familiar with “Ring The Alarm” the ubiquitous Jamaican dancehall standard that effectively made Tenor Saw’s career. Tenor Saw Meets Nitty Gritty features no less than four takes on the “Ring The Alarm rhythm, all of them essential.

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