A Twist of Marley: A Tribute

Purists in the reggae community will be up in arms against producer Lee Ritenour for this 13-track star-studded effort, while the smooth-jazz world will rejoice over one of the year's best albums. While the former group cringes, the latter will marvel at how the guitar legend can take a well-known reggae anthem such as "Get Up, Stand Up," remove every ounce of reggae from it, add his buddy Dave Grusin to the mix, and make it sound like they wrote it for one of their duet albums. Even world-music purists should appreciate the same reggae-purifying process applied to "No Woman, No Cry" and "Redemption Song," with only the African elements left in, supplied in abundance by South African Jonathan Butler and Cameroonian Richard Bona, respectively. The results beat with the pulse of the continent more so than Marley's originals. Most other tracks maintain the reggae rhythms, with a definite commercial smooth-jazz lilt. There are no misses, but the bull's-eyes are both Maxi Priest tracks, and the inspired parings of Marc Antoine with Patti Austin and Rick Braun with Phil Perry. --Mark Ruffin