Phase2

Mr Bongo reissues Phase2 in full for the first time, a pioneering 1979 Trinidadian steelband album led by calypso and soca steelpan innovator Len "Boogsie" Sharpe. Dubbed “the Mozart of Pan” by Wynton Marsalis, Boogsie fuses jazz, funk and Caribbean rhythms with ease and flair.

Boogsie started playing pan at five and was composing by nine. He has won seven National Panorama Championships in Trinidad and Tobago with his band Phase II, a World Steelband Music Festival with In the Rainforest, and two Notting Hill Panorama Championships with Mangrove Steel Orchestra.

Built mostly from Boogsie originals, plus a tune by Raf Robertson and a Trinidadian-disco take on Roy Ayers’ Can't You See Me, this set moves from cosmic jazz-funk to deep groove. Highlights include Boogie Kaiso, Weight, Yoga Styling, Punk Party, Celebration and the meditative solo-pan piece Passing Time.