I'm Free

six track vinyl. an influential figure on the bristol reggae scene since the 1970s, bunny marrett has been shamefully neglected on record with just two tracks on the a side of a 1981 shoc wave 12" his sole output, although his compositions have fared somewhat better having been recorded and released by both black roots and delroy ogilvie. bristol archive record's release of bunny's 1986 recorded album 'i'm free' should go some way to making up for that oversight. as a bonus, bunny is accompanied by legendary bristol band the startled insects and equally legendary local jazz drummer tony orrell. bunny may be a reggae artist, but he is also a jazz lover and with first rate jazz accompaniment, the music they produced is a totally natural fusion of reggae and jazz that more than twenty five years after it was recorded still sounds totally fresh. when they collaborated with bunny the, startled insects had already made an impact with their first two records on antenna and were about to be signed by island. one of the startled insects, richard lewis, will be well known to fans of bristol archive records as legendary engineer and producer uk scientist. the remaining band members known as just the insects, would go on to a very successful career scoring music for film and television, writing for massive attack and working with several leading uk acts. the vinyl lp contains the 1986 album as it was envisioned, four vocals, the uplifting title track 'i'm free', bunny's tribute to bob marley with 'jazzy reggae' making an excellent adaptation of the wailers original.