Ernest Ranglin can claim to be one of the fathers of Jamaican music. As a guitarist in the late 1950s at Kingston’s Studio One, Ranglin is credited with setting the tempo for ska. He played on the first session by the unknown singer who became famous as Bob Marley. In recent decades Ranglin played with jazz musicians and found ways to join reggae with other genres. Much of Bless Up moves at an easy reggae pace, venturing from those roots into gently lapping rhythms, fluid solos and horn charts derived from jazz.
