Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

The Deep Pocket Band gives a 'rock solid' performance at Red- Bones Blues Café, Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, on Friday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

An unplugged bass player Sly wandered hither and yon around RedBones the Blues Café. Karl occasionally took a firm stand with the drum set, literally, while Wonder Dog's legs sometimes did a good imitation of a pendulum as his fingers danced while he played the keyboards.

Saxophonist Tafane, lead singer Omar, Patrice on harmony and Big T on guitar sometimes jammed in smiling near unison as the Pocket Band from Washington pulled songs from a stash that is getting deep, with three albums to their credit. They started with a ballad, Omar giving the greetings and salutations at 9:30 p.m. before dispensing Medicine. It was not a good pill to swallow, although the seated audience at RedBones took some time to respond with more than appreciative applause at the end of the extended songs.

With the bass player first sitting on the left side of the stage, then standing in a lit archway, it was a sign of things to come, as was the jolly jigging on stage on the reggae chorus of Bad Hearts, as the tempo picked up, although Tafane's solo was somewhat lost in the mix. The rock came through on Satisfy My Soul, the drummer leaping in his seat as he crashed his sticks on the instrument. There was a 'pull up' on the semi-ballad Lila Rose, which was ended slow to a chorus of cheers and whistles from the audience.

Omar introduced Steady When You Come My Way as a 'jazzy jazzy, jazzy reggae song', the jazz coming first before the reggae hit. The Pocket paid homage to Jamaica with "I don't want to be

famous/I want no credit loan/I just want to make Jamaica/my home away from home."

It was an uptempo second hour, beginning at 11:00 p.m., a snippet of War coming in the first song, Omar calling for a hip hop beat to add rapping to a spot of yodelling in the first segment. Big T did a spot of vocals and Wonder Dog stepped up front to become a human beat box, bassist and drummer kicking up legs at the front of the audience, in an hour when at points the bass player stood on the kick drum and the two went at it hard and heavy together.