Teino Evans, Staff Reporter

Robbie Lyn is confident in 'Making Notes'. - Contributed

Some say yes, some say no, but not many people know how to appreciate instrumental music, much less have the urge to go out and purchase an entire album.

This reality, however, has not deterred instrumentalists from continuing to invest theirtime, money and energy, as they have continued to produce entire albums and hold fast to performing live music.

Keyboard player, composer and arranger, Robbie Lyn, who recently released an album entitled Making Notes, admits that "In terms of being instrumentalists there is some amount of confinement, because we are often seen as providing background music, but we seem to have our little niche of functions and staff party type events."

As such, Lyn says, "The young people are a little harder to please, but the more mature audience will still appreciate it."

Lyn says once "live music was the order or the day," compared to today when recorded music holds sway.

Lyn remains confident, however, that his instrumental album will do well, as he says "I still feel that people who appreciate a certain standard of music and love to hear melodic or harmonic music should find this pleasant to listen to. It's just that the age group seems to be 40 and over, but we should get a mixture."

Glen Browne, musician and producer, who co-produced on two of pianist Monty Alexander's Marley tribute albums, Stir It Up and Concrete Jungle, and also co-produced on Robbie Lyn's Making Notes, says there is still a place and market for instrumental music.

Young and old mix

"They categorise that type of music as 'Adult Contemporary', but what I find - because like my son, Robert Browne, he did an album called Birth - and I found on a couple of occasions, like when he performed at Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues, people were asking for the album and it was a mix of young and old," Browne said.

"It depends on the era they cover, because even when people listen to Robbie Lyn's album with songs like Cherish The Love or Wild World, it takes people back to the days when they use to court. But like Robert (Browne), he had mostly originals and people appreciate the difference. So there is an audience for both eras," he said.

Browne also made further comparisons with the likes of guitaristsDwight Pinkney and Wayne Armond, saying "They are in the same age group and they cater for an audience who would be in that age group who could easily relate to songs that they cover, while younger players like Dubwise (Robert Browne), come with newer ideas and there is a song on his album, Bob Marley's Sun Is Shining, that many people now gravitate to."

Browne says "Each has its own genre and market, some bigger than others, like even with Monty Meets Sly and Robbie, done for Telarc Records, that had a great appeal because of the selection of songs. Sly chose songs coming from the 70s era, like People Make The World Go Round, Chameleon, Soulful Strut, Mercy Mercy and he even covered one of Jackie Mittoo's hit songs, Hot Milk.

"The one original that was called Monty's Groove got more international airplay, and that shows that there are still people looking for fresh stuff, but you break it to them with other songs that they are familiar with first," he concluded.

Trumpeter Dwight Richards is not so much in agreement, however, as he says, despite having success with a couple of his albums, it was a risk that he had to take on his own.

"Nobody produces instru-mentals. I was the first artiste to take my own money and do a 'trumpet album'. We just spen our likkle money out a our pocket an do a album an hope it sells," Richards said.

"Wi nuh really have a market for it ... my first instrumental album, Sudden Impact sold. We did it live and I like that, but no producer nowadays a tek dat on an me work inna di studios nuff. Is dancehall a mek di money, every producer nowadays have a likkle computa inna dem house an produce a riddim an guh voice dancehall artiste," he said.

"I had an instrumental album in the Christmas called Dreaming Of A Dwight Christmas and that sold more than 2,000 copies, cause people want the instrumentals, but all producers are interested in is now, today. But I'm just having fun with my trumpet. I still guh church every Sunday and play my trumpet," Richards said.