The Flying Hats - The Return Of [ATA Records]

Format: LP in printed sleeve.
CAT: ATA040LP

Every ATA project is characterised by collaboration — some last a few weeks and some decades. When drummer Sam Hobbs and bassist Neil Innes set out to make The Return of the Flying Hats, they were building on twenty years of playing together; Innes’ years in nightclub residencies and his love for African American dance music, and Hobbs’ intensive exploration of the links between US soul and R&B, Jamaican rocksteady and roots, and music from the wider Caribbean, from Cuba to Trinidad and Brazil. Organist Bob Birch and guitarist Chris Dawkins were the other crucial elements: Birch started out as a jazz Hammond player in the bluesier McGriff/McDuff vein before discovering the more exotic colours of Art Neville and Jackie Mittoo, and Dawkins has been a session guitarist for the best of British reggae and rock for a generation.

The Return of the Flying Hats occupies a space between The Aggrovators and The Meters, under the influence of Lynn Taitt & the Jets and the Fatman Riddim Section. Tracks like Grafter and Bust Up conjure up the image of classic New Orleans funk recorded in Kingston, whilst Tough Swagger sounds like half of Bunny Lee’s Aggrovators stopped by Ultrasonic to jam with Ziggy Modeliste.

Elsewhere the Jamaican sound predominates: An Autumn Sun is a plate of Kingston soul as sweet as you could wish for, Strong Fish is an honest tribute to Hot Milk-era Mittoo, whilst the introductory fanfares of Night Bus and Power Cut sound like they are giving way to powerful I Roy cuts.

Iron Fist meanwhile blends everything into a fresh brew of lopsided drums, talking bass and fluid organ melodies: when Innes and Hobbs first started jamming together, they sketched out melodies for every groove, but Birch walked in and ignored virtually every note, preferring instead to channel extemporaneous lines that sound both original and traditional.

It would be wrong to call this group a new band, with all the shared miles of experience they have travelled together: what this certainly is, is a fresh reading of a couple of much-loved genres – New Orleans R&B, instrumental rocksteady – which achieves something more than the sum of its parts: this group will be in high demand by vocalists, and for my part I can’t wait to hear the dubs which are surely to come.