Goombay Rhythms: Songs and Rhythms of Nassau, by George Symonette

Goombay Rhythms: Songs and Rhythms of Nassau

by George Symonette

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1.	Hold Him Joe 02:02	buy track
2.	Gin and Cocoanut Water 02:24	buy track
3.	The Crow (original version) 02:26	buy track
4.	Push Push 03:26	buy track
5.	Peanuts Plays the Drum 02:00	buy track
6.	Doctor 02:18	buy track
7.	Freckles 02:17	buy track
8.	Brown Skin Gal 02:15	buy track
9.	Come Here Liza, Let Me Tell You Something 02:19	buy track
10.	Wanna Do Nothing All Day 02:42	buy track
11.	Fishing 02:36	buy track
12.	Can't Get No Sweetness Out of Me (original version) 02:22	buy track
13.	Never Interfere with Man and Wife (bonus track) 02:27	buy track
14.	Princess Margaret Jones (bonus track) 02:03	buy track
15.	Mamma Loves Tea (bonus track) 02:41	buy track

about

George Symonette is a jaunty, spirited singer, a fine songwriter, and a splendid pianist. Born in 1912 or 1913, Symonette recorded a number of sides for the Harold E. Doane-owned Art and Bahama Records labels from 1955 to 1961. Goombay Rhythms: Songs and Rhythms of Nassau, credited to George Symonette and His Goombay Sextette, was originally released on Bahama in 1956 (BLP-18). This neglected treasure (by a neglected and worthy artist) has been digitally restored from clean vinyl (with three bonus tracks from George Symonette in Stereo [BR-34]). If you're a fan of midcentury calypso—"goombay" is a derivation indigenous to the Bahamas—all Symonette recordings are worth hearing.

From the 1956 LP liner notes:

Presented herein are a collection of most enjoyable and listenable songs, stories and exciting rhythms of the Bahamas. Most are folk songs brought over to the west Indies by African ancestors richly endowed with a natural heritage for song and musical story. Some are comparatively new. A few are songs especially written for this collection. These are the songs of simple folk; of primary pleasures; of love unrequited, flirtatious or unfaithful; songs of good times, bad times, and ballads both legendary and factual. All have a frank and earthy humor that will bring a smile to your face and a tap to your toes. We give you a pleasant sojourn in never-to-be-forgotten Nassau.

George Symonette, Nassau's King of Night Club Entertainers, is an academically trained musician. A soft-spoken gentleman towering 6-1/2 feet. His is the earthy approach, the sly raconteur, tongue-in-cheek, lifted eyebrow, balladeer. Wherever George entertains one will always find his legions of listeners coming back again and again, year after year, to hear and see him sing his songs of the Bahamas.

Berkley "Peanuts" Taylor — a talented youngster is featured on percussion and performs a marvelous solo on the selection aptly titled "Peanuts Plays the Drum."

[Note: The album alternately spells his name "Berkley" and "Berkeley." However, Taylor released a solo album (available here) in which his name is consistently spelled "Berkley."]

credits

released November 19, 2020

Recorded at the Playhouse, Nassau, Bahamas. Released in 1956 on Bahama Records (BLP-18).

Featuring Berkley "Peanuts" Taylor on bongos and Goombay drums

Tracks 13–15 originally appeared on George Symonette in Stereo (Bahama Records Ltd. BR-34), issued in 1961.

No songwriter credits appear on the sleeve or disc. Many of these songs, as the liner notes indicate, are traditional works which have evolved and been adapted over many decades. Symonette adds his own unique vocal and lyrical flair, and the arrangements are original.

Digitally restored from vinyl by Irwin Chusid, 2020

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Cosmic Spy Music Hoboken, New Jersey

Finding things on the scrapheap of history that we know don't belong there, and salvaging them.

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