Now in the sixth decade of his recording career, guitarist Ernest Ranglin, as displayed in Gotcha!, is the master at turning less into more. Using the simplest reggae and ska rhythms and the most basic hooklines for melodies, he turns the album into a wonderfully endearing and joyful set. Its component parts are easy to identify: an understated but insistent rhythm section of bassist Anthony Jackson, percussionist Errol Bennett and drummer Steve Jordan, a sweet-toned pianist in Warren Bernhardt whose solos bounce and romp around the rhythms, a groove-based organist in Gary Mayone to provide the funk, and a fine saxophonist in Antonio Hart to lay down some heavier jazz. Dominating them all is Ranglin himself, whose clean, ringing single-note runs suddenly pile into scrunched up chords and chiming arpeggios. Think Wes Montgomery, but on a Caribbean beach, and you get the idea. Yet when you put all these individual parts together, the whole is so much bigger. Each of the nine tracks has much to recommend, though "Way Back When" stands out for its glorious, echoing Ranglin riff, while "Moondance" (a Ranglin tune, not the Van Morrison one) is irresistibly catchy. In its seeming simplicity, Gotcha! overwhelms. -Simon Adams.

The Skatalites' return to a major label was long overdue. For a band whose original incarnation had only lasted 14 months in the 1960s, their influence had been tremendous. Resurrected in 1983, these days they were definitely jazzers with a ska beat. Ball of Fire was made up of old Skatalites material, all reinterpreted by a band that included four founder members, and it taught a lesson in sophistication and swing to all aspiring ska instrumentalists. Everything had a groove, the solos were fluent and never self-indulgent. In other words, it was everything they ever aspired to be, and glorious fun, too. -Chris Nickson.