Boogsie - Phase2 (2026) [Hi-Res]

In 1979, Trinidadian steelpan master Len "Boogsie" Sharpe recorded Phase2, a bold fusion of jazz, funk, disco and Caribbean rhythms. The label Mr Bongo is now reissuing it in full for the first time.

Sharpe is one of the key and most influential figures in the world of pan. Wynton Marsalis dubbed him "the Mozart of Pan": he began playing at five and composing at nine. He has won seven National Panorama Championships in Trinidad and Tobago, took the world Steelband Music Festival with his composition "In the Rainforest," and twice won the Notting Hill Panorama Championship with Mangrove Steel Orchestra. He has played with Andre Tanker, Lord Shorty, Lord Kitchener, Leston Paul, Clive Zanda and other Caribbean greats, became an arranger for the National Steelband of Trinidad and Tobago, and serves as a cultural ambassador promoting the instrument.

The album shares its name with Phase II, the band Sharpe formed with six friends who wanted to play their own music. The eight tracks are mostly Sharpe originals, plus a composition by Trinidadian musician Raf Robertson and a disco cover of the Roy Ayers classic "Can't You See Me." That cover, an underground disco hit, brought Sharpe wide recognition once rare groove DJs started playing it; the pan added Caribbean heat to the original.

But the album is more than one hit. "Boogie Kaiso" is cosmic jazz-funk: a soulful piano introduction drops into a deep, addictive disco groove with pan and a mood close to Cloud One; fresh and ideal for the dancefloor. "Weight" is a catchy, melodic jazz-funk piece with superb playing. "Yoga Styling" and "Punk Party" open with striking breaks and flow into grooves with leftfield disco swagger, hypnotic musicianship and blistering solos from Sharpe. "Celebration" blends something of Stevie Wonder with a calypso classic, driven by the relaxed yet precise funk drumming of Richard Bailey. "Passing Time" is a meditative pause: just Sharpe and the pan, calm and restorative.

Tracklist:
1. Boogsie - Weight
2. Boogsie - Can't You See Me
3. Boogsie - Celebration
4. Boogsie - Boogie Kaiso
5. Boogsie - '79 Is Mine
6. Boogsie - Passing Time
7. Boogsie - Yoga Styling
8. Boogsie - Punk Party