Live music: "Super" Mario thrills at Redbones

localjoe.myorganogold.com

With searchlights sweeping in the near distance, track records were being tested and bested at the nearby National Stadium.

But at Redbones on Saturday last, records were being given out (to the fortunate few) and transposed into silky vocals and instrumental expositions. Patrons jammed the courtyard of the Kingston eatery to hear and see "singing medic' Mario Evon perform tracks from his debut full-length offering, entitled "ME on Love," a project at least four years in the making.

And the red-jacketed crooner came out in good form from the get-go, announcing the "Reggae-Soul" hybrid that is the backbone of his oeuvre. Standout songs included "Never Let You Know", the breezy "Soul Tek" (adapting the Jamaican expression, my spirit tek you: I instinctively like you"), a dancehall-inflected cover of Babyface's "Whip Appeal" and the declaration of undying love "This Day"