This November, VP Records celebrates the work of an unsung hero in reggae and Jamaican music; producer, instrumentalist, writer, and arranger, Maurice Clive Hunt. Hunt is best known for the Abyssinians’ landmark ‘Satta Massa Ganna‘ album, Dennis Brown’s ‘Milk and Honey‘, Beres Hammond’s ‘Putting Up Resistance’, as well more recent VP Records releases by Richie Spice, Jah Cure, Queen Ifrica, and Jah9.

Out this Friday, Hunt is celebrated through an anthology of his classic productions, ‘Bad, Bad, Bad‘, and an all-new instrumental LP, ‘Blue Lizzard’, available on digital platforms and a limited-edition vinyl pressing (coming soon!). More than 50 of Hunt’s essential sessions are also collected on the new VP Records Icons series playlist, Clive Hunt – Satta Massa Ganna (link below). 

Blue Lizzard is the first reggae instrumental album of its kind to come out of Jamaica since the heyday of Channel One and Joe Gibbs’ studios in the late 1970s and Rico Rodriguez’s influential Man From Wareika album. Blue Lizzard features original compositions and several classic adaptations, all arranged by Hunt.

“I came up in the ska era. I played trumpet originally. That was my introduction to everything I do musically,” says the gifted musician, who brought together a multi-generational roster of artists for the Blue Lizzard sessions. The players included Dean Fraser, Bobby Ellis and Nambo Robinson, Robbie Lyn, Franklyn Bubbler Waul, Wayne Armond, Squidley Cole, and Kirk Bennett. The album was recorded at Jimmy Cliff’s Sunpower studio between 2016-2018. Bobby Ellis, who is seen playing flugelhorn on ‘Bobby Blue’, sadly passed away shortly after the recording was completed.

Providing deeper context for the Clive Hunt story, Bad, Bad, Bad is a historical compilation of Clive Hunt’s exceptional 1970s and 80s roots reggae productions, compiled by Greensleeves A&R, Chris O’Brien. The collection includes rare tracks by Bonny Gayle, Dennis Brown, The Abyssinians, Junior Murvin, Max Romeo, Marcia Griffiths, and Pablo Moses, as well as Clive Hunt himself in his ‘Lizzard’ vocalist persona. Together, these releases show the resilience of one of reggae’s greatest producers and a key contributor to the legacy of Jamaican music.