Meditations

Every roots-reggae outfit has paid homage to R&B legend Curtis Mayfield -- including the Meditations, a harmony trio that spun out of rocksteady act the Linkers. Formed in 1973 by Channel One Studio duo Ansel Cridland (a former racetrack jockey) and Danny Clarke, the Meditations likewise boast fellow Kingstonian and falsetto crooner Winston Watson. After an early single, "Woman Is Like a Shadow," sold 30,000 copies in one month, Cridland and company caught the ear of producer Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Jamaican Moses himself, Bob Marley, who enlisted the three-piece to back him up on a pair of classics, "Rastaman Live Up" and "Blackman Redemption." On their own, however, the Meditations still specialize in political righteousness and rich, honey-dripping vocal interplay that eschews drugs, guns and wildness in favor of uplifting the masses. This Saturday's roots clinic reunites three of the genre's original elder statesmen for an evening of pristine, conscious sounds both Jah-ful and joyful.