FOR the culturally-inclined, there is nothing more down-home than the twangy rhythms of a mento band. To them, it is as Jamaican as ackee and saltfish and Miss Lou.

One of Jamaica’s best known mento exponents is the Blue Glaze Mento Band.

They will release their first album, We Will Wait, this week.

Produced by Bill Monsted, an American film and music producer, the 14-track set will be officially launched December 27 at the Chaser’s restaurant in St Andrew.

Monsted told the Observer that We Will Wait is not traditional mento. It features guest spots from reggae legends Toots Hibbert and Bunny Wailer, and singer Strangejah Cole, a big star during the ska era of the early 1960s.

“We’ve got some mento songs but they are done in a modern way. There’s also some gospel, reggae-type songs and rocksteady,” Monsted said.

Wailer performs the title track, Hibbert sings Great Jehovah and Cole covers Rough and Tough, one of the big hits from his heyday. In addition to the Blue Glaze members, saxophonist Dean Fraser and veteran percussionist Uziah ‘Sticky’ Thompson played on We Will Wait.

The stars, however, are the Blue Glaze Mento Band which started as a sextet in their hometown of May Pen, Clarendon in 1967. Monsted first met them three years ago while filming a documentary on mento with British film-maker Rick Elgood.

Recording started at the Anchor and Tuff Gong studios in late 2008 with banjo player and original member Nelson Chambers leading his band on the sessions. Chambers died this year.

The current Blue Glaze Mento Band lineup is Thomas Hamilton (guitar), Samuel Feckleton (guitar), Kenneth Burrell (rumba box), Cosbert Allen (congas) and singer Vernal Morgan.

Like many mento bands, the Blue Glaze spent most of their careers working the hotel circuit. They have recorded before, most notably with the king of modern mento, Stanley Beckford.

The band worked with Beckford on two albums: Raggamento and Stanley Beckford Plays Mento.

Beckford, who died in 2007, carried the mento flag high for many years as the sound drifted into obscurity. During the 1970s when roots-reggae was the rage, the diminutive singer scored with hit songs like Soldering and Brown Gal which were big radio hits.

He was a staple in the annual Festival Song Contest, winning several times with catchy mento ditties like Come Sing With Me.

Mento lacks a performer of Beckford’s charisma, but there has been a revival in recent times. Last year, Jon Baker of Port Antonio-based Gee Street Records produced Great Expectation, a well-received album by Portland band, The Jolly Boys.

The Jolly Boys attracted mainstream attention overseas, thanks to feature articles by giant news organisations like the Associated Press.

Monsted and Elgood plan to release their documentary, Pimento In Hot Pepper — The Mento Story, in 2012.