For My Father’s Art, Noel Ellis’s second album, he returned to Trench Town, the place where he was born, to record some of its songs.

Released on June 30, it contains covers of 12 songs made famous in Jamaica by Alton Ellis, his father, who died in 2008.

Fitzroy Green and Courick Clarke co-produced the project, which was mainly recorded at JaMin Studio in Trench Town. Australian Gregory Quaill also contributed to My Father’s Art at Fifty Fifty Records in Sydney, Australia.

Determined to do his father justice, Noel took two years to complete the album.

“We didn’t want to rush the process because this album means so much to me. Every song was approached with love, care, and respect,” he said. “We wanted to create something that would honour my father’s incredible legacy, while also allowing me to tell my own story through his music.”

Rock Steady, You Make Me So Very Happy, Willow Tree, and I’m Still in Love With You are some of the songs on
My Father’s Art. His father’s versions were recorded during the 1960s rocksteady craze.

Selecting the songs was deeply personal for Noel.

“These are songs I’ve loved all my life, and I wanted to reinterpret them while staying true to the spirit and emotion that made them classics. This album is my tribute to his timeless music and to the incredible legacy he left behind,” he said.

Like his father, Noel Ellis moved to Toronto, Canada, in the early 1970s. There, he recorded songs like Reach My Destiny and Rocking Universally for producer Jerry Brown’s Summer Records.

That company also released his first album, a self-titled set that came out in 1983.

Saxophonist Dean Fraser, guitarist Leebert “Gibby” Morrison, bassist Daniel “Axeman” Thompson, drummer Fitzroy Green, and an Australian orchestra are the musicians who played on My Father’s Art.

— Howard Campbell