C’batch offers decades of musical memory into focus with I Guess You Want It This Way, a six-track EP that transforms an unfinished reggae idea into a tribute to Jamaican guitar pioneer Ernest Ranglin. For the White Plains, New York composer, producer, guitarist, and recording artist, the project is connected to patience, personal history, and the belief that some songs wait for completion.
The story reaches back roughly 26 years, when C’batch’s Jamaican-born wife, Yvette, encouraged him to write a reggae song. An early attempt contained the essential hook, but something remained unresolved. The melody stayed with him through the years, refusing to disappear. In 2026, he returned to that musical idea, developed the lyrics, and completed a composition that had remained with him for decades.
That history gives I Guess You Want It This Way emotional weight. It is not simply an archival recording released; it is evidence of how creative ideas can survive changing circumstances. The six interpretations allow the central composition to breathe in different forms while preserving its reggae foundation and melodic identity.
The EP also carries a personal connection to Ernest Ranglin, whom C’batch met at London’s Heathrow Airport in 2001. As a fellow guitarist, C’batch recognized Ranglin’s contribution to Jamaican music and chose to dedicate the project to him. The tribute therefore connects memory with a wider musical legacy, acknowledging an artist whose guitar language helped shape generations of Jamaican sound.
C’batch’s broader catalogue reflects curiosity. His work moves across R&B, soul, funk, dance, reggae, jazz-influenced music, rock, ambient textures, and cinematic composition. Earlier credits include recordings associated with Sinnamon, NV, Kreamsicle, and Eleanore Mills, while his publishing and production history stretches back to the influential New York dance scene of the early 1980s.
Together with Yvette, C’batch founded Stevette Music, Inc. in 1984, establishing an independent foundation for their publishing, production, and recording activities. His current Vault series extends that philosophy, opening decades of compositions and recordings to contemporary listeners and giving unfinished ideas another opportunity to speak.
"I Guess You Want It This Way" ultimately feels like a conversation between past and present. Its story is about persistence, remembrance, partnership, and artistic trust. By completing a song that lived in his imagination for decades and dedicating it to Ranglin, C’batch demonstrates that meaningful music does not always follow a timetable. Sometimes enduring creative work arrives when an old melody finally finds its voice.