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Skatalites
The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including " Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many other Jamaican artists who recorded during that period, including Bob Marley & The Wailers, on their first single " Simmer Down." They reformed in 1983 and have played together ever since. History Before the Skatalites: 1954–1964 The founders of the Skatalites were musicians Doreen Shaffer, Tommy McCook (died 1998), Rolando Alphonso (died 1998), Lester Sterling, Lloyd Brevett (died 2012), Lloyd Knibb (died 2011), Don Drummond (died 1969), Jah Jerry Haynes (died 2007), Jackie Mittoo (died 1990), and Johnny Moore (died 2008). These musicians started to play together from 1955, when Kingston's recording studios started to develop. Tommy McCook was the first member of the band to record, though not for commercial release: he played with Don Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jah Jerry Haynes
Jerome "Jah Jerry" Haynes OD (11 August 1921 – 13 August 2007) was a Jamaican guitarist and former member of The Skatalites. Haynes was born in Trench Pen, presently known as Trench Town, the cultural capital of Jamaica, in 1921. He learned to play guitar from early years by his father and then by Ernest Ranglin. In 1949 he played with the Jocelyn Trott Orchestra in Montego Bay. This prepared him for his sojourn into organized playing when he hit the hotel circuit playing with the Jocelyn Trott Orchestra in Montego Bay, in 1949. In the mid-1950s he freelanced with several other bands (including saxophonist Val Bennett's jazz band) until he joined the Arkland "Drumbago" Parks Studio Band. His upward "stumming" of the guitar became the signature style in the Boogie Shuffle/Ska In 1959 Haynes worked with Prince Buster and played guitar in many sessions. In 1961, he was contracted exclusively to Coxsone Dodd, though he played for other producers, such as Duke Reid, King Edwards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lloyd Brevett
Lloyd Brevett OD (1 August 1931 – 3 May 2012) was a Jamaican double bassist, songwriter, and a founding member of The Skatalites. He was a Rastafarian, and the uncle of The Melodians member, Tony Brevett.Tony Brevett's Unheralded Greatness , '' Jamaica Gleaner'', 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013 Biography Born in Kingston, , Brevett was a founding member in 1964 of the |
Lloyd Knibb
Lloyd Knibb OD (8 March 1931 – 12 May 2011) was a Jamaican drummer who is considered Jamaica's most important and influential modern drummer. A master percussionist, he contributed to every style of this nation's popular and not so popular musical forms, including jazz, mento, burru, nyabinghi, rock steady and, by extension, reggae. He is most well known for his contribution to the development of the rhythm of the ska.Miller, Herbie (2011)The Rhythmic Innovation of Lloyd Knibb, ''Jamaica Gleaner'', 16 May 2011, retrieved 16 May 2011 He played for The Skatalites (in the 1960s up to his death), and for Tommy McCook & The Supersonics. Knibb recorded for the producers Lloyd "Matador" Daley and Duke Reid. Biography Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1931, Knibb, grew up on Bond Street, close to where a local band rehearsed, and he made his own drum kit from a wooden box and paint cans to practice the sounds that he had heard. Like a lot of musicians in the 1940s, he honed his craft in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lester Sterling
Lester Sterling OD (born 31 January 1936),Musicians Bio ", Alpha Old Boys Association, retrieved 19 October 2012 also known as Lester "Ska" Sterling or Mr. Versatile, is a n and player. Biography Like many Jamaican musicians of his generation, Sterling attended the .Thompson, Dave (20 ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doreen Shaffer
Monica Johnson, better known by her stage name Doreen Shaffer (sometimes spelled Schaffer or Schaeffer), is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae singer. Known as the "Queen of Ska", she was a founding member in 1964 of the Skatalites.Campbell, Howard (2018)Doreen Shaffer: Queen of Ska, ''Jamaica Observer'', 13 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018 Career Johnson was born in Kingston, Jamaica in the early 1940s to a German father and Costa Rican mother.Augustyn, Heather (2010) ''Ska: An Oral History'' (Kindle edition), McFarland, ASIN B007Y49BIMCampbell, Howard (2018)Doreen Shaffer: Queen of Ska, ''Jamaica Observer'', 13 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018 She started singing at school, initially inspired by jazz singers such as Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan. She began her career at Studio One, recording duets with Jackie Opel, before they both joined the Skatalites in 1964. After the Skatalites disbanded in 1965, Shaffer continued as a solo singer. A collection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy McCook
Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s. Biography McCook was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in 1933. He took up the tenor saxophone at the age of eleven, when he was a pupil at the Alpha School, and eventually joined Eric Deans' Orchestra. In 1954, he left for an engagement in Nassau, Bahamas, after which he ended up in Miami, Florida, and it was here that McCook first heard John Coltrane and fell in love with jazz. McCook returned to Jamaica in early 1962, where he was approached by a few local producers to do some recordings. Eventually he consented to record a jazz session for Clement "Coxson" Dodd, which was issued on the album as ''Jazz Jamaica''. His first ska recording was an adaptation of Ernest Gold’s "Exodus", recorded in Novembe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolando Alphonso
Roland Alphonso OD or Rolando Alphonso "The Chief Musician" (12 January 1931 – 20 November 1998)Thompson, p. 262 was a Jamaican tenor saxophonist, and one of the founding members of the Skatalites. Biography Born in Havana, Cuba, Alphonso came to Jamaica at the age of two with his Jamaican mother, and started to learn saxophone at the Stony Hill Industrial School.Unterberger. In 1948 he left school to join Eric Deans' orchestra and soon passed through other bands in the hotel circuit and first recorded as a member of Stanley Motta's group in 1952, going on to record frequently as a session musician. In 1956 he first recorded for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, although these early recordings were lost before they were mastered. By 1958, he was a part of the stage-act of comedians Bim and Bam, who toured Jamaica sponsored by "McAulay liquor". Alphonso's dynamic version of Louis Prima's "Robin Hood" was one of highlights of the act. Following this, Clement Dodd and Duke Reid made him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Moore (trumpeter)
John Arlington "Dizzy" Moore OD was a Jamaican trumpet player and founding member of pioneering Jamaican ska and reggae act The Skatalites. Biography A friend of his attended the Alpha Boys School, which catered for wayward boys and was renowned for its strong musical programme, and impressed by his playing, Moore decided on a strategy of misbehaving to get sent there himself, which worked after (he later claimed) pulling "a couple of pranks" to show that he was "going haywire"."Johnny Moore" (obit.), The Times, 30 August 2008Barrow, Steve & Dalton Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.", Rough Guides, While at the school he took up the trumpet and studied musical composition under bandleader Ruben Delgado. On leaving the school, he joined the army, playing in the Jamaica Military Band. He was dismissed from the army after three years on a charge of being "not amenable to military service". He then joined the Mapletoft Poulle Orchestra, and Eric Dean's band, but was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guns Of Navarone (song)
"Guns Of Navarone" is a song and single by Jamaican group The Skatalites. The music was written by Dimitri Tiomkin for the 1961 film of the same name, the soundtrack of which was released on 1 January 1961. Lyrics were added by Paul Francis Webster. AllMusic describes the song as a masterpiece of the ska genre with its feeling of optimism with a "jubilant harmonic horn chorus". The vocalist is Roland Alphonso, with Lee "Scratch" Perry who provided various shouts on the track. The rhythm section of drummer Lloyd Knibb and bassist, Lloyd Brevett provided sharp rim shots and a "thumping bass". Originally released in Jamaica on Coxsone Dodd's ''Muzik City'' label in 1965 under Alphonso's name, it was re-released the same year in the UK on Island using a slightly shorter edit. However, it did not appear in the UK charts until 1967, making number 36 in the spring of that year and staying on the charts for six weeks. It was The Skatalites' only hit in the UK. The Specials version The so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Studio One (record Label)
Studio One is one of Jamaica's most renowned record labels and recording studios; it has been described as the Motown of Jamaica. The record label was involved with most of the major music movements in Jamaica during the 1960s and 1970s, including ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub and dancehall. History Studio One was founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd in 1954, and the first recordings were cut in 1963 on Brentford Road in Kingston. Amongst its earliest records were "Easy Snappin" by Theophilus Beckford, backed by Clue J & His Blues Blasters, and "This Man is Back" by trombonist Don Drummond. Dodd had previously issued music on a series of other labels, including World Disc, and had run Sir Coxsone the Downbeat, one of the largest and most reputable sound systems in the Kingston ghettos. In the early 1960s, the house band providing backing for the vocalists were the Skatalites (1964–65), whose members (including Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Jackie Mittoo, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jackie Mittoo
Donat Roy Mittoo (3 March 1948 – 16 December 1990), better known as Jackie Mittoo, was a Jamaican-Canadian keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. He was a member of The Skatalites and musical director of the Studio One record label. Upon hearing of Mittoo's death, Coxsone Dodd commented "He was an ambassador of our music worldwide... there can be no doubt. Read the legacy this young man has left behind. May his name be remembered and his music live on." Biography Mittoo, of partial Indo-Jamaican descent, was born in Brown's Town, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, and began learning to play the piano when he was three under the tutelage of his grandmother. In the 1960s, he was a member of The Skatalites, The Sheiks, The Soul Brothers, The Soul Vendors and Sound Dimension. Mittoo's compositions in this period included "Darker Shade of Black", "Feel Like Jumping", and "Baby Why". He played with Lloyd "Matador" Daley in 1968 and 1969. In the mid-1970s, he emigrated to Tor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Drummond (musician)
Don Drummond (12 March 1932Cane-Honeysett, L: ''Don Drummond Memorial Album'', liner notes. Trojan 2009. – 6 May 1969) was a Jamaican ska trombonist and composer. He was one of the original members of The Skatalites, and composed many of their tunes. In 1966, Drummond was convicted of murdering his 23-year-old lover, Anita "Marguerita" Mahfood. Biography Drummond was born at the Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, to Doris Monroe and Uriah Drummond. He was educated at Kingston's Alpha Boys School, where he later taught his younger schoolmate Rico Rodriguez to play the trombone. His musical career began in 1950 with the Eric Dean's All-Stars where he performed jazz. He continued into the 1960s with others, including Kenny Williams. After performing jazz for a decade, Drummond began performing ska and in 1964 he joined The Skatalites. With Drummond's politicized conversion to the Rastafari movement, other band members followed his lead.Porter, Darwin, and Danforth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
