Great Groups of the 1960s

[Assasin]

the truth of the matter is since the 70s Jamaicans(youth of that time) don't appreciate Ska. I remember only a few of us would go to a nice old hit party. If you have a Ska show it will not be full of Jamaicans you have to depend on the visitors from overseas and they say the Jazz and Blues festival is attended by a majority of Jamaicans. The only Ska record I remember playing in party is "Oh Coralina"

If you listen not many modern day ska record even make the charts in Ja while doing well in Europe. Jamaicans bury a big part of their culture, not only ska but a lot of our art form. Sad thing is if a Ska festival is kept in Germany, England or certain part of the US it would be ram.

[TDowl]

I am undecided as to which song is the better song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS6Zu...eature=related, I will have to put Bewildered on a CD and upload, as I am unable find it on the Tube, but check Jimmy's voice on Red Wine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzhNR...eature=related

How about The Maytals "It's You and Daddy"

[TDowl]

How about the following Bands;
The Vikins,
Kes Chin??
Caribs
Lynn Taitt???
Scratchy Hammond, Thunderbirds - Mandeville
Lance Thwell and the Celestials - Mo Bay
Billy Vernon and the Celestials - Mo Bay
Willie Dickson & The Play Boys - Mo Bay

[TDowl]

If you make a Jeans in Jamaica it wont sell until you send it to the USA and say made inthe USA eeeh ahhh LOL, it is an acquired taste.

[TDowl]

Bewildered - http://www.dizzler.com/index.search....&q=Jimmy+James

Short but a suh

[TDowl]

My request mi figet - http://www.dizzler.com/index.search....&q=Jimmy+James

[Sir X]

Don drummond radio

http://www.last.fm/listen/artist/Don...similarartists

[Sir X]

STORY OF THE SONG: 'Jamaica Ska' lifts beat over barbed wire

Published: Sunday | October 11, 2009


Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Keith Lyn ... The feel of the music was the important thing. - Contributed
Keith Lyn recalls that when he first heard ska at Chocomo Lawn in west Kingston, there was a lot of barbed wire around. It was a place that he was warned not to visit, but followed his musical heart and went along with Byron Lee and Ken Lazarus. There he heard ska for the first time, being performed by the Paragons, Heptones and "a whole bunch of guys we did not know" and the sound grabbed him.
"It got us going, just like how dancehall got people going," Lyn said.
"We (Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (BL&D) wanted to see if we could do it, but we were known as an uptown band," Lyn said. And ska was known as "'ghetto music', as they called it". At the time BL&D included songs from the US Top 40 in their repertoire, plus some Latin music.
"Ken Lazarus and myself went down there repeatedly after that," Lyn said, the two getting involved with a number of groups from the area as Lazarus chipped in musically and Lyn did the same vocally.
Lyn had joined BL&D in about 1962 and got into ska a year or two after.
infectious
"It was infectious and we started playing it. We were touring and we decided we were going to introduce our Jamaican music to the States, so myself and Ken Lazarus sat down one day and we wrote Jamaica Ska," Lyn said.
It was written at Lazarus' on West Road, near Hagley Park Road. "We sat on the step, a little wooden stoop kind of thing, and we worked it out and did the whole thing, Jamaica Ska," he said.
This included the dance, Lyn saying "we had a part there telling people how to do the ska, with some little movements. Ronnie Nasralla, who was the band then, choreographed some steps. That's how you get this kind of thing (Lyn demonstrates the scissors style hand movement associated with ska) and the 'row your boat' and 'ride your horse' and that kind of thing".
The emphasised the ease of the movements, comparing them to dance steps from the .

"Ska ska ska
Jamaica ska
Ska ska ska
Do the ska

Not many people
can Cha Cha Cha
Not everybody can
do the Twist
But everybody
can do the Ska
It's the new dance
you can't resist

Ska Ska Ska
Jamaica Ska"

And it was to the Unites States that BL&D took Jamaica Ska, including an early morning audition for the Ed Sullivan Show that did not exactly show the band at their best. Still, Lyn says "we introduced the dance at places we played like the Manhattan Centre, upstate - wherever we played we tried to introduce this new Jamaican music".
'ghetto sound'
Lyn says he is not quite sure, but believes Jamaica Ska was one of the first international ska hits. It made the soundtrack of Back To The Beach (with some changes to the horns). It was also a part of BL&D taking the Ska sound over the barbed wire in west Kingston to uptown at the Glass Bucket Club on Half-Way Tree Road and places like the Sombrero on Molynes Road and the University of the West Indies. The uptown crowds did not resist the 'ghetto sound', Lyn saying "they loved it!"
"We had the place rocking with that," he said.
Lyn was also featured singing in the James Bond movie, Dr No, people doing the Ska in a nightclub scene.
Two weeks ago, Lyn had an extremely gratifying Jamaica Ska moment on a visit to the Holy Trinity High School. When the students heard that he is a singer they asked of what kind of songs. He assured them that they know one of his songs and they responded, "I don't think so." But when he asked if anybody knew "Ska, Ska, Ska" they picked up on it and sang word for word. "Chorus and verse! (plus they did the horns part)," Lyn says, beaming. He links their familiarity with the song to its inclusion in last year's gala at the National Stadium, 500 students doing a choreographed dance to Jamaica Ska.
"I fell in love with the kids down there," Lyn said, laughing.
He is disappointed, though, that not many bands are playing ska in Jamaica regularly, although many performers utilise a closing ska medley. On the other hand, there are hundreds of ska bands in the US, usually infusing some rock-style guitar solo into the music. Fishbone has done a popular version of Jamaica Ska. Still, in the earlier days of ska there was something about the feel of the music that was well-nigh impossible for foreigners to replicate. "They sent people from Atlantic Records to try to capture the sound. They couldn't get it. They sat down and wrote it note for note, counting bars, counting this - couldn't get it. They played something that sounded almost like it but it wasn't it," Lyn said. "The feel was the important thing."


Keith Lyn happy to be home

Published: Sunday | October 11, 2009



Ska has endured for more than half a century and is popular with children of all ages.- photo by Anthony Minott
Keith Lyn migrated to the United States (US) in 1978 after leaving Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, living in Florida until he returned to Jamaica four years ago. But he never stopped calling Jamaica home.
"I never felt at home there. I felt at home here," Lyn said. The screensaver on his said 'Jamaica is on my mind'.
He kept active in music, but with a smaller unit than before. "I set up a one-man band. I did a lot of work with the Jamaica Tourist Board and the American Society of Travel Agents, so I got to travel all over the world," Lyn said.
"I have taken it all over the world. Apart from BL&D (Byron Lee and the Dragonaires) I have travelled all over the world. The last place I went to was Turkey. Mash up the place. The one Jamaican. They had a Caribbean night. You had groups from Colombia, Mexico, one Jamaican man mash it up," Lyn said. "I been to China, Hungary, Iceland - twice. He faced his biggest audience in the Caribbean, though. "Trinidad is the place I appeared before the biggest crowd I ever played for, something like 40-something thousand people. People were in the trees and all that, at the Savannah," Lyn said.
It has been a long road for Lyn, who says, "I remember on my first night with BL&D I had to sing the last song of the night, Now is the Hour. Plus, "they used to pass remarks: 'Little man like you have such a big voice! We see you up there and you look big, then you come down here'. I say 'I'm a small man'. The other thing is "we never know Chiney man like you could sing so!"
He lays claim to a certain soca characteristic, saying "even things you hear now when you go to a soca session, 'hands up', 'hands in the air', I started that".
Now Lyn performs regularly at The Jamaica Pegasus (every other Sunday) and also does a lot of private functions. He has long days - last Sunday he was up from 4:30 a.m., did an all-day session and then headed over to the Chinese Benevolent Association to perform there.
variety set
Lyn has three CDs in the works (a variety set, plus and gospel full-length CDs), Fab Five's Grub slated to be a part of those projects, and hopes to have one out for Christmas.
He as he remembers the banners in Belize reading 'Welcome Keith Lyn' that greeted BL&D when they performed there and says he virtually owned the entire top 10 there at one point. Up to now his popular songs there, including Empty Chair and Portrait of My Love, are played on radio, especially on Sundays.
Having been all over and lived abroad, Keith Lyn is very happy to be back in Jamaica.


"Now, I do not wish to go anywhere. This is it," Lyn said.

[Historian]

Thanks, X

Keith Lyn recalls that when he first heard ska at Chocomo Lawn in west Kingston, there was a lot of barbed wire around. It was a place that he was warned not to visit, but followed his musical heart and went along with Byron Lee and Ken Lazarus. There he heard ska for the first time, being performed by the Paragons, Heptones and "a whole bunch of guys we did not know" and the sound grabbed him.

A very timely and most relevant post. Thanks for this, X .

[Sir X]

Proof to me that classism existed then in the music industry back then and contniues with this JAZZ festival B.S !

We (Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (BL&D) wanted to see if we could do it, but we were known as an uptown band," Lyn said. And ska was known as "'ghetto music', as they called it". At the time BL&D included songs from the US Top 40 in their repertoire, plus some Latin music.

[Historian]

TDowl, My Incomplete List (LOL)

How about the following Bands;
The Vikins,
Kes Chin??
Caribs
Lynn Taitt???
Scratchy Hammond, Thunderbirds - Mandeville
Lance Thwell and the Celestials - Mo Bay
Billy Vernon and the Celestials - Mo Bay
Willie Dickson & The Play Boys - Mo Bay

TDowl, the more I think about that list, the more I realize that I should have spent another day or two reminiscing and getting my memory together before starting this thread. There are so many groups and bands that I left out!

The Mighty Vikings, Lyn Taitt and the Jets, and the other bands that you listed above should have been in the original list I made, but I completely forget about them! In fact, I’m sure there were a number of other Chinese aggregations aside from Byron Lee & the Dragonaires and the Mighty Vikings!

Then there were also other bands I neglected to mention, like Tommy McCook and the Supersonics, Roland Alphonso and the Soul Brothers, the Upsetters, the Sonny Bradshaw Seven, Errol Lee and the Bare Essentials (although I cannot recall if groups like the Bare Essentials and the Boris Gardiner Happening originated in the 1970s rather than in the 1960s), and others!

By the way, TDowl, were you aware that Chris Blackwell’s father was once ADC to the Governor General of Jamaica?

[TDowl]

I almost forgot Granville Williams, Kes Chin & Souvenirs, I did not list Mr Wells band from Falmouth, as I did not klnow if they had any records.

Chiris, I have never checked out his background to any extent.

Are you aware of how many Rusean's were in some of these bands in the 60's?

The Kingstonians got there break at the Cliff theater in Lucea, also Niney plus a bunch of other musicians.

This person use to setup the instruments for the Serenaders band, the late Ricabaca http://www.niceup.com/interviews/eric_frater

[TDowl]

Why is Mento considered Jamaicas first Musical genre?

Where in Jamaica was Mento developed and the year?

In new York Parang is plaed on the Caribbean stations, I keept saying it sounds familiar, but I can,t recall if I heard it on my Murphy radio coming out of Venezualea, but after lisening to some mento that I had laying around I could here some of of the similarities, what is your take?

[Sir X]

Funny thing you should mention that , I had a Costa rican friend who played some old music that he said was costa rican /panamanian and it sounded like mento at a faster pace mixed with english and spanish very heavy on the drums .

To me mento and the old calypso songs came at a time when telling news stories and folklore was at its height, done on real instruments at a slower pace indicating the times.

We all can see how it would venture to central america and the migrating carribean community.Harry Belafonte had much success with it , although they credited him with singing calypso , at that time they would call it mento in jamaica.

[Sir X]

Lester Sterling (January 31, 1936) aka Lester “Ska” Sterling or Mr. Versatile) is a Jamaican trumpet and saxophone player.(Alto saxophone). Started his career as a trumpet player for Val Bennett’s band in 1957, was also a member of Byron Lee’s Dragonaries (on trumpet).
A founding member of The Skatalites. He is commonly overshadowed by well-known band members such as Tommy McCook, Jackie Mittoo or Don Drummond. Sterling is one of the three original members, along with Doreen Shaffer and Lloyd Knibb, who are still a part of the band.
He was awarded the Order of Distinction on November 16, 1998 in Kingston.

Liner notes from Sterling Silver by Lester Sterling, a 2002 CD release on Sterling’s own Echo label.

Raised in the Kingston Jamaica neighborhood of Allman Town, Lester started at St. Ann’s school before he entered the Alpha Boys School, where he was a student for 10 years. All four of the Sterling brothers went to Alpha and all have enjoyed careers as professional musicians. Gladston on sax in Nassau Bahamas and Roy on trumpet and Keith on keyboard in Jamaica. Keith has played with Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and currently is with The Wailers band.

Lester started on trumpet in 1945, inspired by his friend Frederick Brown who was in the Alpha Band. The Bandmaster at the time was Reuben Delgado and, “Delgado was in charge of all of we”, Lester recalls. No easy task, melding a band out of a school peopled with chronic truants and youth placed there for a variety of indiscipline. But under Delgado’s instruction, four future Skatalites blossomed.

Shortly before Lester departed from Alpha, he and classmate Karl “Cannonball” Bryan joined Stanley Hedlam’s band. Then there were stints in club bands such as at Copacabana and at The Glass Bucket before Lester and his trumpet joined Val Bennett’s band in 1956.

It was his elder brother Gladston’s skillful playing of the saxophone that first caught Lester’s attention. Then when he heard Charlie Parker in 1958 he had to switch to alto. By 1959, he was good enough to enter Vere Johns Opportunity Hour and win all the competitions up to the Grand Final at the Majestic Theatre. “You have to play four different songs, one in each quarter and if you win with all four then you have to play them all in the Grand Final”, remembers the winner.

In 1960 Lester joined the Jamaican Military Band and moved in to the barracks at Up Park Camp. During his brief stint, the Military Band included Lloyd Mason, Cedric Brooks and Johnny Moore. It was during his Army bid that Lester cut “Whalebone”. “I composed this on the spot at Federal Studios. We did this after Rico came to Up Park Camp [JA Army HQ] in early ’61 to tell me that he was going to England. I recorded it using the tenor of the Jamaican Military Band.”

After his discharge from the Army, there was a brief stint with Kes Chin and the Souvenirs before Lester quit to be a part of The Skatalites formation in May 1964. When that juggernaut crashed to earth in 1965, Lester became a freelancer, cutting for Clement Dodd, Duke Reid, Leslie Kong, Bunny Lee, etc…

By 1967, Lester started playing trumpet again when he became a Dragonaire for Byron Lee. “My picture is on the cover of the Dragonaires LP, Top Of The Ladder. There were three trumpets, myself, Winston Graham and Lester Williams.”

It was in ’67 that Lester also had his first #1 hit in Jamaica, “Pupa Lick”. The title is derived from diving, as explained by Lester. “Pupa Lick is what we used to call it when divers spin.”

In late 1968, Lester cut his signature tune “Bangarang.” Another Jamaican #1, and hailed as a first Reggae, I’ll let Lester tell it. “Well the first part and the inspiration for ‘Bangarang’, I make up the bridge, came from Kenny Dorham’s ‘Bongo Chant’. Me and Rico used to play it from the late 50’s when it was on the sound systems. I get the idea from this woman and her daughter. The daughter emigrate to America and then I think she encourage the mother to leave me and emigrate too.”

Backup vocals are by Wilburn “Stranger” Cole, Lloyd “Charmers” Tyrell, and Maxwell “Romeo” Smith. There are hundreds, if not thousands of versions of Bangarang, including those by Soul Vendors, Lord Creator, Nitty Gritty, Brigadier Jerry, Lt. Stitchie, and Dillinger.

At the start of Stir It Up! A tv program broadcast by England’s Channel 4 in 1994, producer Bunny Lee is in his Burns Avenue studio in Kingston. Lee picks up a 1/4 inch tape and begins, “Yeah, I want to tell everybody, the whole world, this is the first Reggae tune that was done in Jamaica, see it? It was done in 1968 in Duke Reid’s studio. I want to play it and mek the whole world hear, ‘Muma no want no Bangarang’. It was Lester Sterling, Lloyd Charmers and Stranger Cole…is really the emphasis on the organ. Mek the organ go Reggae, Reggae…this is the great Bangarang.” In the 1982 video production Deeper Roots, also by Channel 4, Lee notes, “…same like in the Reggae ting, is a man just bawl out one day, we were having a session, say, make the organ go Reggae, Reggae and the name. Everybody claims the name and they don’t even know how it start, right.”

Sterling shares Lee’s recollections, adding emphatically that it was he who told organist Glen Adams to, “mek the organ go Reggae, Reggae”. Sterling explains, “I insisted that Glen play [back and forth with his hands] Reggae, Reggae, Reggae. Glen couldn’t get the keyboard part, and so I told him to just play anything to mek it go Reggae, Reggae, Reggae.”

After “Bangarang”, Sterling cut ‘nuff for Bunny Lee and only a few others while he was busy playing and touring with Byron Lee. Included from ‘68-’69 are; “Spoogy”, the title of which is a “little nickname”, according to Lester, “Reggae In The Wind”, featuring Sterling on his Selma Mark VI tenor. “I sold that one to Roland in 1995 and then he sold it to Justin Yap from Top Deck.”, “Lester Special”, “Forest Gate Rock”, which is Sterling’s version of Charlie Parker’s “Barbados”, and “Reggae On Broadway”, of which he notes, “I cut my version before George Benson did his.”

In the spring of 1972, Sterling resigned from the Dragonaires and emigrated to the US, settling in NYC. His first gig was with Junior Soul and the Debonairs, whom he later introduced to Rolando Alphonso when Rollie came to NYC in 1973. There were lots of gigs in the tri-state area for Lester, and one of the most memorable was playing lead alto for the NYC Jazzmobile Big Band where he met Charles Davis, Jimmy Heath, John Stubblefield and Billy Taylor.

Around 1973, Lester recalls cutting “Casa Blanca” in Brooklyn, for $33 dollars! He solos on his Selma Mark VI and Lyn Taitt solos on guitar.

It was 1978 when, as Lester puts it, “I reformed The Skatalites”. He hastens to add that it was a completely new lineup, apart from himself of course. That band’s existence was shortlived, but they did cut “Devil’s Triangle w/Triangle Version”. Sterling’s title refers to the Bermuda Triangle. Solos by Sterling, Alonzo Connell and Calvin Folkes on trombone. Vocals on the version are by Tony Ramsay and by Lester. Recorded on an 8 track board at Frano’s Studio in Brooklyn, it was the first release on Lester’s Echo label.

Since that time, Sterling has toured the world with The Skatalites, although for a brief time in the summer of 1994, he formed his own group and played out as Lester Sterling’s Ska Macka band.

In 1998, the Governor General of Jamaica, Sir Howard Cooke, awarded Sterling the Order of Distinction, the second highest honor awarded to citizens of Jamaica.

—Brian Keyo November 2001