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Originally posted by Assasin
Originally posted by Ambassadah
Thank you for your comments, gentlemen
, although I’m not sure why the harsh accusations of “bias” and having “something against the man” have come into play here. I can assure you that, in reality, Sly Dunbar is NOT among the top five (5) -- nor even the Top 20 -- drummers in the world! Now, I’ll just sit back and watch the inevitable nationalistic criticisms about not recognizing our own and other such nonsense come into play now. But I can assure you that, despite the phenomenon we know as globalization, this world is still a much larger place than some of us seem to realize! The eastern and western hemispheres are saturated with astonishing musicians, including drummers, and I’m referring here to drummers who can create miracles in any odd-beat time signature! We need to listen more widely than we obviously have been doing.
(By the way, I notice that there have been no comments about my list of the “Top 5 Drummers of All Time” in my opening post in that other thread.)
Of course I am fully aware of Sly Dunbar’s body of work! I also know the man personally, although the last time I saw him up close was way back in the early to mid-1980s when I visited Channel One studios on Maxfield Ave. The highly rated recording engineer Scientist was at work on a project I was assisting with. Sly was just hanging out in the studio that evening. From the little I know of him, Sly is one of the humblest and nicest persons one can meet, and I like and respect him tremendously.
I did not include Sly in my Top 5 Greatest Jamaican Drummers simply because the five I have listed are, in my honest opinion, technically more advanced drummers than Sly, based on what I have heard them do!
Be careful about assessing musicians based on Top-20 record sales!
In fact, on the matter of rating Sly, despite the work he has done with several international stars, does this make him a greater drummer than, say, the very eclectic and accomplished fellow Jamaican drummer Desi Jones who is obviously equally at home interpreting the most complex jazz arrangements with odd time signatures or the simplest reggae grooves? Looking at the issue another way, what is there about Sly’s drumming on Cyndi Lauper’s hit, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” or the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ movie soundtrack hit, “Up Where We Belong” (from the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman”) that is different from what the typical A-List studio drummer in LA or New York or Nashville would have done?
I did not expect my “Top 5” list to be agreed on by everyone. I can assure you, however, that this list is not based on perceived greatness according to the local or foreign media (some of whom employ writers who are not qualified to make objective assessments of anything musical), but rather on my conclusions after listening closely -- very closely -- to these drummers over several decades. Mention was made in that other thread of the 1980s reggae super group Black Uhuru, for instance. How anyone can adequately assess Sly’s abilities based on his work with Black Uhuru (a group whose arrangements posed no serious demands whatsoever in terms of drumming) is beyond me!
(By the way, when I compile my list of “Great Bass Players,” Robbie Shakespeare, who is a highly overrated bassist at best, will not be included. Robbie’s technique, knowledge and style are, at best, simplistic when compared with several Jamaican and Caribbean bass players. In fact, the bass solo he played during the cultural segment of the World Cup Cricket, held at the stadium in Trelawney a couple of years ago, is as clear a testament as ever to Robbie’s severe limitations as a bassist. And speaking of Caribbean bass players, this morning I was listening to the late soca singer Arrow. Next time readers here get a chance to listen to “Hot, Hot, Hot,” check out Arrow’s bass player. Now, that is tasteful, technically competent bass playing!!)
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