Gentle Jones
10-13-2006, 10:52 AM
Jamaican ska has spawned innumerable musical genres.
by Caine O'Rear
The current keyboard player for the Skatalites admits he didn't know much about the band - or ska music, in general - when hearing them live for the first time in the late '80s.
Despite his ignorance, the experience was nothing short of life-changing for the American-born musician. "I was just in awe," said Ken Stewart, who today is approaching 20 years with the band. "It was like the Jazz Crusade had gone reggae or something."
Though Stewart had grown up in a family steeped in traditional jazz and roots music, he never realized the huge role Jamaican ska played in 20th century Western music until hearing the Skatalites. Up to that point, his conception of the music derived solely from The English Beat, a late '70s ska revivalist group from Britain.
When Stewart first encountered the Skatalites, the band had played its first show in nearly two decades just four years earlier. However, in just six months, Stewart would find himself playing in a Rhode Island reggae band with original Skatalite drummer, Lloyd Knibb.
"I was scratching my head, saying, 'Why is this guy here? Why aren’t they [the Skatalites] out touring the world?"
Stewart then joined the Skatalites one year later, and that year they played 10 shows. At that time Stewart knew the people who were organizing the first-ever U.S. tour for Bunny Wailer, an original member of the famous Jamaican trio that included Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. The Skatalites landed the opening slot. They followed that gig with a headlining tour of their own in 1990, and have been going ever since.
The history of ska music in Jamaica really doesn't begin until the late 1950s, when recording technology was first made available on the island, according to Stewart. Only then could Jamaican musicians go into the studio to cut records.
Right before the advent of recording technology, Jamaican bands had been playing a lot of American music in concert, notably Big Band material from artists including Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. Rock 'n' roll was also taking root in Memphis at this time. Under the leadership of Sam Philips at Sun Records, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were injecting boogie-woogie blues into the country and gospel on which they’d been reared.
Also in Memphis, Rosco Gordon, a member of the Beale Streeters, which included modern-day blues icons B.B. King and Bobby Bland, was playing a diffferent form of boogie-woogie. Gordon had developed a new shuffle rhythm, which featured a strong accent on the off-beat.
"Our drummer picked up on that [the Roscoe Gordon rhythm] and changed the drum beat around, so it wasn't just a straight drum beat, putting in a lot of Latin and African flavor," Stewart said. "Eventually, the accent on the offbeat got very strong. So the word 'ska' comes from the noise the guitar and keyboard make when they're playing that offbeat."
Ska, in its original Jamaican form, was a fusion of traditional jazz, calypso, R & B, and rock 'n' roll. In the late '50s and early '60s, it was the most popular form of music in Jamaica. Stewart noted that famous reggae artists such as Jimmy Cliff, Toots Hilbert and even Bob Marley got their start singing ska.
"Reggae is basically just a slowed-down version of ska, and they first called it skank," Stewart said. "There's a Bob Marley song called "Easy Skanking." And eventually skank became known as the way you dance to reggae, too."
The Skatalites came together as a band once they realized the high demand for a live ska group. Some of Jamaica's greatest musicians had been in the studio cutting ska records since the late '50s, so by this time the music had become very popular.
"When they did start playing live, they were a huge success, packing every club they could play," Stewart said. "They played for everybody, and it was huge."
However, due to personality differences, the original band did not stay together long, Stewart said. Don Drummond, the band's trombonist who is regarded as one of the finest musicians in Jamaican history, murdered his girlfriend and was relegated to an asylum. And that was that. For 20 years, at least.
Following the Drummond episode, the band broke up into two different camps, according to Stewart. Some went with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, a record producer and entrepreneur for the Treasure Isle label. Others went with Duke Reid, of the Studio One recording studio. Among those who followed Reid was Cuban-born Tommy McCook, the tenor saxophonist for the band. McCook eventually formed a group called the Supersonics, with whom he made instrumentals in the style of rocksteady, a slower-version of ska with fewer horns and heavily romantic lyrics.
"It's really beautiful," said Stewart of the Supersonic material. "To me, that's the stuff that really makes you want to grab a partner and dance."
Stewart attributes the rise of rocksteady in the mid-'60s to two factors. "Basically, they just slowed down the tempo because the audience was getting a little older, and the summers were getting a little hotter."
Around the early '70s, reggae music, which some actually credit former Skatalites Lloyd Knibb and pianist Jackie Mittoo with having invented around '63, began to increase in popularity. Soon, due to the influence of the Rastafari movement, the songs became increasingly political.
Today, with several of the originals in the band, Stewart believes the current lineup is one of their finest. Among the original members are alto saxophonist Lester "Ska" Sterling, drummer Lloyd Knibb, and vocalist Doreen Shaffer. Karl "Cannonball" Bryan, the tenor saxophonist, is not considered an original Skatalite, but played on several of the early Skatalite recording sessions. And trombonist Vin Gordon, though not an original member, is considered the heir apparent to Drummond's throne. Hence his nickname, "Don Drummond, Jr."
Though they still play the old classics live - "Guns of Navarone," "Phoenix City" and "James Bond Theme" - the Skatalites aren't the type of generational band that relies strictly on the old stuff. In 2000, they released an album of original music and recorded another one this year, to be released this spring.
Stewart said hearing the Skatalites live for the first time can be a watershed experience for music fans, especially if their conception of ska is limited to the The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
"Well, it was the same for me," Stewart said of his experience hearing the band the first time. "And until then, you don't really understand the whole thing. And it's not just ska. It's reggae, too. There are even some of Bob Marley's reggae songs that were sung originally in ska, like 'One Love.'"
In 2001, the Skatalites became the first Jamaican band to play Moscow. During their stay, Stewart said some fans showed them a diagram which traced the lineage of ska music, beginning with the Skatalites and then branching into a tree of genres and sub-genres, from rap and hip-hop to ska-punk and ska-wave.
There also bands today, which Stewart referred to as neo-traditional, that strive to emulate the Skatalite sound. "And some of them do a hell of a job of it," he said, using the Ska Flames as one example. "They're really doing their homework."
Asked about the future of the Skatalites, Stewart said there's a good chance the band will keep going as long they can.
"It could be one of those situations. We really don't know."
by Caine O'Rear
The current keyboard player for the Skatalites admits he didn't know much about the band - or ska music, in general - when hearing them live for the first time in the late '80s.
Despite his ignorance, the experience was nothing short of life-changing for the American-born musician. "I was just in awe," said Ken Stewart, who today is approaching 20 years with the band. "It was like the Jazz Crusade had gone reggae or something."
Though Stewart had grown up in a family steeped in traditional jazz and roots music, he never realized the huge role Jamaican ska played in 20th century Western music until hearing the Skatalites. Up to that point, his conception of the music derived solely from The English Beat, a late '70s ska revivalist group from Britain.
When Stewart first encountered the Skatalites, the band had played its first show in nearly two decades just four years earlier. However, in just six months, Stewart would find himself playing in a Rhode Island reggae band with original Skatalite drummer, Lloyd Knibb.
"I was scratching my head, saying, 'Why is this guy here? Why aren’t they [the Skatalites] out touring the world?"
Stewart then joined the Skatalites one year later, and that year they played 10 shows. At that time Stewart knew the people who were organizing the first-ever U.S. tour for Bunny Wailer, an original member of the famous Jamaican trio that included Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. The Skatalites landed the opening slot. They followed that gig with a headlining tour of their own in 1990, and have been going ever since.
The history of ska music in Jamaica really doesn't begin until the late 1950s, when recording technology was first made available on the island, according to Stewart. Only then could Jamaican musicians go into the studio to cut records.
Right before the advent of recording technology, Jamaican bands had been playing a lot of American music in concert, notably Big Band material from artists including Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. Rock 'n' roll was also taking root in Memphis at this time. Under the leadership of Sam Philips at Sun Records, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were injecting boogie-woogie blues into the country and gospel on which they’d been reared.
Also in Memphis, Rosco Gordon, a member of the Beale Streeters, which included modern-day blues icons B.B. King and Bobby Bland, was playing a diffferent form of boogie-woogie. Gordon had developed a new shuffle rhythm, which featured a strong accent on the off-beat.
"Our drummer picked up on that [the Roscoe Gordon rhythm] and changed the drum beat around, so it wasn't just a straight drum beat, putting in a lot of Latin and African flavor," Stewart said. "Eventually, the accent on the offbeat got very strong. So the word 'ska' comes from the noise the guitar and keyboard make when they're playing that offbeat."
Ska, in its original Jamaican form, was a fusion of traditional jazz, calypso, R & B, and rock 'n' roll. In the late '50s and early '60s, it was the most popular form of music in Jamaica. Stewart noted that famous reggae artists such as Jimmy Cliff, Toots Hilbert and even Bob Marley got their start singing ska.
"Reggae is basically just a slowed-down version of ska, and they first called it skank," Stewart said. "There's a Bob Marley song called "Easy Skanking." And eventually skank became known as the way you dance to reggae, too."
The Skatalites came together as a band once they realized the high demand for a live ska group. Some of Jamaica's greatest musicians had been in the studio cutting ska records since the late '50s, so by this time the music had become very popular.
"When they did start playing live, they were a huge success, packing every club they could play," Stewart said. "They played for everybody, and it was huge."
However, due to personality differences, the original band did not stay together long, Stewart said. Don Drummond, the band's trombonist who is regarded as one of the finest musicians in Jamaican history, murdered his girlfriend and was relegated to an asylum. And that was that. For 20 years, at least.
Following the Drummond episode, the band broke up into two different camps, according to Stewart. Some went with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, a record producer and entrepreneur for the Treasure Isle label. Others went with Duke Reid, of the Studio One recording studio. Among those who followed Reid was Cuban-born Tommy McCook, the tenor saxophonist for the band. McCook eventually formed a group called the Supersonics, with whom he made instrumentals in the style of rocksteady, a slower-version of ska with fewer horns and heavily romantic lyrics.
"It's really beautiful," said Stewart of the Supersonic material. "To me, that's the stuff that really makes you want to grab a partner and dance."
Stewart attributes the rise of rocksteady in the mid-'60s to two factors. "Basically, they just slowed down the tempo because the audience was getting a little older, and the summers were getting a little hotter."
Around the early '70s, reggae music, which some actually credit former Skatalites Lloyd Knibb and pianist Jackie Mittoo with having invented around '63, began to increase in popularity. Soon, due to the influence of the Rastafari movement, the songs became increasingly political.
Today, with several of the originals in the band, Stewart believes the current lineup is one of their finest. Among the original members are alto saxophonist Lester "Ska" Sterling, drummer Lloyd Knibb, and vocalist Doreen Shaffer. Karl "Cannonball" Bryan, the tenor saxophonist, is not considered an original Skatalite, but played on several of the early Skatalite recording sessions. And trombonist Vin Gordon, though not an original member, is considered the heir apparent to Drummond's throne. Hence his nickname, "Don Drummond, Jr."
Though they still play the old classics live - "Guns of Navarone," "Phoenix City" and "James Bond Theme" - the Skatalites aren't the type of generational band that relies strictly on the old stuff. In 2000, they released an album of original music and recorded another one this year, to be released this spring.
Stewart said hearing the Skatalites live for the first time can be a watershed experience for music fans, especially if their conception of ska is limited to the The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
"Well, it was the same for me," Stewart said of his experience hearing the band the first time. "And until then, you don't really understand the whole thing. And it's not just ska. It's reggae, too. There are even some of Bob Marley's reggae songs that were sung originally in ska, like 'One Love.'"
In 2001, the Skatalites became the first Jamaican band to play Moscow. During their stay, Stewart said some fans showed them a diagram which traced the lineage of ska music, beginning with the Skatalites and then branching into a tree of genres and sub-genres, from rap and hip-hop to ska-punk and ska-wave.
There also bands today, which Stewart referred to as neo-traditional, that strive to emulate the Skatalite sound. "And some of them do a hell of a job of it," he said, using the Ska Flames as one example. "They're really doing their homework."
Asked about the future of the Skatalites, Stewart said there's a good chance the band will keep going as long they can.
"It could be one of those situations. We really don't know."