Welcome to the History of Reggae


The Skatalites

Duke Reid and Fats Domino
In the 1950's, powerfull American radio stations were reaching the island of Jamaica. Cities like Miami, New Orleans, Memphis were influencing the people of Jamaica with the sounds of rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, blues, jazz, and rock and roll. The small island of jamaica, then a British Colony, was shaping its music with their own music such as mento. Musically, ska is a fusion of Jamaican mento with r&b, with the drum coming on the 2nd and 4th beats. The drum is then carrying the beats of American swing and blues; while the guitar uses the mento sound.
Ska music, Jamaica's first indegenous popular music expression, was a smash hit with the people of Jamaica. Many names were becoming familiar such as Roland Alphonso,a tenor saxaphonist; Don Drummond and Rico Rodriguez with their trombones; Trumpeters such as Johnny Moore, Jackie Willacy, and Raymond Harper; Drumers like Lloyd Knibbs and Drumbago; Lloyd Brevett and Clue J, the bassists; pianist such as Aubrey Adams; Jah Jerry Haynes the guitarist. Lascelles Perkins, Owen Grey, Laurel Aitken, Clancy eccles, Higgs and Wilson, Bunny and Skitter, and many others were well known as vocalists. A Ska dance also evolved emanating from the Jamican middle class. Ska reigned supreme in the Jamaican Dancehalls and house parties.
Jackie Opel

The Charmers
In 1964, the veitable creator of the Ska decided to form a band. The Skatalites, led by tommy McCook and managed by Clement Dodd. The band was formed from musicians who had been playing ska those early years. Billy Farnum gave the Skatalites their first regular engagement at his club. The Skatalites disbanded after 14 months, but not after ska evolved into rock strady and later to reggae.
RUDE BOYS executed the latest steps in their crisp shiny suits and fine footgear; a Red Stripe beer in one hand, spinnind around,with their feet moving lightining sharp, dancing with their girl to the latest sound. If it was Saturday night in Jamaica, you just had to go the many dancehalls and listen to the ska sound that you needed to hear.

A crowd at one of sound system dances.
And there were the famous sound systems. Who can forget the clashes between the the followers of those sound systems. If you were a follower of a particular sound like Sir Coxsone's Downbeat, Duke Reid the Trojan, Supertown, or Prince Buster, a night out meant going to a dancehall. These sounds controlled crowds. On Friday you could find Coxsone blasting from Bar-Que. Rivalry between the sound systems led to one of greatest showdowns of the Ska era. Coxsone's and Duke Reid's followers marched to Forresters Hall, while Prince Buster and the Supertown sound system with their followers marched to Jubilee. Each been about 150 yards away had one of the biggest sound clashes of all time. Each side claimed victory but no one knows to this time.
With the end of the flow of American R&B records to Jamaica, Coxsone and other producers were forced to try their own recordings. Coxsone turned to all the ska musicians that had inspired him. The first jamaican studio was started by a merchant named Stanley Motta. His studio was basically a one track affair that recorded mento and calypso records. Recordings could also be made at two radio stations, R.J.R. and J.B.C. Ken Khouri took over Motta's studio and started Federal Records. At first Federal Records enjoyed a monoploy on record pressing but had to send songs to New York for mastering. It control prices and the number of recordings. Everything changed when Caribbean Records started pressing becuase it brought the cost of making records to 75%. The lowering of the price structure resulted in a flood of record releases and a wealth of material releases in the ska era. Another important development were that producers like Coxsone started to take matters into their own hands. Many of the artists were discovered in amateur shows. Bob Marley, Alton Ellis, and many others were disovered at these shows held held before the main event of the evening primarily staged at Kingston,s Ward Theater.
The Ward Theatre in the Ska years

Federal Record Studios during the Ska years
pictured are Owen Grey, Graham Goodall, Clement Dodd
The term ska is usually used to describe all early Jamaican music, although the heyday of the ska sound started around late 1960, growing in popularity with the formation of the Skatalites around 1962. The Skatalites were the acknowledged leaders of this movement. I hope you have enjoyed this brief history of ska. Pistures and history notes were taken from Ska Bonanza , Duke Reid's Treasure Isle, and Ska-Authentic, etc,on Heatbeat Records
Click here to listen to ska!
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