I think the original Drum Song was by Jackie Mittoo in the late Sixties and is also on The Keyboard King At Studio One I posted above.
There have been countless versions and dubs since
Thanks for the recommendations. I agree on Rock Steady Party, I think that was the first D.H. album that some friends returning from Jamaica turned me on to back in the day. Not too many people were listening that style of reggae back then.
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Jamaican Music of course has a rich Jazz tradition I wrote this on the Jazz thread but also belongs here;
Of course Jamaica gave us internationally renowned artists like Joe Harriott, Dizzy Reece and Coleridge Goode.
Jamaican Music, Ska & Reggae is partly rooted in Jazz, most of the foundation musicians Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Lester Stirling, Cedric Brooks, Rico Rodriguez etc that invented the Ska sound and formed the Ska-Talites were Jazz players taught Jazz at Alpha Boys School and played in the Islands big bands like Eric Dean’s Orchestra.
Toppa Top 10: Ten Caribbean Jazz Greats - LargeUp
LEGENDS OF JAMAICAN JAZZ SUPPORT ALPHA | ALPHA INSTITUTE
Highly recommended on Trojan Records
Excellent article, well worth a read
Black British Swing: Caribbean Contribution to British Jazz in the 1930s and 1940s - Black History Month 2020
Hi Dread. Regarding your comments on jazz, I have a problem with both jazz and classical. I know I should like both. I just…don’t. Listening to either, I find my mind wandering after a while. Give me a bit of Steel Pulse or Foofighters and I’m fully engaged and hanging on to the beat.
BTW, thanks for your help on streaming.
Cheers for now.
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Nice to hear from you again Shep.
When I started this thread I did intend it to be about Jamaican and Jamaican influenced Music, not Reggae per se. I decided to title it The Reggae Thread as it’s the term most people would recognise.
For anyone interested in the history of the music, Jamaica’s Jazz Musicians and The Alpha Boys School are vital.
Prior to independence the embryonic Jamaican music pioneers, producers & sound systems were playing imported R&B Records from America, producers in Jamaica then started recording local artists emulating the US R&B and Jump Blues.
Following independence, there was a move amongst the Islands musicians to create a uniquely Jamaican musical form. The majority of the Islands musicians were Jazz players in the big dance bands and/or were schooled in music, particularly Jazz, at The Alpha Boys School.
Those musicians came together at Studio One and created the Ska sound, with the big band The Ska-Talites.
They took the Jazz and fused it with the R&B, traditional Jamaican Mento, British & Spanish colonial musical influences, the various African music forms tracing the history of slaves to their homelands. Along with the emphasised off beat giving the “ska…ska” sound created the uniquely Jamaican sound, which evolved through Rock Steady, Roots, Dancehall etc and influenced popular music globally.
Other Jazz artists from the Island such as Dizzy Recce emigrated and recorded in the bop/post bop style and recorded for Blue Note, Joe Harriott came to Britain and played Free Jazz and Fusion.
Before those developments in Jamaica, Jazz artists from the wider carribean came to London and enriched the Big Band Dance Scene.
Fast forward to the present and much of the young Black British Jazz has influences from Jamaica and the Carribbean.
So, without the contribution of Jamaican Jazzers, there wouldnt have been Ska through to Reggae etc, brought to the UK by Jamaican immigrants, and accordingly no UK Reggae, Steel Pulse,Aswad, Lovers Rock, Drum and Bass, Jungle, Dub Step etc etc
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Alpha Boys’ School: Cradle of Jamaican Music - Black History Month 2020
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Spot on review from Sounds Of The Universe;
A STUNNING FUSION OF AFRO-BEAT, LATIN, FUNK AND REGGAE!
Cedric Im Brooks is an old boy of the Alpha School in Kingston, Jamaica, alongside alumni like Don Drummond, Johnny Moore and Tommy McCook of The Skatalites, jazzmen Joe Harriott and Harold McNair, and too many other musical giants to mention. He was a member of The Vagabonds, before Jimmy James moved the group to England, and during the sixties toured Caribbean hotels and clubs with various big bands and combos. His own musical horizons — especially the new jazz music — were increasingly distant from these constrained commercial contexts; and he eagerly accepted an invitation to visit a friend in the U.S. In Philadelphia, Cedric was awe-struck by the music and vibes of the Sun Ra Arkestra. He was on the point of joining the commune when the birth of his second daughter necessitated his return to Jamaica. Amazingly, though rocksteady was in full swing on the island, Cedric took up Ra’s challenge by starting The Mystics, to experiment with free jazz and poetry, African robes and dancers. During this period, Cedric’s long association with Studio One produced the hit single ‘Money Maker’; and his musical direction of Count Ossie’s Mystic Revelation of Rastafari was commemorated by the classic Grounation triple-LP set, before his frustrations with purely rasta patterns encouraged him to set up The Light of Saba, to go into other aspects of African drumming.
Taking leads from Hugh Masekela and Fela Kuti, the recordings of Cedric Im Brooks and The Light of Saba delineate ‘world music’ way ahead of its time! They offer a blend of African and US, Cuban and other West Indian influences — calypso and funk, rumba and bebop, nyabinghi and disco — magnificently expressed as classic reggae. Essentially this compilation is drawn from extremely rare singles and LPs. A stunning collection of their finest works, roots reggae to afrobeat to nyhibingi. a must have in any record collection Features the disco reggae bomb Sabebe!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
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The Great Count Ossie and The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari
Two classics re issued by Soul Jazz
Grounation
Tales Of Mozambique
Count Ossie is the central character in the development of Rastafarian roots music, nowadays an almost mythical and iconic figure. His importance in bringing Rastafarian music to a populist audience is matched only by Bob Marley’s promotion of the faith internationally in the 1970s.
Count Ossie’s drummers performed on the first commercially released single to integrate Rastafarian traditional music with popular music: the vocal group The Folkes Brothers’ groundbreaking song ‘Oh Carolina’, recorded for producer Prince Buster in 1959. In 1966 his drummers greeted the momentous arrival of Haile Selassie at Kingston airport.
His legendary jam sessions up in his Rastafarian compound in the hills of Wareika, Kingston, are famous for the many Jamaican musicians who attended including The Skatalites players – Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Johnny Moore, Lloyd Knibbs – and many others.
The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari formed in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1970, a union of Count Ossie’s Rastafarian drummers – variously known as his African Drums, Wareikas or his Afro-Combo – and the saxophonist Cedric Im Brooks’ horns group, The Mystics.
The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari are the defining group in bringing authentic Rastafarian rhythms into the collective consciousness of popular music, their unique music is at once rooted in the deep traditions and rituals of traditional drumming and chanting alongside a forward-thinking, even avant-garde, artistry influenced by the likes of John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders and other pioneering African-American jazz artists radicalised and charged by the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
This release follows on from the earlier release of Count Ossie and The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari ‘Tales of Mozambique’ (1975) also by Soul Jazz Records.
Recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, somewhere between the last Mystic Revelation album and the 1983 official release of ‘Man From Higher Heights’ it remains unclear whether this album is a mixture of original recordings overlayed with additional players, or Ossie’s post-Mystic Revelation players remaining true to the spirit of Count Ossie (who had died in a car crash in 1976).
Either way it is a fascinating and successful blend of heavyweight Rastafarian roots rhythms and drumming alongside deep jazz improvisation and tripped out psychedelic fuzz guitar.
The album was first released in 1983 on the British label Vista Sounds with no mention of the line-up of the group. It has been out of print for over 30 years and remains one of the most mysterious of all releases relating to Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari.
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Continuing the theme, more righteous Rastafari fyah! Another essential re issue from Sounds Of The Universe/Soul Jazz
Spanning nearly 30 years of revolutionary music and featuring the music of Count Ossie, Johnny Clarke, The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, Ras Michael and The Sons of Negus, Bongo Herman, Roy Ashanti (The Congos), Earth & Stone, Mutabaruka and many more, this is an in-depth look at some of the most unique and righteous music ever made and comes complete with a 40+ page outsize booklet, containing exclusive photography and extensive historical and contextual sleevenotes.
The new religion of Rastafari emerged in Jamaica during a time of intense political and social change in the 1930s. The first stirrings of anti-colonialism and workers’ rights were in motion, while Marcus Garvey’s Back-to-Africa movement was beginning to wane. But the pivotal catalyst to the birth of the Rastafari faith was the crowning of a black king in Africa in 1930.
One of the earliest mentions of Ethiopia in Jamaican music can be found on mento singer Lord Lebby and the Jamaican Calpysonians’ 1955 recording ‘Etheopia’. In the song Noel Williams, aka Lord Lebby, discusses Ethiopianism, the political movement that calls for a return to Africa for black people.
The 1960s saw the emergence of the first Rastafarian music on record with Count Ossie’s Rastafarian drummers. The visit of Haile Selassie to Kingston in 1966 was like an electric current throughout Kingston’s music scene – many of who had become adherents to the Rastafari faith. By the 1970s Rastafarianism become practically synonymous with reggae, as many roots reggae artists became known throughout the world, led by the success of Bob Marley and The Wailers.
At the source of the music of Rastafari is the figurehead master drummer and leader Count Ossie, who first bought the deeply spiritual nyabinghi and burro rhythms heard and played at sacred Rastafarian grounation (reasoning) sessions into popular Jamaican music through his many collaborations and performances with artists – from The Skatalites to The Folks Brothers - and producers – including Clement Dodd, Prince Buster and Harry Mudie.
At the start of the 1970s Count Ossie formed the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari with saxophonist Cedric Brooks, which immediately became the most significant group of the Rastafari faith, bringing together authentic rasta nyabinghi drumming together with spiritual and avant-garde jazz influences of Sun Ra, John Coltrane and Albert Ayler into a truly unique and groundbreaking sound.
As ‘roots reggae’ artists in the 1970s continued to spread the word of Jah (God) in their music, Rastafari reggae became the ultimate rebel sound throughout the world.
Continuing on from Count Ossie, I would highly recommend Ras Michael And The Sons Of Negus - None A Jah Jah Children.
Following the Rastafari Nyabhingi tradition but Ras Michael came to include electric instruments alongside the fundamental.
I saw Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus most recently at the Garance Reggae Festival in Bagnols Sur Ceze France. It was an experience to behold. They played in the afternoon against clear blue skys, the trance like vibe was hypnotic and spiritual, literally out of the blue, as they drummed in the summer daylight, forked lightening struck out from the sky. Awesome!
Excellent overview sourced from Richmond Folk Festival;
For over five decades, singer and percussionist Ras Michael has remained true to the diverse currents out of which reggae emerged, from its roots in nyabinghi drumming to the deep spirituality and sense of justice that inform the music. Nyabinghi is both the heart of Rastafarian religious ceremonies and a precursor of Jamaican reggae, ska, and dancehall. Ras Michael has been one of nyabinghi’s most visible ambassadors since the 1960s through his performances with Bob Marley, his educational and religious leadership, and his roots reggae group, the Sons of Negus.
The development of nyabinghi is intertwined with the history of Rastafarianism, a spiritual, social, and political movement that began to develop among Jamaica’s poor during the 1930s. Rastas, as they came to be known, believed in the divine nature of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, and helped to revitalize Pan-African nationalism throughout the island. Nyabinghi takes its name from a Ugandan/Rwandan tribal queen who resisted colonial invaders. While rooted in the African drumming styles that came to Jamaica with slavery, its beat is slowed down to allow for meditative chants. The core of “binghi” are three drums: the giant bass drum, the cylindrical funde and the smaller kette or repeater drum. Their sounds ring out when Rastas praise the power of Jah and chant down oppressors. Binghi is commonly heard at ceremonies like Groundation Day, an annual celebration of Selassie’s first visit to Jamaica. The rhythms of nyabinghi first met Jamaica’s recording industry in 1958 when Count Ossie played hand drums on the early ska recording “Oh Carolina,” creating a “riddim” found in dancehall hits to this day.
Ras Michael discovered Rasta culture and philosophy in urban Kingston in the late 1950s. His Sons of Negus group was originally based in Trenchtown. (Negus is an Ethiopian term for a supreme ruler.) That gave him access to recording studios like the renowned Studio One, where he traded session work for studio time to make his first recordings. When the Sons of Negus released their first records in the late ’60s and early ’70s, they added an electric guitar. To this day, Ras Michael frequently incorporates electric instruments in his performances. In Richmond, the Sons of Negus will include bass, keyboards, guitar, trap drums, and saxophone along with the three traditional binghi drums. “Even after I got the other instruments involved, the vibration of the music is always nyabinghi—binghi is the heartbeat of reggae,” Ras Michael explains.
That reggae/binghi sound was heard on his landmark 1975 LP Rastafari, which opened with Ras Michael’s trademark song “None of Jah Jah Children” and featured Peter Tosh on guitar. Three years later he would play a key role in the One Love Peace Concert where Bob Marley attempted to reconcile warring political factions whose disputes had resulted in bloodshed.
Intervening years have seen Ras Michael continue to teach, tour, and record from his base in Los Angeles, where he also is active with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahido Church and the Rastafarian International/Marcus Garvey Culture Center. He says his role is to “teach and show this generation and the generation to come that this nyabinghi is the real roots of the music. When you have the nyabinghi, it is taking you back to Africa.
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Cheers Glevethan,
Your right he did also record under the name Dadawah, I think these were solo recordings with a regular electric band sans Sons Of Negus.
Its been re issued most recently by Trojan/Vinyl Me Please
Fantastic selection of Dubs from Tubbs,
King Tubby The Dub Master, great to see this available on a Tidal Master.
Compilation of crucial dubs to Augustus Pablo, Horace Andy, Dennis Brown, Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell, Bunny Lee, Niney The Observer et al, absolutely essential.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Osbourne Ruddock aka King Tubby literally invented the idea of dub and remixing which went on to influence the world of dance music and beyond outernationally.
He started as an electronics repair man fixing TV’s etc, then started building amplifiers hand winding his own coils for power supplies and eventually building his own sound system King Tubby’s Home Town HiFi that featured the great U Roy on the mic. He built a small voicing and dub (acetate) cutting studio at his home in the notorious Waterhouse district of Kingston.
According to legend he invented dub by accident whilst cutting an acetate for producer Bunny Lee, he accidentally left off the vocal track and when the acetate was played back on the sound system sans vocal the crowd reaction went wild. He built a reverb and echo unit to enhance the effect on the sound system and dub was born.
Producers flocked to that tiny studio to get Tubbs to cut exclusive dubs of their tunes which also brought about the idea of Sound Clash’s where sound systems would compete to have exclusive “cuts” on dub plate of popular tunes. The DJ remix from disco and modern dance music forms can be traced right back to King Tubby’s house on Dromilly Avenue in Waterhouse.
As the music started to change with the “Digital” sound, Tubby had just completed building a new studio with a voicing booth up in the roof rafters! He started releasing some cutting edge “Digital” Dancehall Riddims including the massive Anthony Red Rose Tempo. Collected on the terrific Pressure Sounds compilation Firehouse Revolution.
Then one night arriving home he was senslessly shot dead by a gunman who’s motivation appeared to be nothing more than to rob Tubbs of his gold chain.
I remember feeling a shiver down my spine and profound sadness when David Rodigan reported the murder on his Capital Radio Roots Rockers On A Saturday Night Show.
RIP and massive respect due Osbourne Ruddock
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How about a little Wednesday afternoon rub up the wallpaper with the one you love.
Focus on Mad Professor’s Lovers Rock Productions for some lockdown niceness!
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For some Lockdown viewing the Small Axe series of films by Steve McQueen should still be out on iplayer
Steve McQueen On Capturing The Joys & Struggles With Racism Of London’s…
EXCLUSIVE: After blazing on the London art scene with work that won him the Turner Prize, Steve McQueen established himself as an important filmmaker who showed the unbreakable spirit of an Irish h…
Channel One’s Mikey Dread on running one of the world’s most famous sound systems | MusicRadar
Dubkasm meets Iration Steppas
