Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.
Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish reggae, including harmony groups such as the Techniques, the Paragons, the Heptones and the Gaylads; soulful singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon; musicians such as Jackie Mittoo, Lynn Taitt and Tommy McCook. The term rocksteady comes from a popular (slower) dance style mentioned in the Alton Ellis song "Rocksteady", that matched the new sound. Some rocksteady songs became hits outside Jamaica, as with ska, helping to secure the international base reggae music has today.
Donat Roy Mittoo, better known as Jackie Mittoo, was a Jamaican-Canadian keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. He was a member of The Skatalites and musical director of the Studio One record label.
Heartbeat Records is an independent record label based in Burlington, Massachusetts. The label specializes in Jamaican music.
Roland Alphonso OD or Rolando Alphonsoa.k.a. "The Chief Musician" was a Jamaican tenor saxophonist, and one of the founding members of the Skatalites.
Leroy Sibbles is a Jamaican reggae musician and producer. He was the lead singer for The Heptones in the 1960s and 1970s.
Winston Sparkes, better known as King Stitt, was a Jamaican pioneer DJ.
Tommy McCook was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s.
Ska jazz is a music genre derived by fusing the melodic content of jazz with the rhythmic and harmonic content of early Jamaican Music introduced by the "Fathers of Ska" in the late 1950s. The ska-jazz movement began during the 1990s in New York and London, where pioneering avant-garde jazz and reggae musicians pushed the boundaries of reggae music. They were combining traditions with modern tendencies, using the reggae beat along with high improvisation and jazz harmonies, primarily by horns and percussion.
Willi Williams is a Jamaican reggae and dub musician and producer. He is known as the "Armagideon Man" after his hit, "Armagideon Time", first recorded in 1977 at Studio One in Kingston. The song was covered by The Clash as the flipside of their "London Calling" single.
Soul Jazz Records is a British record label based in London. Outside of releasing records, the label also publishes books, occasionally films and performs as a DJ set. The music releases labels from a variety of genres, including reggae, house, hip hop, punk rock, jazz, funk, bossa nova and soul.
The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including "Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many other Jamaican artists who recorded during that period, including Bob Marley & The Wailers, on their first single "Simmer Down." They reformed in 1983 and have played together ever since.
Cedric "Im" Brooks was a Jamaican saxophonist and flautist known for his solo recordings and as a member of The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, The Sound Dimensions, Divine Light, The Light of Saba, and The Skatalites.
"Real Rock" is an instrumental reggae song by the Jamaican band Sound Dimension. It was recorded in 1967 at Jamaica Recording Studio in Kingston, Jamaica, and released as a single in 1968 by Studio One. The song was produced by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd and performed by Eric Frater (guitar), Boris Gardiner, Phil Callender (drums), Denzel Laing (percussion), Vin Gordon (trombone) and Jackie Mittoo (keyboards), who played the riddim's signature three-note Hammond organ figure.
Bob Andy's Song Book is a 1970 album of songs by Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter Bob Andy, recorded between 1966 and 1968. Andy had first found fame as the lead vocalist of The Paragons, but his peak as a solo artist came in the late '60s when he recorded a string of singles for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One label. In 1970, these singles were compiled on the Song Book album. Many of the songs on the album have since been covered by a range of artists, including Taj Mahal, who covered "Desperate Lover" on his 1974 Mo' Roots album. Vocal harmony on three tracks on the album are performed by Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh of The Wailers, and backing comes from Studio One band the Soul Vendors, whose members included Jackie Mittoo and Roland Alphonso. The album was re-issued on CD in 1997, with extended versions of "Desperate Lover" and "Feeling Soul". In the Rough Guides book Reggae: 100 Essential CDs, the album is described as "a masterpiece that belongs in anyone's CD collection - and not just of reggae music", and it has also been described as "one of the era's classic albums".
Pablove Black is a Jamaican reggae musician, arranger, composer, bandleader, vocalist and producer.
Clue J & His Blues Blasters were a Jamaican band of the late 1950s and early 1960s led by Cluett Johnson, who were one of the first bands to play ska. Several of the band's members went on to join The Skatalites.
Sound Dimension was a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1967 in Kingston, Jamaica. They were the house band at Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One. They were named after a piece of studio equipment called the Sound Dimension. Their 1967 recorded track "Real Rock" became a famous riddim.
Bamboo Records was a record label based in the UK. An influential record label, known for its reggae releases, it released recordings from the late 1960s into the 1970s. Artists that had recordings released on the label include, Laurel Aitken, John Holt, Junior English, Alton Ellis, The Heptones and Sound Dimension. They produced a number of reggae hits.
