Val Bennett

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Val Bennett
Birth nameLovall Bennett
Died1991
Genres Ska, rocksteady, reggae, jazz
Occupation(s)Musician
Instruments Tenor saxophone, trombone
Years activeLate 1940s – 1991
Associated actsThe Val Bennett Orchestra
Prince Buster
Bunny Lee All Stars
The Upsetters

Val Bennett (born Lovall Bennett, ?, died 1991) was a Jamaican tenor saxophonist and jazz and roots reggae musician who began his career in the 1940s. He made a number of releases on the Island Records and Crab Records labels.

Contents

Biography

In the late 1940s, Bennett led his own band, the Val Bennett Orchestra. [1] Artists that played in Bennett's band included Jah Jerry Haynes, [2] Lloyd Knibb, and Ernest Ranglin, whose first professional experience was with this band. [1] The Val Bennett Orchestra performed regularly at the Colony Club, performing mainly for foreign visitors to Jamaica. [3] The band also toured abroad, performing in countries including Haiti, where they picked up merengue and played it on their return to Jamaica.

In the early to mid-1960s, Bennett was a regular member of Prince Buster's band, playing on many of the singer's best-known recordings, including "Al Capone". [2] Bennett was also a regular studio session musician, appearing on many releases from artists including Theophilus Beckford, Pat Kelly, Barrington Levy, and Delroy Wilson. [1] Bennett's session work included saxophone, horn, and trombone. [1] In the late 1960s, Bennett joined Bunny Lee's "All Stars". [2]

Notable tracks by Bennett include "The Russians Are Coming" (1968), a cover of "Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, [4] which would later go on to be used as the theme tune to the British television series The Secret Life of Machines in the late-1980s; and "Tons Of Gold" (1970), with the Harry J Allstars, a version of their track "The Liquidator". [2] Bennett also worked for producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, and his spaghetti western-inspired "Return of Django", recorded with Perry's studio band The Upsetters was a major UK hit in 1969. [5] His track "Baby Baby" was also included on The Upsetters' album Eastwood Rides Again . Perry was the only producer to get Bennett to perform vocals, "Baby Baby" being one of these examples, the other being "Barbara". [6]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Moskowitz, David V. (2006) Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall, Greenwood Press, ISBN   0-313-33158-8, p. 28
  2. 1 2 3 4 Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn., Rough Guides, ISBN   1-84353-329-4, p. 31
  3. ↑ Campbell, Olivia Leigh (2004) "ERNIE RANGLIN: Making people happy with music", Jamaica Observer , 29 March 2004
  4. ↑ Thompson, Dave (2002) Reggae & Caribbean Music, Backbeat Books, ISBN   0-87930-655-6, p. 392
  5. ↑ Munroe, Norman (2003) "Lee 'Scratch' Perry wins Reggae Grammy", Jamaica Observer , 24 February 2003
  6. ↑ Katz, David (2000) People Funny Boy: the Genius of Lee "Scratch" Perry, Payback Press, ISBN   0-86241-854-2, p. 72
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