by Jo-Ann Greene
More than a band, the Skatalites were and are an institution, an aggregation of top-notch musicians who didnt merely define the sound of Jamaica, they were the sound of Jamaica across the 50s and 60s. Although the group existed in its original incarnation for less than 18 months, members brought their signature styles to hundreds upon hundreds of the islands releases. The Skatalites officially lined up as guitarist Jerome Jah Jerry Hinds, bassist Lloyd Brevett, teenaged pianist Donat Roy Jackie Mittoo, drummer Lloyd Knibbs, trumpeter Johnnie Dizzie Moore, Cuban-born tenor saxophonist Tommy McCook, alto saxophonists Lester Sterling and Cuban born Roland Alphonso, and trombonist Don Drummond. Moore, McCook, Sterling, and Drummond were all alumni of the Alpha Cottage School for Boys, an educational institution for troubled and troublesome boys in Kingston, run by the Catholic diocese. Besides the regular lashings of studies, the school was renowned for its music program, and over the years turned hundreds of wayward boys into performers of note. All four ended up playing the hotel circuit, churning out R&B and jazz covers for the tourists.
Previous to the late 50s, this was Jamaicas only real music industry outside the mento scene, and as there were no local record labels, resorts were the only way for musicians to seriously ply their trade. The hotel bands were an ever-shifting conglomerate of players, but over time, they would crisscross each others paths so often, that all became familiar with everyone elses style. Knibbs and Drummond, for example, had both once played with Eric Deans Band. When Knibbs departed for the Sheiks, he joined a lineup that included Mittoo and Moore. However, new career opportunities presented themselves when local businessmen Duke Reid and Clement Coxsonne Dodd both launched record labels and the era of the sessionmen arrived in Jamaica.
Although both McCook and Alphonso had previously cut acetates, this was the first time any of the future Skatalites would appear on vinyl. Between 1959, when Reid released his first vinyl single, and 1962, most of the bands future members worked regularly at Reids Treasure Isle studio, playing on a swathe of R&B, boogie, and ballad releases. The Heartbeat labels Ska After Ska After Ska bundles up an albums worth of this early material, as does the Dutch label Jamaica Gold, on ShufflenSka Time. In 1962, Dodd opened his own Studio One recording studio, and the future Skatalites now quickly gravitated in his direction as well. Joining them was McCook, whod missed all the previous action, having left Jamaica in 1954 to join the house band at the Zanzibar Club in Nassau. The studio was inaugurated with the release of the album Jazz Jamaica From the Workshop, which featured McCook, Alphonso, Drummond, and guitarist Ernest Ranglin, amongst others.
The Skatalites came to fruition in June 1964, according to the members own reckoning, although they have given conflicting stories about just how it happened. Ranglin credits Moore, Knibbs credits himself, but theres no doubt who came up with the name — that honor goes to McCook. Drafting in vocalists Jackie Opel, Tony DaCosta, Doreen Schaeffer, and calypso star Joseph Lord Tanamo Gordon, the group debuted live on June 27, 1964, at the Hi- Hat club in Rae Town. It didnt take long for the Skatalites to grab a residency at the Bournemouth Beach Club in Eastern Kingston, where they performed three nights a week, as well as a Sunday residency at the Orange Bowl on Orange Street.
With the growth of Dodds Studio One label, the group soon found themselves with almost more gigs than they could handle, touring the island as the backing band for most of the labels artists, whilst also performing on-stage themselves. It must have been grueling, the constant driving to and from venues and playing a minimum of two sets a night, but in truth, the Skatalites were having a whale of a time. And in between the gigs, the band seems to have spent virtually all their waking hours recording. Besides working for Dodd and Reid, the group also played on a multitude of records for Prince Buster and Duke and Justin Yap. The actual number of recordings they performed on is anyones guess, an approximation made more difficult by the fact that the musicians normally went uncredited on the singles themselves. To add to the confusion, the Skatalites in the studio could be any of a number of musicians, not just the aforementioned lineup. Guitarist Ranglin, pianist Gladstone Anderson, trombonist Rico Rodriguez, and trumpeter Baba Brooks are just a few of the many men who took part in the Skatalites recording sessions.
And what actually defines a Skatalites record? Many of their recordings were understandably released under the vocalists name, not theirs. But what of Prince Busters U.K. smash Al Capone? Buster may have intoned the title across the track, but wasnt it the Skatalites who truly made the song? Even amongst the groups own repertoire, the records were credited to the composer, not the band. Thus, the seminal Guns of Navarone was originally released under Roland Alphonsos name, not the Skatalites. Modern archivists have attempted to address these injustices with compilations featuring the band, regardless of original accreditation. The West Side labels Skaravan — Top Sounds From Top Deck, for example, is currently into the eighth CD of their Skatalites compilations, all taken from their sessions for the Yap brothers, while Heartbeats Foundation Ska bundles up a batch of Studio One cuts. Thankfully, the members styles are so unique, as to be instantly recognizable within a few notes. In truth, most ska compilations are awash in the members music, credited or not. That bouncy swing tempo, the jazzy brass, and the steady, skanking beat, all shout the Skatalites louder than any written credit, as easily heard on the vocal releases as on their own instrumentals.
But the instrumentals were the groups glory. Songs like Guns of Navarone, Phoenix City, Addis Ababa, Silver Dollar, Corner Stone, and Blackberry Brandy, to name just a small handful of their most seminal cuts, not only defined the islands sound, but created a whole new genre of music — ska. The group have ofttimes been quoted as saying their invention of ska was never intentional, but merely the byproduct of their flawed attempts at American R&B. But this self-deprecating explanation neglects the jazz and big band swing sound that was also crucial to ska in its original form. And anyone good enough to play in those styles would have little problem mastering R&B. What the Skatalites actually did was drag these older styles into the contemporary scene, merge it with modern R&B, and propel it into the mainstream via a faster syncopated island beat. And with it, the groups musical legacy spread around the world and across generations.
But that must have seemed ridiculous at the very end of 1964. The Skatalites were playing at the La Parisienne club in Harbour View for New Years Eve, a show that went on without Drummond. The trombonist had a history of mental illness and late that night, in a fit of rage, he stabbed his common-law wife and band vocalist, Marguerita, to death. Drummond was arrested and sent to Bellevue Sanitarium; he died there in 1969. The Skatalites continued on for six more months after this tragedy, but the spark was dying with it, and finally in July 1965, the members called it quits. Several from the group did continue playing together. Alphonso, Moore, Mittoo, and Brevett eventually formed the Soul Brothers, which later become the Soul Vendors. McCook formed the Supersonics, which was virtually Reids house band at Treasure Isle Studio, and Sterling went off to work with producer Sir Clancy Collins. As their session work continued apace, inevitably many of the former members found themselves back working together. Then in 1975, most of the Skatalites reunited to record Brevetts solo album, African Roots. McCook, Alphonso, Sterling, Ranglin, Mittoo, and Knibbs all took part in the proceedings. Two years later, the Hot Lava album appeared, credited to Tommy McCook & the Skatalites, but in contrast to Brevetts solo album, this really was one. 1978s Jackie Mittoo may sound like a solo outing by the pianist, but actually features a clutch of former Skatalites. That same year, Island head Chris Blackwell convinced the members to reconvene again and recorded the Big Guns album. However, due to discord between the label man and McCook, the record sat on the shelf until 1984, when it was finally released as Return of the Big Guns. The previous year, the group had again reunited under the aegis of producer Bunny Lee for the Skatalites With Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang.
It took a few more years for the members to finally agree they were a band again; in 1986 they made it official and began gigging regularly. In 1989, they toured the world as Bunny Wailers backing band, and the next year performed the same service for Prince Buster. In 1993, an album of new material, Skavoovee, finally appeared. Now boasting a core lineup of McCook, Brevett, Sterling, and Knibbs, the album was highly acclaimed. Their timing was perfect as the U.S. was in the grips of ska fever, and the bands constant touring abroad had cemented a worldwide following. Over the intervening years, the Skatalites had returned to their jazz roots with a vengeance, but ska fans didnt mind one bit. Alphonso now permanently rejoined the Skatalites for 1994s Hi-Bop Ska: The 30th Anniversary Recording, which also featured such illustrious guests as former vocalist Doreen Schaeffer, Prince Buster, and Toots Hibbert, and an all-star gathering of jazz musicians. The album deservedly earned the band their first Grammy nomination. Even McCooks heart attack in 1995 barely slowed the group down. The band continued their hectic touring schedule without him until the tenor saxophonist rejoined them early the next year.
However, even though he was forced off the road for good due to health problems a few weeks later, he was still able to record, and 1996s excellent Greetings From Skamania remains a tribute to his determination, and earned the group a second Grammy nomination. On May 5, 1998, the legendary saxophonist passed away; he was 71. Later that year, the Skatalites released Balls of Fire, on which the band re-created many of their old ska hits in their newer jazz style. That autumn, Alphonso collapsed on-stage at Hollywoods Key Club. He slipped into a coma soon after, and on November 20, he, too, died. But no matter how great the contributions of individual members, the Skatalites were always greater than the sum of their parts, and thus the band carried on. In 2000, they released Bashaka and their touring schedule continues unabated. While touring Europe in late2001, they reocrded yet again, resulting in the 2003 release of From Paris With Love. Each year brings another slew of compilations of their recordings from labels around the world. Decades on, their music remains timeless.
More than a band, the Skatalites were and are an institution, an aggregation of top-notch musicians who didnt merely define the sound of Jamaica, they were the sound of Jamaica across the 50s and 60s. Although the group existed in its original incarnation for less than 18 months, members brought their signature styles to hundreds upon hundreds of the islands releases. The Skatalites officially lined up as guitarist Jerome Jah Jerry Hinds, bassist Lloyd Brevett, teenaged pianist Donat Roy Jackie Mittoo, drummer Lloyd Knibbs, trumpeter Johnnie Dizzie Moore, Cuban-born tenor saxophonist Tommy McCook, alto saxophonists Lester Sterling and Cuban born Roland Alphonso, and trombonist Don Drummond. Moore, McCook, Sterling, and Drummond were all alumni of the Alpha Cottage School for Boys, an educational institution for troubled and troublesome boys in Kingston, run by the Catholic diocese. Besides the regular lashings of studies, the school was renowned for its music program, and over the years turned hundreds of wayward boys into performers of note. All four ended up playing the hotel circuit, churning out R&B and jazz covers for the tourists.
Previous to the late 50s, this was Jamaicas only real music industry outside the mento scene, and as there were no local record labels, resorts were the only way for musicians to seriously ply their trade. The hotel bands were an ever-shifting conglomerate of players, but over time, they would crisscross each others paths so often, that all became familiar with everyone elses style. Knibbs and Drummond, for example, had both once played with Eric Deans Band. When Knibbs departed for the Sheiks, he joined a lineup that included Mittoo and Moore. However, new career opportunities presented themselves when local businessmen Duke Reid and Clement Coxsonne Dodd both launched record labels and the era of the sessionmen arrived in Jamaica.
Although both McCook and Alphonso had previously cut acetates, this was the first time any of the future Skatalites would appear on vinyl. Between 1959, when Reid released his first vinyl single, and 1962, most of the bands future members worked regularly at Reids Treasure Isle studio, playing on a swathe of R&B, boogie, and ballad releases. The Heartbeat labels Ska After Ska After Ska bundles up an albums worth of this early material, as does the Dutch label Jamaica Gold, on ShufflenSka Time. In 1962, Dodd opened his own Studio One recording studio, and the future Skatalites now quickly gravitated in his direction as well. Joining them was McCook, whod missed all the previous action, having left Jamaica in 1954 to join the house band at the Zanzibar Club in Nassau. The studio was inaugurated with the release of the album Jazz Jamaica From the Workshop, which featured McCook, Alphonso, Drummond, and guitarist Ernest Ranglin, amongst others.
The Skatalites came to fruition in June 1964, according to the members own reckoning, although they have given conflicting stories about just how it happened. Ranglin credits Moore, Knibbs credits himself, but theres no doubt who came up with the name — that honor goes to McCook. Drafting in vocalists Jackie Opel, Tony DaCosta, Doreen Schaeffer, and calypso star Joseph Lord Tanamo Gordon, the group debuted live on June 27, 1964, at the Hi- Hat club in Rae Town. It didnt take long for the Skatalites to grab a residency at the Bournemouth Beach Club in Eastern Kingston, where they performed three nights a week, as well as a Sunday residency at the Orange Bowl on Orange Street.
With the growth of Dodds Studio One label, the group soon found themselves with almost more gigs than they could handle, touring the island as the backing band for most of the labels artists, whilst also performing on-stage themselves. It must have been grueling, the constant driving to and from venues and playing a minimum of two sets a night, but in truth, the Skatalites were having a whale of a time. And in between the gigs, the band seems to have spent virtually all their waking hours recording. Besides working for Dodd and Reid, the group also played on a multitude of records for Prince Buster and Duke and Justin Yap. The actual number of recordings they performed on is anyones guess, an approximation made more difficult by the fact that the musicians normally went uncredited on the singles themselves. To add to the confusion, the Skatalites in the studio could be any of a number of musicians, not just the aforementioned lineup. Guitarist Ranglin, pianist Gladstone Anderson, trombonist Rico Rodriguez, and trumpeter Baba Brooks are just a few of the many men who took part in the Skatalites recording sessions.
And what actually defines a Skatalites record? Many of their recordings were understandably released under the vocalists name, not theirs. But what of Prince Busters U.K. smash Al Capone? Buster may have intoned the title across the track, but wasnt it the Skatalites who truly made the song? Even amongst the groups own repertoire, the records were credited to the composer, not the band. Thus, the seminal Guns of Navarone was originally released under Roland Alphonsos name, not the Skatalites. Modern archivists have attempted to address these injustices with compilations featuring the band, regardless of original accreditation. The West Side labels Skaravan — Top Sounds From Top Deck, for example, is currently into the eighth CD of their Skatalites compilations, all taken from their sessions for the Yap brothers, while Heartbeats Foundation Ska bundles up a batch of Studio One cuts. Thankfully, the members styles are so unique, as to be instantly recognizable within a few notes. In truth, most ska compilations are awash in the members music, credited or not. That bouncy swing tempo, the jazzy brass, and the steady, skanking beat, all shout the Skatalites louder than any written credit, as easily heard on the vocal releases as on their own instrumentals.
But the instrumentals were the groups glory. Songs like Guns of Navarone, Phoenix City, Addis Ababa, Silver Dollar, Corner Stone, and Blackberry Brandy, to name just a small handful of their most seminal cuts, not only defined the islands sound, but created a whole new genre of music — ska. The group have ofttimes been quoted as saying their invention of ska was never intentional, but merely the byproduct of their flawed attempts at American R&B. But this self-deprecating explanation neglects the jazz and big band swing sound that was also crucial to ska in its original form. And anyone good enough to play in those styles would have little problem mastering R&B. What the Skatalites actually did was drag these older styles into the contemporary scene, merge it with modern R&B, and propel it into the mainstream via a faster syncopated island beat. And with it, the groups musical legacy spread around the world and across generations.
But that must have seemed ridiculous at the very end of 1964. The Skatalites were playing at the La Parisienne club in Harbour View for New Years Eve, a show that went on without Drummond. The trombonist had a history of mental illness and late that night, in a fit of rage, he stabbed his common-law wife and band vocalist, Marguerita, to death. Drummond was arrested and sent to Bellevue Sanitarium; he died there in 1969. The Skatalites continued on for six more months after this tragedy, but the spark was dying with it, and finally in July 1965, the members called it quits. Several from the group did continue playing together. Alphonso, Moore, Mittoo, and Brevett eventually formed the Soul Brothers, which later become the Soul Vendors. McCook formed the Supersonics, which was virtually Reids house band at Treasure Isle Studio, and Sterling went off to work with producer Sir Clancy Collins. As their session work continued apace, inevitably many of the former members found themselves back working together. Then in 1975, most of the Skatalites reunited to record Brevetts solo album, African Roots. McCook, Alphonso, Sterling, Ranglin, Mittoo, and Knibbs all took part in the proceedings. Two years later, the Hot Lava album appeared, credited to Tommy McCook & the Skatalites, but in contrast to Brevetts solo album, this really was one. 1978s Jackie Mittoo may sound like a solo outing by the pianist, but actually features a clutch of former Skatalites. That same year, Island head Chris Blackwell convinced the members to reconvene again and recorded the Big Guns album. However, due to discord between the label man and McCook, the record sat on the shelf until 1984, when it was finally released as Return of the Big Guns. The previous year, the group had again reunited under the aegis of producer Bunny Lee for the Skatalites With Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang.
It took a few more years for the members to finally agree they were a band again; in 1986 they made it official and began gigging regularly. In 1989, they toured the world as Bunny Wailers backing band, and the next year performed the same service for Prince Buster. In 1993, an album of new material, Skavoovee, finally appeared. Now boasting a core lineup of McCook, Brevett, Sterling, and Knibbs, the album was highly acclaimed. Their timing was perfect as the U.S. was in the grips of ska fever, and the bands constant touring abroad had cemented a worldwide following. Over the intervening years, the Skatalites had returned to their jazz roots with a vengeance, but ska fans didnt mind one bit. Alphonso now permanently rejoined the Skatalites for 1994s Hi-Bop Ska: The 30th Anniversary Recording, which also featured such illustrious guests as former vocalist Doreen Schaeffer, Prince Buster, and Toots Hibbert, and an all-star gathering of jazz musicians. The album deservedly earned the band their first Grammy nomination. Even McCooks heart attack in 1995 barely slowed the group down. The band continued their hectic touring schedule without him until the tenor saxophonist rejoined them early the next year.
However, even though he was forced off the road for good due to health problems a few weeks later, he was still able to record, and 1996s excellent Greetings From Skamania remains a tribute to his determination, and earned the group a second Grammy nomination. On May 5, 1998, the legendary saxophonist passed away; he was 71. Later that year, the Skatalites released Balls of Fire, on which the band re-created many of their old ska hits in their newer jazz style. That autumn, Alphonso collapsed on-stage at Hollywoods Key Club. He slipped into a coma soon after, and on November 20, he, too, died. But no matter how great the contributions of individual members, the Skatalites were always greater than the sum of their parts, and thus the band carried on. In 2000, they released Bashaka and their touring schedule continues unabated. While touring Europe in late2001, they reocrded yet again, resulting in the 2003 release of From Paris With Love. Each year brings another slew of compilations of their recordings from labels around the world. Decades on, their music remains timeless.
