March 2010

  • Clint Eastwood inna Version

    By cobwebsandstrange on 3/29/10 5:47pm
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    Every single fan of JA music post-1970 should be confused by the endless number of references that crop up to Spaghetti Westerns, its characters and the actors that played them. Of course, the tough guy angle is understandable, but anything beyond that is pretty obscure. For whatever reason, though, the names stuck and helped create a great mystique around all involved. They weren’t gunslingers in a Western sense, but some of the mid-70s deejays certainly toted around some hardware.

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  • Bobby Kalphat: A Singles Collection

    By cobwebsandstrange on 3/27/10 10:17am
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    There’s a keyboard, organ and melodica tradition in JA that’s unique when compared to any other instrument’s progression over time. In the States, the way that the saxophone was utilized might potentially mirror that of all those aforementioned keys. Beginning as an instrument pushed back in the horn section, it took a few virtuosos to render the sax a solo instrument. Coleman Hawkins is usually credited with that. But in JA, Jackie Mittoo is roughly the equivalent on keys. With his moving to Canada, only returning every once in a while to record a session or two, there was a gap that needed to be filled.

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  • Al Campbell x Phil Pratt

    By cobwebsandstrange on 3/20/10 1:21pm
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    Digging so deep into a genre yields some surprising classics. But if a work is so obscured by time and lack of attention, might it cease to matter? Constructing something of a popular clutch of performers historians, writers and fans alike work to relay an individual sense of reality. So, in keeping Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Lee Perry on the lips of every reggae aficionado is as much a product of the music’s quality as it is a result of a skewed view of history.

    The performers that haven’t ever garnered a tremendous amount of attention most likely have an individual view of how history transpired. But as a result of being dispossessed, to a certain degree, it’s a history that can’t and won’t ever be properly related. Even if it was, though, it wouldn’t be the entire truth.

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  • Don Letts: A Rootsy Punker (Video)

    By cobwebsandstrange on 3/18/10 5:08pm
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    Don Letts functioned as the deejay for London's punk scene. As a result, he can be considered the impetus for punk's love affair with Jamaican music. He's finally become the focus of a documentary...

  • Winston Riley: Foundation Productions

    By cobwebsandstrange on 3/9/10 4:17pm
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    It’s hard to separate a person’s career into disparate sections even if he or she is engaged in a rather wide range of endeavors. Moving from being on the mic to behind the boards isn’t the most surprising move a musician might make. But when that occurs, there were most likely moments earlier in a person’s career that hinted at what was to come.

    For Winston Riley, becoming one of the most lauded producers in JA music history began as a result of his departure from Studio One as he was seeking more autonomy for his group the Techniques. That singing group, while even fondly recalled today, didn’t seem to have the support or longevity to broadly impact ska, rock steady or reggae.

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