I honestly know basically nothing about King Edwards. He was a producer, apparently. What label, you might ask? Don’t know that – that’s what the comments section is for, though. Amongst the Coxsonne Dodds and others from the ska era, King Edwards seemingly hasn’t aged in the same way, seeing as no one (or me at least) knows anything about the guy. There’s neither a real Allmusic post or Wiki page for the guy. What’s up with that ska fans?

Despite his relative obscurity, though, this compilation, Ska Ba Dip, has the work of not just the Skatalites, but the Baba Brooks Band on it as each of those ensembles backs up a few well known singers and horn players.

An early Upsetters track begins the album with the Skatalites filling out the line up. It’s a scandal song, so you know that the lyrics are gonna be entertaining at the very least. “Scandalizing” is also the first of four tracks that count the innovators as a backing band.  The next offering from the ska founders comes much later on and is credited to Upcoming Willows as the group goes in on a track oddly named “Red China.” The sax solos on there, which one could assume to be Mr. Tommy McCook are a bit beyond the realm of whoever’s playing t-bone at this point – Roland Alphonso? Rico? My guess would be the first fellow seeing as Rico very well may have left the island by the time that some of these tracks were set down. There’re a few tough vocals that follow, but nothing in the realm of that “Red China” instrumental.

The Edwards All Stars, though, bring more of a jump blues thing to the album, which is amply displayed on Patrick’s “Iron Curtain.” The fast pace seems to fit the band as each of the soloists that get a turn move just as quickly as the rest of the track – it’s still bluesy, but there’s more than a bit of bop ideology inserted into all of this.

Elsewhere, the Baba Brooks Band makes up pretty much the rest of the album (apart from that aforementioned track credited to The Edwards All Stars) as the ensemble takes up work on six tracks – even backing Alphonso at one point. Some of the tempos are bit slower coming from the Brooks ensemble, the most rewarding being Shenley Duffus’ “Digging a Ditch.” The added harmonica goes a long way despite ostensibly functioning only as a rhythm instrument.

It can’t be said that there’s a huge chasm here between what the Brooks Band and the Skatalites give us. And in fact, the soloing from Brooks and company comes off a bit stronger. Regardless, though, this compilation could be a useful tool in understanding King Edwards and what he was shooting for. Of course, the fact still remains that all I now know about this fellow is that he produced a half hour of ska on display here. That’s enough right now, but maybe not for the future.