-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DUKE REID -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duke Reid was born in Jamaica as Arthur Reid around 1915. As a young man he served in the Police Force for about ten years. He had a love of American R & B music and owned a Liquor Store on Bond Street, with his wife, the Duchess. The shop was called Treasure Isle. He had a record program on Jamaica radio called "Treasure Isle Time" playing R & B 78's. Leading USA Jazz artist like Lester Young, Colman Hawkins, Tab Smith and Illinois Jaquet could be heard. By the mid fifties Duke Reid had his own sound system. This comprised of large speakers and a record playing deck together with a powerful amplifier. He used a large van to transport this equipment around Jamaica to dance halls and open air events. Due to the nature of the van it became known as the Trojan. Clemont Seymore Dodd also had a sound system called Sir Coxone Downbeat after the Yorkshire cricketer Coxone. They had many a " Battle of the sound Systems" and towards the end of the fifties Duke Reid the Trojan was crowned king. His record production career began in 1959 on the "Trojan " record label, these were on 78's, such as Duke's Cookies and Chuck and Dobby "Cool School". On the Duke Reid label due to demand he issued home made recordings of the USA R & B style music. He formed his own backing band the Duke Reid Group who backed young singers like Derrick Morgan and the Jiving Juniors. Around this time the Jamaican R & B gave way to Ska, the guitar and piano played on every beat whilst the drummer reversed the offbeat, the bass played a powerful 'walking' rhythm. Duke Reid built his own recording studio, of wood, above the 'Treasure Isle Liquor Store'. Now he could with his engineer, Bryon Smith, achieve a high quality production and experiment with new sounds and rhythms. Duke Reid flyer in the uk from 1966 His work with the Skatalites as a group came to an end after August/September 1965. Don Drummond was arrested on New Years Eve 1965, accused of murdering his girl friend Marguerita. He died in Bellevue, a mental institution in 1969. The Skatalites last gig was a Police Dance at the Runaway Bay Hotel. Roland Alphonso went on to form the Soul Brothers then later the Soul Vendors. Tommy McCook and the Supersonics became Duke Reids session band at Treasure Isle recording studio. Out of the split of the Skatalites two new groups emerged and a new sound was borne 'Rock Steady'. As with most session bands the line up of the Supersonics changed, Tommy McCook sax and flute, Herman Marquis alto sax, Lennox Brown sax, Vin Gordon trombone, Baba Brooks trumpet, Jackie Jackson bass, Ernest Ranglin and Lyn Taitt on guitar, Winston Wright organ, Gladstone "Gladdy" Anderson piano, Lloyd Knibb or Hugh Malcolm on drums. Rock Steady was issued on his Treasure Isle label made at his studio at 33 Bond Street. They were mainly instrumentals, including the brilliant "Soul For Sale" by Tommy McCook and many others, had now been replaced by new vocal groups like the Melodians, Jamaicans, Techniques, Paragons and Ethiopians. Singers such as Alton Ellis and Justine Hinds and the Dominoes all gained vast popularity. Duke Reid became seriously ill in 1974 and sadly passed away in early 1975. He left behind a treasure chest full of his music, even today, gems are still to be found. above from: http://www.georgwa.demon.co.uk/duke_reid.htm following are the liner notes from: Nuclear Weapon - Rare & Previously Unissued Early 60's Ska (Mark Lamarr Presents Duke Reid) -newest addition to the JA Archive- The eighteen months or so when the sweetest sounds of Rocksteady dominated the air in Jamaica should go down in musical history alongside soul on Atlantic, blues on Chess, and rockabilly on Sun. Now and agian a label will define a sound so consistently that their names become synonomous. And with all due respect to Bunny Lee, Sonia Pottingger, Lloyd Daley and a host of lesser lights, Deku Reid was to Rocksteady what Clement Dodd was to the Ska. You can read that in proper books. Of course that neatly overlooks the simple fact that the Duke was schooling the nation during the Ska period too. Where do you thinkall time greats like, "Nuclear Weapon", Vitamin A", or "Carry Go Bring Home" sprang from, or indeed "Dance Crasher", "Country Town", "Alipang" or dozens of others came from? Long before the friendly rivalry between the two great producers, before Coxsone even hammered together his own Downbeat sound system, it was at Duke Reid's Trojan get togethers that Doddy man would try out his latest exclusives. This collection, almost entirely unissued til now dates from 1962, a fascinating project not just for the Duke but for also Jamaican music in general. Personally, Reid had taken a feq years out of the record business after a string of pre Ska hits, retirning with the vengence of the Stanger Cole smash 'Rough & Tough'. The bigger musical picture was that Jamaican musicians were forging ahead with a sound of their own and leaving behind that strange upside down New Orleans mood that had dominated the island. Some of the tracks here are out and out ska workouts, some have both feet firmly rooted in Rosco Gordon's shoes, but most are comfortably crossing whatever line that is. Check out the drumming on 'Joy Bells' or the sax on 'Chickeroo' (you can't miss it, it's over the vocals; pure Crescent City. But what would you call the aptly titled 'Flip Flop'? 'Ska Shuffle'? 'Boogie Ska'? Obviously most of the tracks are rehearsal and incidentally nothing from these sessions went past the 2nd take, but what is most noteworthy is thepure sloppiness of the vocals and the four-note range of some of the singers. Again Jamaican music at a crossroads. These recordings are sort of a midway point for Reid, a few years after his largely instrumental initial forays and a few years before his pinpoint harmony classics. Listen to Alton Ellis on 'We're Going Rockin' and marvel that he became arguably the greatest solo singer the island produced in the 60's. These titles predate by a few years the opening of the Treasure Isle Studio and would have been recorded at Federal before being left in a box for forty years. Unless of course they were tried out on acetate at the sound system or even given a radio audition on the Duke's Sunday afternoon 'Treasure Isle Time' radio show. Even then, with a period of exclusive playing out, followed by a healthy wait for the UK audience, those that did make the grade weren't given the Blue Beat release dates till 1965. TALK ABOUT JAMAICAN TIME! Finally the obligatory note, we don't actually know who's playing on what. You can read this same note on every ska compilation. The floating pool that made up the Duke Reid All Stars, possibly a Dragonaire or two and most certainly future members of The Skatalites are scattered over these tracks, and apart from the named Roland Alphonso, your guess is at least equal to any I might have. Personally, I sense a lot more Stanley Ribbs than Val Bennet on tenor and more Drumbago than Lloyd Knibb on the skins, but, here's a list of the known players on Duke's sessions. From this period (Tommy McCook didn't make the list til 1963). Chances are Lynn Taitt wasn't a regular at this point, nor was Lloyd Knibb, but Baba Brooks was pretty much Reid's house arranger, so look out for his trademark staccato high register as you play the Ska guessing game and pick any permutation. Mark Lamarr Musicians: Alto Sax Lester Sterling Tenor Sax Roland Alphonso Stanley Ribbs Sammy Ismay Dennis Campbell Val Bennet Guitar Ernest Ranglin Lyn Taitt Jah Jerry Trumpet Baba Brooks Frank Anderson Winston Graham Piano Gladdy Anderson Organ Winston Wright Drums Arkland Parks 'Drumbago' Lloyd Knibb Aston Henry Bass Lloyd Brevett Lloyd Spence Trombone Rico Rodriguez Don Drummond Ron Wilson