The very best reggae producers pioneered new sounds and recording methods. In addition they ensured that Jamaica was acknowledged as a rustic able to creating worldwide stars. From serving to to sow the seeds of hip-hop to ushering within the “version,” or creating totally distinctive music that couldn’t have been made by anybody else, in another place, the most effective reggae producers should be held up alongside another sonic innovators in musical historical past.
Listed here are the most effective reggae producers of all time.
Duke Reid
The quintessential sound man turned producer, Duke Reid began his working profession as a policeman in Kingston earlier than transferring into music and dealing his means in the direction of changing into one of many world’s greatest reggae producers: clearly, he was powerful sufficient to deal with regardless of the reggae enterprise threw at him. After leaving the cops, Reid and his spouse ran a liquor retailer, Treasure Isle, whereas he pursued his ardour of operating a sound system from the mid-50s onwards. His system, Duke Reid The Trojan, was effectively funded, so it was highly effective, and Reid would go to America to purchase R&B tunes that his rivals had by no means heard of, placing him on the forefront of his new commerce.
When the R&B sound started to easy off into soul within the late 50s, Duke made his personal information, launching the Treasure Isle label, in a method that he knew the followers of his sound would really like. He then opened a recording studio on the identical premises as his liquor retailer, conserving the musicians proud of modest quantities of the store’s product. Reid preferred his music to groove, be well-arranged, and melodic. He employed guitarist Lyn Taitt and saxman Tommy McCook to run auditions and organize materials, and recording engineer Byron Smith saved the sound tight, vibrant, and proper.
Throughout the ska period, he lower nice sides with Derrick Morgan, The Methods, and Don Drummond, however Treasure Isle got here into its personal within the mid-60s, as a result of its slower, gentler sound suited Reid and his musicians’ values. Such was his dominance that Trojan Information within the UK was named for his sound and was initially fashioned in 1967 to launch his tunes within the UK. He excelled in recording vocal teams corresponding to The Paragons, The Melodians, and The Sensations, and lower stunning sides with Alton Ellis, Phyllis Dillon, and John Holt. Reid was powerful, nevertheless; he seemingly carried out monetary negotiations whereas cradling his gun, and if he didn’t assume the music he was listening to in his studio was groovy, he’d fireplace the weapon to let everybody know the way he felt. Nevertheless, at coronary heart he was a sentimental man, therefore the important sweetness and romance in his music – he didn’t permit what he noticed as downbeat lyrics within the studio and routinely turned down songs expressing Rasta philosophy.
It’s considerably ironic, then, that maybe his most pioneering position, for which he simply earns his place among the many greatest reggae producers in historical past, was recording U Roy, the Rastafarian DJ on King Tubby’s sound system. Different producers had tried recording this founding father of the MC’s artwork, however didn’t catch him proper; Reid set U Roy free on his traditional rocksteady rhythms and made him a Jamaican sensation all through 1970 and 1971, which primarily marked the beginning of hip-hop.
By 1972, reggae was altering and Treasure Isle was struggling to maintain up with heavier skanky sounds; Reid was unwell and more and more took a again seat, succumbing to most cancers in 1975. His legacy was huge, nevertheless: he’d perfected rocksteady, given the world a soundman’s angle to music, and helped create the premise for rap and reggae’s toasting growth. Any one among these achievements would have made him probably the greatest reggae producers to ever get behind the console – but Reid makes a declare to all three.
Hear: U Roy, “Wake The Town”
Coxsone Dodd
Clement Seymour “Coxsone” Dodd was among the many first Jamaican producers to appreciate that, with a view to management your product, you needed to management the technique of manufacturing. So Coxsone opened his personal studio, pressed his personal information, ran report retailers, discovered his personal expertise, and produced and generally combined his personal tunes earlier than taking part in them on his personal sound system. He understood the advantages of multi-track recording and started to combine vocals onto a separate channel within the mid-60s, enabling him to reuse a preferred rhythm observe to make new information with recent vocal or instrumental traces. This makes him one of many pioneers of dub music, DJ music, and, by extension, hip-hop and remixing, incomes him his place among the many greatest reggae producers. He launched actually hundreds of information over 5 a long time within the music enterprise, and was such a manufacturing line for expertise that his major label of many, Studio One, is typically known as “reggae’s Motown.”
Hear: Marcia Griffiths, “Feel Like Jumping”
Dandy Livingstone
Dandy Livingstone is greatest generally known as a singer who had a few UK hits with “Suzanne Beware Of The Devil” and “Big City” within the early 70s, then appeared to fade as the last decade wore on – an inauspicious trajectory for somebody who would change into hailed as probably the greatest reggae producers of the period. He was a one-man report business within the 60s and 70s, working in a rustic with virtually no homegrown reggae enterprise and which actually didn’t need one: Nice Britain.
Born Robert Livingstone Thompson, in Jamaica, in 1943, he got here to the UK when he was 15 and was at all times into music. Early 60s singles on the Planetone label didn’t promote effectively, however information with Sugar Simone as Sugar & Dandy did higher, and Livingstone started producing his personal releases for numerous labels earlier than signing to Ska Beat in 1967, which launched one of many information he’s greatest identified for, “Rudy, A Message To You.” He additionally produced a follow-up, “You’re No Hustler,” and a solution report, “Did You Get The Message,” launched by a singer known as Bonnie.
A collection of singles as an artist and a slew of productions for different artists for the Big label confirmed his musical type growing. He joined Trojan for a collection of his personal singles, plus an album with Audrey Corridor as Dandy & Audrey, and was given the Downtown label on which he launched kind of something he wished, together with powerful instrumentals corresponding to “The Wild Bunch”; ballads the likes of “Can’t Help From Crying”; the hit model of “Red Red Wine” for Tony Tribe; and his personal outings as a pioneering reggae rapper, calling himself Boy Friday. If it was taking place in reggae, Dandy would do it. His two chart hits apparently left him annoyed when Trojan bumped into cash bother, and Dandy labored for numerous labels deep into the 70s, recording “conscious” songs and surprisingly heavy dub. He give up Britain within the late 70s, although has returned for gigs.
Why was he an innovator worthy of placement alongside the most effective reggae producers in historical past? As a result of he was doing this within the UK, releasing tons of of information in a rustic with no reggae custom, no black-owned studios, and, frankly, little or no curiosity at first. And he wittily made them about black road life, the place hustlers, employees, and frightened lovers confronted greater than their justifiable share of bother. He ought to be extra lauded than he’s.
Hear: Dandy Livingstone, “Rudy, A Message To You”
Lee “Scratch” Perry
Lee “Scratch” Perry was on the chopping fringe of reggae from the late 60s to the late 70s, and since then he has been on the chopping fringe of music itself as a roaming efficiency artist that some individuals appear to consider is solely a barely loopy outdated man ranting, versus probably the greatest reggae producers within the historical past not simply of reggae, however of music itself.
Proper from the beginning, he was a busy man, looking for to upset the applecart within the early 60s ska years and recording saucy songs for Studio One. He broke free in 1966, working with different producers and dissing rivals on report, earlier than founding his Upset, after which Upsetter labels in 1968. His productions had been a favourite with skinheads and he hit with the honking instrumental “Return Of Django,” however Perry’s improvements had been simply starting. His manufacturing of The Wailers made them badass and funky, and lots of the songs they labored on collectively grew to become basis stones for Bob Marley’s later fame; arguably, Scratch gave Marley his mature vocal type, as he now started to phrase tunes like Scratch did.
Scratch was additionally completely completely satisfied to make jokes on report as a substitute of taking himself too critically, and his pioneering use of drum machines in reggae is only one cause why he marked himself out as probably the greatest reggae producers of the period. When Scratch opened his personal Black Ark studio, in 1973, it instantly had an environment like no different; although rudimentary at first, it sounded virtually haunted and misty, and at occasions he might make information from what gave the impression of virtually no devices in any way but nonetheless with a full sound.
A superb sound engineer, Scratch developed a thick phased sound that appeared to include impenetrable depths – fairly a feat for a studio which, for a few years, solely had three working tape tracks, which Scratch known as “Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.” At his mid-70s peak, he lower superb albums with The Heptones (Social gathering Time), Junior Murvin (Police And Thieves), and George Religion (To Be A Lover), launched on Island within the UK. However his penchant for extra took a toll, and as his information grew extra excessive, Scratch spent much less time really releasing them and extra time endlessly attempting to good them. By the late 70s, he was burnt out, closed his studio, and started an itinerant profession a few years later. Although many have tried, no one has fairly managed to copy the mystique within the music he conjured up on the Black Ark.
Hear: Bob Marley And The Wailers, “Smile Jamaica (Single Version)”
King Tubby
King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock) made his identify as a remix engineer, not as a producer. He was, nevertheless, successfully a producer within the 70s, voicing and remixing rhythm tapes and truly creating the sound of a report for different producers in his little self-built mixing facility in Kingston’s Waterhouse ghetto. He was additionally a significant sound system operator, along with his Hometown Hello-Fi offering one thing of a template for high quality sound at excessive volumes within the 60s and 70s.
He was central to the invention of dub, the effects-laden, bare-bones department of reggae music, and U Roy, the speaking artist who virtually created the artwork of rap, was the MC on his sound. Nevertheless, Tubby’s declare to being probably the greatest reggae producers doesn’t cease there; in the course of the mid-80s he opened his personal label for the primary time, Firehouse, which specialised in a extremely edgy, digital ragga that sounded virtually steampunk and otherworldly on the time. So even when his different improvements don’t rely as manufacturing, he ought to be right here for his 80s musical marvels alone.
Hear: Anthony “Red” Rose, “Tempo”
King Jammy
Lloyd “Jammy” James started his musical profession as a sound system operator, and after a interval working in America, returned to change into an apprentice to King Tubby at Tubby’s studio within the mid-70s, the place Jammy acquired the title Prince and was an efficient and thrilling dub remixer. He launched his Jammy’s label within the late 70s, working with Yabby U and triggering Black Uhuru’s rise to fame. However it wasn’t till 1985 that Jammy definitively put himself forward of the pack and established himself as probably the greatest reggae producers of the last decade.
A dancehall singer he’d labored with, Wayne Smith, had been messing about with a Casio digital keyboard and located an auto-programmed rhythm that was akin to a rock’n’roll beat. Smith began writing a track round it and took it to Jammy, who slowed it right down to make it extra reggae-like and added percussive components. It gave the impression of no different report Jamaica had produced, and “Under Me Sleng Teng” grew to become a sensation. From this level on, Jammy centered on “digital” music and was reggae’s greatest producer for the most effective a part of a decade, selling himself from Prince to King. With out his perception and focus, reggae would have been left behind in a musical period that was more and more pushed by artificial sounds.
Hear: Wayne Smith, “Under Me Sleng Teng”
Harry Mudie
Let’s not think about that Harry Mudie is a prolific producer, although he’s nonetheless within the enterprise a long time after his debut. Not like a number of the different names on this listing, the market was by no means groaning along with his materials; he launched his information sparingly, preferring to work on getting them proper than chopping tune after tune. However Mudie belongs among the many greatest reggae producers of all time as a result of he dared to ask himself why reggae couldn’t have the identical musical and manufacturing values as another music.
Mudie’s Moodisc label was based within the late 60s. He lower fabulous information with singers corresponding to Dennis Walks and Lloyd Jones, and was the primary producer to report I Roy, one of many 70s’ pivotal speaking artists. Nevertheless, Mudie was not happy at simply chopping the usual fundamental rhythm and skank reggae, and as a substitute took tapes to the UK, the place arranger Tony King added orchestrations. The consequence was a silky, lush music with a heavy backside finish, which misplaced nothing of its important reggae character – because the hundreds of skinheads who purchased Lloyd Jones’ “Rome” might inform you. Mudie’s orchestrated manufacturing of John Holt on his Time Is The Grasp album was a stroke of genius and led to Holt’s rise to pop fame within the UK. And in case you don’t consider that strings and heavy roots can mesh, Mudie proved it when he obtained King Tubby to combine three volumes of his Dub Convention albums within the mid-70s, making a sound that also amazes the ears. Mudie continues remixing and voicing his traditional rhythm tracks, a type of musical recycling that makes him one of many kings of “version.” His motto is: “We make music, not noise.”
Hear: Harry Mudie Meet King Tubby’s, “Dub With A Difference”
Leslie Kong
Whereas different producers kicked up extra rumpus, confirmed extra character, made information that had been extra outlandish and usually tried to outshine their prices, Leslie Kong was completely different. He merely set about proving that Jamaica might compete on this planet’s pop charts and had sufficient expertise to create actual stars – but he nonetheless made nothing however pure reggae.
Among the many singers, Kong launched had been a few of Jamaica’s most lauded icons, together with Bob Marley, Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff, and John Holt. Born right into a middle-class Chinese language Jamaican household, Kong co-owned an ice cream parlor known as Beverley’s, and launched a label by the identical identify when younger hopeful Jimmy Cliff got here to him with a track known as “Dearest Beverley.” Cliff then introduced Bob Marley to the parlor and Kong recorded a few singles with him. All had been licensed to the newly-established Island Information within the UK. Kong started recording Desmond Dekker And The 4 Aces, and the producer was one of many house owners of the Pyramid label within the UK, which, in 1967, started to attain hits along with his productions with Dekker, together with “007,” “It Miek,” and “Israelites.”
Additional recordings with Derrick Morgan bought effectively on the reggae market and The Maytals shipped hundreds of singles within the UK with Kong’s productions “Monkey Man” and “54-46 That’s My Number.” He produced “Long Shot Kick The Bucket” for The Pioneers, The Melodians’ “Sweet Sensation” and “Rivers Of Babylon,” and Jimmy Cliff’s “Wonderful World, Beautiful People.” If a reggae report was a worldwide hit between 1967 and 1970, likelihood is Kong had produced it. He stakes his declare to being one of many world’s greatest reggae producers by proving that reggae was pretty much as good and business as another music in an period that handled every reggae hit as a novelty. Kong knew it was of lasting worth, not a flash within the pan. His sound was tidy, funky, and as tight as a pickle lid. Simply when it appeared nothing might cease him, he was tragically killed by a coronary heart assault in 1971 on the age of 39.
Hear: Toots And The Maytals, “Pressure Drop”
Keith Hudson
With a background that is still mysterious – one among his jobs was “ghetto dentist” – Keith Hudson began making information as a youth. He was the primary producer to report U Roy, he made funky tunes, and he sang himself, regardless of hardly being what you would possibly describe as an orthodox vocalist. His report labels had names that few individuals might perceive, corresponding to Rebind and Inbidimts. He labored in tandem with one other producer, Keith Hobson, who events believed was merely Hudson below a pseudonym till photos of the 2 collectively had been finally uncovered.
Above all else, nevertheless, Hudson made nice information, and, as one of many world’s greatest reggae producers, he was on a deeply creative quest to uncover the center and soul, flesh and bones of reggae music. He even launched an album known as The Black Morphologist Of Reggae (morphology is the research of the construction of pure organisms); it additionally had one other becoming title: From One Excessive To One other. Hudson was at all times on the lookout for music that pushed your emotions to the intense. He’d deploy fuzzbox guitars taking part in energy chords (Delroy Wilson’s “Adisababa”), report singers so close-miked that they gave the impression of they had been inhaling your ear (Alton Ellis’ “You Are Mine”), and made a number of the deepest, heaviest information of the early 70s, corresponding to his personal “Satan Side” and Horace Andy’s “Don’t Think About Me.”
Hudson was touched with genius as a producer, so followers had been stunned when he stopped working with different artists and determined to concentrate on his personal recording profession. His albums included the remarkably intimate, generally pastoral, totally inimitable The Black Breast Has Produced Her Finest, Flesh Of My Pores and skin Blood Of My Blood (1974), principally recorded in London, and Too Costly, which was launched by Virgin in ’76, his sole LP for a significant label. In the direction of the tip of the 70s, he took extra curiosity in producing different artists, supervising Militant Barry’s reggae touch upon punk, “Pistol Boy,” and “Rhodesia” for Alton Ellis, and a transfer to New York within the early 80s proved productive – till lung most cancers lower his life quick in 1984. Like lots of the greatest reggae producers, Most of Hudson’s information have by no means dated as a result of they by no means gave the impression of they had been beholden to musical vogue or any explicit time. A complete one-off, Keith Hudson was solely in expressing what was in his coronary heart.
Hear: Keith Hudson, “Civilisation”
Rupie Edwards
With a collection of his personal report labels, a robust singing voice, the flexibility to play piano and percussion, and even appearing because the writer of a Jamaican music journal, Document Retailer, within the early 70s, Rupie Edwards was on the coronary heart of Jamaican reggae from the late 60s to the mid-70s, so it was becoming that his retail outlet was on Orange Road, Kingston’s well-known music road.
Edwards produced early information by Gregory Isaacs and massive hits for Johnny Clarke, Dobby Dobson, Ken Parker, The Ethiopians, and plenty of extra, specializing in a cool, crisp sound that happy each grass-roots and uptown listeners. However this prolific and extremely musically adept producer-arranger has two claims to being probably the greatest reggae producers. His personal “Ire Feelings (Skanga)” was the primary (and plenty of would say solely) actual dub report to be a success single within the UK, introducing many followers to this deep and heavy music. And he was essential within the rise of the “version,” the place reggae producers create completely different cuts of the identical rhythm observe by utilizing new mixes, including vocals, raps and results. The canny producer purchased a rhythm observe for The Uniques’ “My Conversation” from Bunny Lee and started to experiment with it, finally producing Yamaha Skank, a complete album consisting of nothing however extremely numerous cuts of the “My Conversation” rhythm. Often known as a “rhythm album”, this type of LP finally grew to become customary in reggae, notably in the course of the dancehall period. Rupie Edwards was at the least a decade forward of the sport: he launched Yamaha Skank in 1974.
Hear: Rupie Edwards, “Irie Feelings (Skanga)”
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