News : A pioneer of reggae revolution
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:14 pm
The run-up to this month’s Boss Sounds Reggae Festival allows a little time to focus on some of the key performers in this, the third internationally-renowned gathering in Newcastle.
The genesis of the Caribbean music, from blue-beat, ska, rock-steady to reggae and later forms like dub, has required the intervention and guidance of some key musicians.
Few, if any, figure higher in the pantheon than guitarist, producer and arranger, **Ernest Ranglin**. Others, notably Bob Marley, took the music to a whole new audience – but Ranglin could justifiably claim to be the musical doctor at the birth of the genre.
Ranglin was born in rural Jamaica some 75 years ago and as a child played the fairly unfashionable ukulele. He took to the guitar in his early teens and was soon in the 1950s dance band scene with the likes of Joe Harriott and Eric Dean’s Orchestra.
It taught the young, jazz-influenced Ranglin much about arranging and orchestration – skills he would put to good use as his career progressed.
Ranglin’s Shuffling Bug is often cited as the first ska record. He was also the first performer to have a release with Island Records, featuring pianist Lance Heywood on the other side.
In an interview with Ernest from his Florida home I asked if he was aware of the significance of those early, ground-breaking recordings.
“No, not to any great extent, but I knew we were trying to do something different from what I’d been hearing, creating a sound of our own, but I didn’t know how well it was going to take. It was an adventure.”
Around this time, he met the man who was to become boss of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, and Ranglin remembers the exact location: “1958, Half Moon Hotel. I had my own quintet at that time. We played standards and we had to play to a good standard!”
He is equally aware of the first contact with Bob Marley, too: “Bob was the first one I did things for. Jimmy Cliff came a good while after that. When I did Bob, he was very young, before he was known.
Ninety per cent of the artists who came through Studio One were under my supervision. Even when I wasn’t there, Coxsone would leave a pile of recordings for me and I’d go through them and do what was necessary – add some guitar, take out some bass or whatever was necessary.”
Ranglin also worked with Monty Alexander, Prince Buster and the Skatallites, performed live with Ray Charles and was on the 1964 recording by Millie, My Boy Lollipop.
As to future projects, Ernest would like to turn the clock back. He explains: “ I’d really like to go back to what I did in Senegal (with world-music star, Baaba Maal). I’m really interested in those kind of rhythms. I’m hoping to get back to something like that because it’s exciting to me, something new. And I like to tackle new things. When you stop learning, you know, it’s finished.”
THERE is plenty of attractive stuff before then, though. Tonight, The Cluny in Ouseburn, Newcastle, has the excellent singer/songwriter and former frontman with the Bible, Boo Hewerdine.
Jazz fans can catch another septuagenarian, pianist Kirk Lightsey, with his trio at Gateshead’s Caedmon Hall. Lightsey has been in the very best of company over the years, touring and recording with Dexter Gordon and Chet Baker, to name but two from an extensive list. Ticket info from (0191) 433 8420.
Young folk band Last Orders take to the stage at Durham City’s Gala Theatre on Sunday, demonstrating once again that this region has a wealth of talent on tap.
If blues-rock is your thing, then The Cluny next Monday should be in your diary as Canadian axeman, Pat Travers, will be there to rock the place.
Jazz fans can see one of the finest UK collectives when the four-piece Mujician play The Sage Gateshead’s Hall Two next Thursday. The quartet make a rare appearance in the region and the show is to be recorded for transmission for the BBC’s Jazz on 3.
The line-up features pianist Keith Tippett, Paul Dunmall (reeds), Tony Levin (drums) and French-resident Paul Rogers on his distinctive seven-string bass.
Two North East guitarists also have gigs worth a mention. The James Birkett Quintet fill the guest slot at the Blaydon Jazz Club, at the Sports & Social Club, off Whitmore Road, next Thursday.
On Saturday, November 10, the much-vaunted blues guitarist John Whitehill takes his band to the Buddle Arts Centre in Wallsend.
John, a long-time member of Paul Lamb & the Kingsnakes and The Blues Burglars, has won the UK’s Blues Guitarist of the Year award on four occasions, including three years in succession, and is the possessor of a tone that many have strived for but few attain.
His mix of originals and a judicious choice of covers highlights the potency of his playing and why he is held in such esteem. Comparisons with Peter Green are not, in my opinion, over-stated. Ticket info from (0191) 200 7026/7132.
FINALLY, another stalwart of the local scene, Archie Brown, takes his trio to The Cluny next Friday when he will open for the excellent Canadian singer, Oh Susanna.
The lady in question is Suzie Ungerleider and she has a new album, Short Stories (Outside Music), to promote. The US magazine Billboard raved about the Vancouver girl, thus: “Her solo show is a spine-chilling event”.
Alan Nichol
*source : [chronicelive.co.uk ](http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/)*
The genesis of the Caribbean music, from blue-beat, ska, rock-steady to reggae and later forms like dub, has required the intervention and guidance of some key musicians.
Few, if any, figure higher in the pantheon than guitarist, producer and arranger, **Ernest Ranglin**. Others, notably Bob Marley, took the music to a whole new audience – but Ranglin could justifiably claim to be the musical doctor at the birth of the genre.
Ranglin was born in rural Jamaica some 75 years ago and as a child played the fairly unfashionable ukulele. He took to the guitar in his early teens and was soon in the 1950s dance band scene with the likes of Joe Harriott and Eric Dean’s Orchestra.
It taught the young, jazz-influenced Ranglin much about arranging and orchestration – skills he would put to good use as his career progressed.
Ranglin’s Shuffling Bug is often cited as the first ska record. He was also the first performer to have a release with Island Records, featuring pianist Lance Heywood on the other side.
In an interview with Ernest from his Florida home I asked if he was aware of the significance of those early, ground-breaking recordings.
“No, not to any great extent, but I knew we were trying to do something different from what I’d been hearing, creating a sound of our own, but I didn’t know how well it was going to take. It was an adventure.”
Around this time, he met the man who was to become boss of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, and Ranglin remembers the exact location: “1958, Half Moon Hotel. I had my own quintet at that time. We played standards and we had to play to a good standard!”
He is equally aware of the first contact with Bob Marley, too: “Bob was the first one I did things for. Jimmy Cliff came a good while after that. When I did Bob, he was very young, before he was known.
Ninety per cent of the artists who came through Studio One were under my supervision. Even when I wasn’t there, Coxsone would leave a pile of recordings for me and I’d go through them and do what was necessary – add some guitar, take out some bass or whatever was necessary.”
Ranglin also worked with Monty Alexander, Prince Buster and the Skatallites, performed live with Ray Charles and was on the 1964 recording by Millie, My Boy Lollipop.
As to future projects, Ernest would like to turn the clock back. He explains: “ I’d really like to go back to what I did in Senegal (with world-music star, Baaba Maal). I’m really interested in those kind of rhythms. I’m hoping to get back to something like that because it’s exciting to me, something new. And I like to tackle new things. When you stop learning, you know, it’s finished.”
THERE is plenty of attractive stuff before then, though. Tonight, The Cluny in Ouseburn, Newcastle, has the excellent singer/songwriter and former frontman with the Bible, Boo Hewerdine.
Jazz fans can catch another septuagenarian, pianist Kirk Lightsey, with his trio at Gateshead’s Caedmon Hall. Lightsey has been in the very best of company over the years, touring and recording with Dexter Gordon and Chet Baker, to name but two from an extensive list. Ticket info from (0191) 433 8420.
Young folk band Last Orders take to the stage at Durham City’s Gala Theatre on Sunday, demonstrating once again that this region has a wealth of talent on tap.
If blues-rock is your thing, then The Cluny next Monday should be in your diary as Canadian axeman, Pat Travers, will be there to rock the place.
Jazz fans can see one of the finest UK collectives when the four-piece Mujician play The Sage Gateshead’s Hall Two next Thursday. The quartet make a rare appearance in the region and the show is to be recorded for transmission for the BBC’s Jazz on 3.
The line-up features pianist Keith Tippett, Paul Dunmall (reeds), Tony Levin (drums) and French-resident Paul Rogers on his distinctive seven-string bass.
Two North East guitarists also have gigs worth a mention. The James Birkett Quintet fill the guest slot at the Blaydon Jazz Club, at the Sports & Social Club, off Whitmore Road, next Thursday.
On Saturday, November 10, the much-vaunted blues guitarist John Whitehill takes his band to the Buddle Arts Centre in Wallsend.
John, a long-time member of Paul Lamb & the Kingsnakes and The Blues Burglars, has won the UK’s Blues Guitarist of the Year award on four occasions, including three years in succession, and is the possessor of a tone that many have strived for but few attain.
His mix of originals and a judicious choice of covers highlights the potency of his playing and why he is held in such esteem. Comparisons with Peter Green are not, in my opinion, over-stated. Ticket info from (0191) 200 7026/7132.
FINALLY, another stalwart of the local scene, Archie Brown, takes his trio to The Cluny next Friday when he will open for the excellent Canadian singer, Oh Susanna.
The lady in question is Suzie Ungerleider and she has a new album, Short Stories (Outside Music), to promote. The US magazine Billboard raved about the Vancouver girl, thus: “Her solo show is a spine-chilling event”.
Alan Nichol
*source : [chronicelive.co.uk ](http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/)*