When I think of Jamacian music, I think of the “riddim”, or as most people would call it the rhythm, in other words, the bass and drums. There have been a number of important rhythm sections in Jamaican music, and three immediately come to mind: the Barrett Brothers, Sly and Robbie, and Lloyd Brevett and Lloyd Knibb.
Aston (Family Man) and Carleton Barrett, played bass and drums with Bob Marley and the Wailers; Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare played with Peter Tosh and numerous others; and Lloyd Brevett and Lloyd Knibb played with the Skatalites.
Jamaican music went through many changes. Starting with mento, it evolved into ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, dancehall, and it continues to evolve. But with Lloyd Brevett, we will be looking at ska.
In the 1963-1964, a bunch of jazz musicians got together. They had been playing together on recordings in various configurations since the 1950s. The music was mostly blues shuffles, and boogie-woogie. As the music began to evolve, it became what we now know as ska. Lloyd Brevett, who had learned bass from his father, provided the bass for many of these early 1950s-1960s recordings. The Skatalites came together in June of 1964, and in a little over a year, they had broken up. In that time period they released a body of music that is still important today. They played on many of the early hits of Jamaican Music, including Bob Marley’s Simmer Down. Although the Skatalites were no more, the musicians formed a variety of other groups and kept on playing, eventually reforming in 1983. Lloyd Brevett played bass with the Skatalites until 2004 when he left the group. He also released a solo album called African Roots with many of the members of the Skatalites. When you listen to the Skatalites, you hear Brevett’s walking basslines, and ostinato figures driving the music.
Let’s hear some samples
Simmer Down
Guns of Navarone
Rockfort rock
Eastern Standard Time
Freedom Sound
Live at the Church House Inn - Concert and Interview Footage
