Calling the meek and the humble...right now they can't check me with no lightweight stuff...I and I come with earthquake, lightning and thunder — dubwise!
Welcome. Bass Culture is a weekly reggae and dub program on CJSR FM 88.5 in Edmonton, Canada hosted by Mick Sleeper. From the hardest roots music of the 1970s to the newest singles hot off the plane from Jamaica and into the frontiers of dub past and present...Bass Culture goes deep.
Clive Chin has played a crucial role in reggae as a producer as well as a business man. Randy's Studio was THE studio in Jamaica during the late 1960s and into the 1970s. Many of Lee Perry's finest moments with The Upsetters and The Wailers were cut at Randy's, Chin was one of the first producers to experiment with dub, and many of Augustus Pablo's seminal recordings happened with young Clive at the controls.
In this great interview at United Reggae, Clive talks about the past and the future, and in this lengthy interview at Reggae Vibes, Clive reminisces in much more detail about Randy's and the role he (and his father Vincent) played in the development of reggae.
Alton Ellis, one of the true legends of Jamaican music and a real gentleman, died on October 10 in London at age 70. The singer succumbed to a 10-month fight with lymphatic cancer. He will be greatly missed.
Throughout the 1960s, Ellis ruled the music scene in Jamaica with a series of ska and rocksteady hits including "Dance Crasher", "Girl I've Got a Date", "I'm Just a Guy" and "Willow Tree". Although best known for his smooth ballads, Alton also recorded some impressive roots reggae later in his career, such as "Set A Better Example" and "Black My Experience".
I met Alton Ellis in February 2002. Somehow, a local promoter had gotten the godfather of rocksteady to perform at a local community hall for Valentine's Day. I was astounded that such a legend was coming to my hometown.
Alton spent 10 hours on the plane from Kingston to Toronto to Edmonton. He gave a wonderful performance and kept on getting called back for encores as the crowd wouldn't let him leave. At most, there was about 80 people in the hall. Hardly the audience that Alton should have commanded, but he told us "the vibes is nice" and kept coming back to the stage for one more. The older Jamaican women in attendance swooned when he sang "Willow Tree"; I personally got goosebumps when he did "Girl I've Got A Date".
After his performance, he then agreed to chat with me for about an hour. Although he was clearly very tired, he gave me thoughtful and enthusiastic answers to my questions. He was a class act and a true gentleman. A friend of mine who is a native Indian listened in during the interview and likened Alton to an Aboriginal elder - someone wise, someone we should listen to.
'Nuff respect to Alton Ellis. His works shall live on.
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