Friday 05 July 2002

Friday 05 July 2002 / Miles Davis Hall
A Reggae night with Rootsman

Click on the Artist name who will be performing at the Reggae Night :

Capleton and the David House Crew / Beres Hammond and the Harmony House Family

Alton Ellis, Rico Ridroguez, Dennis Alcapone / DJ Asher Selector

	Heroes of Kingston
	Alton Ellis ("The Godfather, Mr. Soul, Soul of Jamaica")
	One of Jamaica's first singers, this silky-smooth artist made his first hit, 'Muriel' in 1961 as part of a duo with Eddie Perkins (Alton & Eddie). Producer Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd oversaw a string of subsequent successes. Eventually Ellis, seeing little financial remuneration, left for Coxsone's arch rival, Duke Reid, recording on the Treasure Isle label. Tunes like "Dance Crasher," "Cry Tough," and "Girl I've Got a Date" gave Reid his first chance to pass Dodd in the popular mind as Jamaica's heaviest studio and sound system. By 1966 the red-hot double-time ska beat had given birth virtually overnight to a much slower, hiccupping rhythm dubbed "rocksteady," and it was Alton who was to be its midwife. "One evening in the studio," Alton recalls, "the bass man didn't show up. So Jackie Mittoo, the keyboardist, had to play the bass pattern on the piano with his left hand, but he couldn't hold it steady, and we all thought the line was so fresh and nice. When the bass player turned up next time, Jackie insisted that he play what Jackie was playing with his left hand. That's how rocksteady was born; we called it so that night." Coxsone lured Alton back, and by 1968 Alton was the undisputed King of Rock-Steady with shots like "Willow Tree," "I'm Just a Guy," and "Sitting in the Park," often highlighted with his trademark yelp of "Looka here now!" Again, the money failed to follow the hits, and somewhat disillusioned, Alton spent several years in the US and Canada before pulling up stakes and moving permanently to England in 1973. Scores of songs were issued steadily, cementing his reputation as one of the most consistent reggae artists around. By 1984 he was celebrated internationally for his 25 years in show business, making a pair of critically acclaimed appearances at Jamaica's Reggae Sunsplash festival in 1983 and 1985. From 1989 on, he has been releasing compilations on his own Alltone label of his early masterpieces, and he even recorded Man from Studio One, a new 12-inch for Coxsone in 1991. One of the real gentlemen of reggae, Alton is a satisfying and scintillating singer, one of Jamaica's extraordinary gifts to the world, right up there with Bob Marley.
	Dennis Alcapone
	Born. Dennis Smith, 6 August 1947, Clarendon, Jamaica, West Indies. Initially inspired by U-Roy, Alcapone began DJing for El Paso Hi-Fi in 1969. He was the first DJ to enjoy success on record after U-Roy, and likewise the first to challenge his dominance. His initial records were made for youth producer and sometime ghetto dentist Keith Hudson, with titles including 'Shades Of Hudson' (1970), 'Spanish Omega' (1970), 'Revelation Version' (1970), 'Maca Version' (1970) and 'The Sky's The Limit' (1970). From 1970 to 1972 Dennis had big hits with Duke Reid, toasting his witty, half-sung, half-spoken lyrics over classic Treasure Isle rhythms and coasting to the top of the Jamaican chart with regularity. Tunes such as 'Number One Station' (1971), 'Mosquito One' (1971), 'Rock To The Beat' (1972), 'Love Is Not A Gamble' (1972), 'Wake Up Jamaica' (1972), 'The Great Woggie' (1972), 'Teach The Children' (1972) and 'Musical Alphabet' (1972), all of which were recorded at Treasure Isle, and 'Ripe Cherry' (1971) and 'Guns Don't Argue' (1971) for producer Bunny Lee, put Alcapone in the front rank of Jamaican DJs. In the period from 1970 until he left for the UK in 1973, Alcapone's services were continually in demand. He made over 100 singles in this time and released three albums, in the process working with such producers as Coxsone Dodd, Lee Perry, Sir JJ, Winston Riley, Joe Gibbs, Prince Buster, Randy's and others. He toured Guyana in 1970 and the UK in 1972 and 1973, after having won the cup presented to the best DJ by Swing magazine in Jamaica. He also began production work, issuing music by himself, Dennis Brown, Augustus Pablo and Delroy Wilson. Since the mid-70s he has been less active, but still found time to record albums for Sidney Crooks, Bunny Lee and Count Shelly. In the late 80s he returned to live performance, appearing at the WOMAD festival in Cornwall and Helsinki in 1989. In 1990 he made more club appearances in the UK. Later in the year he returned to Jamaica for three months and recorded over digital rhythms for Bunny Lee. Alcapone remains the classic Jamaican toaster, on his best form capable of transforming and adding to any song he DJs, in the great toasting tradition pioneered in Jamaican dancehalls
	Michael Prophet