Trojan Records
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Arthur “Duke” Reid
“…Music sprung from the basic beat of Jamaica with all the U.S.A. influences and the power and beauty and joy of the earth”.
The Birth Of Ska
After Mento, which even its premier exponents referred to as ‘Calypso’, came Ska. Usually termed the first indigenous Jamaican music, Ska always relied heavily on its Rhythm & Blues roots in Kingston’s Sound Systems and the heavyweight Jazz input from its musicians. Rock Steady was not only the first truly original Jamaican music, but it would also become the foundation for all that followed. It first burst onto Kingston’s musical map in the summer of 1966 and, while the Rock Steady beat was prevalent for less than two years, the extent to which it shaped the sound of Reggae forever afterwards can never ever be overstated. Its rhythms, bass lines, melodies and songs have been resurrected and recycled during every subsequent period of the music’s development and its significance to Jamaican music is incalculable.
Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid became a championship marksman during the ten years he served as a policeman and on leaving the Jamaican Police Force in the early fifties he opened the Treasure Isle Liquor Store on Pink Lane, Kingston. Treasure Isle was run in partnership with his wife Lucille who, naturally enough, became known as ‘The Duchess’ and legend has it that she actually financed Treasure Isle through a win on Jamaica’s National Lottery. From 1953 the Duke sponsored his ‘Treasure Isle Time’ radio show playing U.S.A. Rhythm & Blues to promote his liquor store, rum bar and his Sound System on R.J.R. (Radio Jamaica Rediffusion), which piped programmes via cable throughout Kingston and St. Andrew. The Duke’s signature tune was Tab Smith’s sentimental rendering of ‘My Mother’s Eyes’. Using his knowledge of music and the connections he had made during his decade in the Police Force, Duke Reid ascended through the ranks to become one of the top Kingston Sound Systems.
For three consecutive years (1956, 1957 & 1958) The Duke was crowned Kingston’s undisputed ‘King Of Sound And Blues’ for playing out his ‘exclusive’ selection of 78rpm records, purchased on his renowned buying trips to the U.S.A., alongside his selector, Leroy ‘Cuttings’ Cole, and a deejay named Clifford, at venues such as the Success Club and Forresters Hall. By now he was also known by the name of ‘Duke Reid The Trojan’, so-called because of the UK manufactured ‘Trojan’ truck that transported his Sound System around the island.
“Duke Reid still looks back on the Sound System days and is ready to say that his colleagues in this field have been greatly responsible for the success of our vocalists. He speaks favourably of V-Rocket, a Sound, which started about the same time as himself and was one of the top of its kind. ‘V Rocket’ he says ‘has been a great influence in promoting Rhythm & Blues and was and is always one of the leading sounds.’”
Greatest Jamaican Beat Baba Boom Time Rock Steady
Certainly one of the most forward thinking, if not one of the first Sound System operators, the Duke was one of the first to actually produce rather than reproduce music. He specialised in playing Rhythm & Blues records from the U.S.A. on ‘Treasure Isle Time’ and on his Sound System, but the first 78rpm release on his Trojan label was a Mento recording from Lord Power.
“Duke Reid now… he started with Calypso with Lord Power. They used to go to America to buy the Rhythm & Blues and come back but when it start to dry up in America them start to do them own things. So Duke start with Calypso…”
Bunny ’Striker’ Lee
He started to produce Rhythm & Blues records as the fifties drew to a close and, although these have sometimes been accused of missing some of the spontaneous excitement of the work of other pioneers, this was due to Duke Reid’s lifelong striving for perfection rather than any lack of inspiration:
“But a man like Duke Reid, he’s one who’ll cut five or six stampers for one record just to get it perfect”.
Dennis AlCapone
In 1960 the Duke had to take a step away from the music business, but marked his return two years later with the release of the seminal ‘Rough And Tough’ by ‘Stranger’ Cole, a song allegedly written by Lee Perry. Now based at 33 Bond Street, he once again became immersed in the music business and his Rhythm & Blues and early Ska recordings released on the Treasure Isle, Duke Reid’s, and Dutchess (sic) labels with Drumbago & His Harmonisers, Drumbago and His Orchestra, the Baba Brooks Band and Tommy McCook & His Ska-talite were massive hits in Jamaica. These were recorded and manufactured at Federal Records on Marcus Garvey Drive but it was not long before Federal was unable to keep up with the demand initiated by the burgeoning Ska scene and in 1964 the Duke decided to open his own recording studio.
“Byron Smith and Duke Reid decided to open their own studio mainly because he couldn’t do with one day a week (at Federal)… so he built a studio, up on the roof…”
Graeme Goodall
Duke Reid built his studio on top of his Bond Street liquor store with equipment purchased from Lindon O. Pottinger, who had relinquished his studio interests after enjoying impressive success on his SEP label with artists such as Lord Tanamo and Jimmy James. Lindon continued to be a force within the business along with his wife Sonia and their Tip Top and Gay Feet labels:
“He never leave the business. He sold the studio, but him have pressing plant and stamping plant… very influential man in the business.”
Bunny ’Striker’ Lee
The musicians and singers reckoned that the wooden construction and acoustic qualities of the Treasure Isle studio gave the music a mellow and mature quality that the recordings made at other studios could never hope to attain. Countless classic records were produced down on Bond Street over the next ten years with resident engineer Byron ‘Baron’ Smith, who had earlier worked with Graeme Goodall at both R.J.R. and Federal, and the records made at Treasure Isle are as immediately recognisable as those made at Brentford Road at Duke Reid’s arch-rival’s Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd’s Studio One. The Duke appreciated the importance of having a readily recognisable name to accompany his unique sound and, apart from the aforementioned Treasure Isle, Duke Reid’s and Dutchess labels, his recordings were only released on a handful of other labels including Trojan, Sure Shot and Supersonics.
“.....and if you do a record for him, you know you’re going to get recognised because his label was top. A man would go into a shop, he would always ask if they have anything new on Treasure Isle, Duke Reid’s or Dutchess label.”
Dennis AlCapone
The Skatalites broke up in the summer of 1965 and the following year Jackie Mittoo and Roland Alphonso went to Studio One on Brentford Road to form the nucleus of Coxsone’s house band, the Soul Brothers. At first, tenor saxophonist Tommy McCook took over as arranger for the horn parts for society band Kes Chin & the Souvenirs, but he soon moved on to become Treasure Isle’s musical co-director, along with alto saxophonist Herman Marquis.
“I was fortunate. I had the ideas that the guys needed on their sessions and they respected my compositional skills to put music to the rhythms.”
Tommy McCook
Tommy McCook & the Supersonics featuring the guitars of Ernest Ranglin and Lynn Taitt, Clifton ‘Jackie’ Jackson on bass, the saxophones of Tommy McCook and Herman Marquis, Vincent ‘Don D Junior’ Gordon on trombone, Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore on trumpet, Gladstone Anderson on piano (who also used to run the auditions for Treasure Isle), Winston Wright on organ and on drums Winston Grennan, Hugh Malcolm and Arkland ‘Drumbago’ Parks with the occasional addition of the gypsy style violin of the man known only as ‘White Rum’ Raymond became the house band for Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label.
“Duke Reid started with Tommy and Roland was with Coxsone. Roland was Coxsone’s fancy and Tommy was Duke Reid’s fancy.”
Lloyd Brevett
In 1966, as the music shifted towards Rock Steady, the Duke finally came into his own and the music created at Treasure Isle defined the period as the elegant epitome of this ice cool sound:
“Duke Reid had a dream, and that dream was to have his own studio. That dream came through two years ago and it is in the form of Treasure Isle Recording Studio equipped with the most modern recording equipment in Jamaica. And it is Treasure Isle Recording Studio, with its excellent facilities and its knowledgeable engineer Byron Smith that is partly responsible for ... the wildly acclaimed Rock Steady beat presented in all its glory”.
Greatest Jamaican Beat Baba Boom Time Rock Steady
The Supersonics’ guitarist, Lynn Taitt, was the musical maestro behind the Rock Steady revolution and ‘Take It Easy’ by Hopeton Lewis released on Federal and Merritone is generally agreed to be the first Rock Steady record:
“Hopeton Lewis came to the Federal Recording Studio with a song called ‘Take It Easy’ and I find the Ska was too fast. Very, very fast. So I told them let’s do this one slow. Very slow. And as the music got slower it had spaces. The slower the music it have more spaces to do something with so I put a bass line and I play in unison with the bass and I get a bass line. And the piano, sometimes I strum, sometimes I play a bass line with the bass. That was the first slow song… nothing else was slow at that time. Everything had been Ska.”
Lynn Taitt
Lynn Taitt was born in San Fernando, Trinidad in 1934. His band were given a contract by Byron Lee to play at Jamaica’s Independence celebrations in 1962 and Lynn liked Jamaica so much that he decided to stay. He formed Lynn Taitt & the Comets who played live dates and began to record as a band although he had previously recorded with The Skatalites. Lynn Taitt & the Jets came together in 1966 and were promptly signed to Federal Records.
“Rock Steady was a great change from the Ska. Lynn Taitt. He’s the man who changed Jamaican music right round from Ska to Rock Steady.”
Derrick Morgan
He rapidly became famous for his beautiful Rock Steady rhythms not only with Lynn Taitt & the Jets, but also as an unaccredited member of Coxsone’s house band (now known as the Soul Vendors) and as a key player in the Supersonics. The Treasure Isle releases from this period, credited to Lynn Taitt with Tommy McCook & the Supersonics, indicate his pivotal role in the music.
“They may call me for a session at nine in the morning till twelve noon and another session would start at one and finish at four with another one at five till eight at night. So maybe four sessions a day, five sessions a day for different promoters.”
Lynn Taitt
Lynn Taitt explained how in Rock Steady the bass no longer gave equal emphasis to every beat, but instead played a repeated pattern that syncopated the rhythm. The rhythmic focus shifted to the bass and the drums where it has remained ever since:
“For that tempo, the tempo is very slow, with the bass and guitar line playing the same thing. You used to use two guitars. Hux Brown and myself or another guitarist and myself. And it was very slow but with a definite bass line going straight through the song…”
Lynn Taitt
Treasure Isle was the acknowledged leader in the Rock Steady field and Roy Cousins of the Royals recalled how difficult it was to make the necessary grade on Bond Street:
“In my time in the business it wasn’t easy. We had to learn everything properly and had to be rehearsed for the one take. That’s how we learnt music. Later on it became easier but we, the older generation, had to learn the hard way. We had to sing harmony and sing it properly so you either stood the test of time or just leave the business alone. Auditions would be held on a Sunday so we’d go to Gladdy at Duke Reid and you’d go in and start to sing. If you made the simplest mistake you’d be told to go home and don’t show your face for three months… so you’d walk to Studio One where you might get luckier but when you’re up against the Melodians and all them people it was a ding dong battle! You had to get it right. Then you’d go up on stage at the Carib or the Ward Theatre or even one of the Vere Johns talent shows where if you entered you had to win or you wouldn’t get recorded. You had to win a competition before you could go to the studio… but then you’d get sent upstairs at Treasure Isle alongside Alton Ellis & the Flames or the Jamaicans and your problems were still not over. The competition was stiff.”
Roy Cousins
Numerous tales have been told and retold of Duke Reid’s stern countenance and the manner in which he exercised his authority over both his rivals and his employees and his fearsome reputation was recalled by pioneer deejay Dennis AlCapone:
“Most of the time in Duke Reid liquor store it full of police. He administrate like police as well. He has this rifle that he walks with. His hip gun. His hand grenade.”
Dennis AlCapone
And although his unorthodox production techniques might at times have been at odds with the final result his music was unfailingly smooth and sophisticated:
“People still talk about the time when the studio session wasn’t going well and he drew his gun and fired into the ceiling”.
Dobby Dobson
As 1968 drew to a close the preferred style of music shifted towards the faster, more aggressive Reggae beat and younger producers started to make their mark. But “Duke has played a great part in the present popularity that Regay now enjoys” and in 1969 the groundbreaking ‘Lock Jaw’, built with the assistance of Lee Perry, the Upsetter, came out on the Treasure Isle label.
“There have been fewer popular bands than Tommy McCook’s and fewer smarter Reggay tunes than Moonlight ‘Groover’ and ‘Lock Jaw’”.
Greater Jamaica Moon Walk Reggay
It was not Reggae music (or even ‘Reggay’) as the term had been previously understood, but it did point in the next significant direction that the music would take: Deejays and Dub. Duke Reid was not the first producer to record U Roy, but their recordings proved to be the fulcrum for an entirely new musical form. Using as their foundation some of Treasure Isle’s greatest and most popular Rock Steady rhythms the influence of the work they made together has dominated Jamaican music forever after.
“U Roy is not a singer. He plays no musical instruments. He just deejays. Makes the sounds which create excitement when the music goes round. His comments are dubbed on to tapes of versions – instrumental arrangements of tunes.”
Version Galore
The contributions of U Roy and deejays, including Dennis AlCapone and Lizzy, who followed in his wake gave a new lease of life to The Duke’s Rock Steady classics. U Roy’s ‘Version Galore’ album on Treasure Isle is, beyond a shadow of doubt, one of the most important and influential records ever released.
It is rather ironic that it was one of Duke Reid’s lesser known labels that gave its name to, and built the foundation of, an entirely new musical empire in the U.K.. Chris Blackwell had started licensing Jamaican product for release in the U.K. on his Island label in the early sixties and, after a number of Treasure Isle releases on Island, he began to release the Duke’s productions on his London-based Treasure Isle and Trojan labels. However, Island changed its allegiance to the burgeoning British-based ‘progressive’ rock scene towards the end of the decade and the label’s Jamaican music was transferred to a new company called Trojan Records that was jointly owned by Island and Beat & Commercial. Island’s fiercest competitor throughout the sixties, Emil Shallit’s Blue Beat label, had given its name to Jamaican Rhythm & Blues and Ska in the U.K., and in the following decade the name of Trojan would become synonymous with Reggae. Trojan Records would become the parent label for every Jamaican producer of importance and, during the seventies Reggae explosion, it would grow to control a previously unimagined ‘crossover’ market, where its beginnings as a Treasure Isle subsidiary were largely forgotten.
Duke Reid always moved with the times and he purchased the eight-track equipment from Byron Lee when Dynamic Sounds upgraded to sixteen track in 1972, but he was totally at odds with the next phase in Reggae’s development. As an ex-policeman with great respect for authority, Duke Reid never empathised with rebel music which, with its underlying Rastafarian ideology, ran contrary to all that he believed in. He could never be accused of following fashions and his records during the ‘Rude Boy’ craze had admonished rather than praised their lawless activities. Ironically, a few of Treasure Isle’s greatest hits, Justin Hinds & the Dominoes’ ‘Carry Go Bring Come’, Margureita’s ‘Woman Come’ and U Roy’s ‘Way Back Home’/’Behold’ had been steeped in Rasta ideology, but he once refused to allow Dennis AlCapone to record a Rasta lyric telling him:
“Myself, I am Babylon”
Duke Reid
One of the most important producers in the story of Jamaican music, Duke Reid died of cancer in 1974 in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Kingston after a long and protracted illness. He was the foremost proponent of the Rock Steady beat and the music that emanated from his Treasure Isle studio down on Bond Street between 1966 and 1968 set the standards that all other exponents had to aim for. Deceptively lazy Rock Steady was still somehow simultaneously imbued with depth and gravity despite the relative brevity of its most popular compositions. Its languid instrumentals, love songs and some of the earliest Jamaican ‘reality’ and protest works remain things of beauty that will be a joy forever.
Harry Hawke
Sources:
Noel Hawks: Interview with Derrick Morgan London/Kingston 17th July 2003
Courtesy of Pressure Sounds
Noel Hawks: Interviews with Roy Cousins London/Liverpool 6th & 13th July 2004
Courtesy of Pressure Sounds
Noel Hawks: Interview with Bunny ’Striker’ Lee London 17th August 2006
Courtesy of Jamaican Recordings
Steve Barrow & Peter Dalton: Reggae The Rough Guide Rough Guides 1997
Kevin O’Brien Chang & Wayne Chen: Reggae Routes Ian Randle Publishers 1998
Chuck Foster: Roots Rock Reggae Billboard Books 1999
Fernando Gonzalez: Reunited Jamaican Group Marks Year’s End In Style
The Miami Herald 30 December 1994
*reprinted in Chris Potash: Reggae, Rasta, Revolution Schirmer Books 1997
Mark Gorney: Doctor Bird Graeme Goodall Full Watts Volume Three, Number Two 1999
Mark Gorney: Doctor Bird Graeme Goodall Full Watts Volume Three, Number Three 1999
Ray Hurford & Geoff Sullivan: Dennis AlCapone The First DJ Cup Winner More Axe
Muzik Tree/Black Star 1987
David Katz: People Funny Boy Payback Press 2000
David Katz: Solid Foundation An Oral History Of Reggae Bloomsbury Publishing 2003
Charlie Reggae: Treasure Time Treasure Isle Productions Discography (Vol. One)
Mad Dog Publications 2001
Robert Schoenfeld: Interview with Lynn Taitt Dub Catcher Vol. One Issue Four June 1992
Michael Turner & Robert Schoenfeld: Roots Knotty Roots; Nighthawk Records 2001
Various: The Guinness Who’s Who Of Reggae Guinness Publishing 1994
U Roy: Version Galore Treasure Isle/Trojan LP
Various: Come Rock With Me In Jamaica Land Of The Sea And Sun Treasure Isle LP
Various: Greater Jamaica Moon Walk Reggay Treasure Isle LP
Various: Greatest Jamaican Beat Baba Boom Time Rock Steady Treasure Isle LP
Various: Soul For Sale Treasure Isle LP
Various: The Birth Of Ska Treasure Isle LP
Recommended Further Reading:
Charlie Reggae: Treasure Isle Time Treasure Isle Productions Discography Volume One
Mad Dog/Reggae Retro Publications 2001
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compiled by Laurence Cane-Honeysett
