flutemanjohn meets
Bob Marley and The Wailers and The Upsetters IN DUB
This CD album, of 12 original Bob Marley songs, has a compelling story. The original Bob Marley recordings took place at Lee Scratch Perry's Black Ark Studios, Jamaica. The studio house band was the Barrett brothers: Aston Familyman Barrett (bass guitar), Carlton Barrett (drums), Earl Wya Lindo (organ), plus various horns, keyboards, guitars, etc. They were named The Upsetters, later to become The Wailers (yes, those Wailers).
In the early 1960s, a young a cappella street vocal group formed in Kingston, including Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh. They became known as The Teenagers. They sharpened their unique unaccompanied vocal harmonies in the street, and at Studio One. In the late 1960s, at Black Ark, Marley and the teenage singers joined forces with the established Barrett brothers Upsetters' instrumentalists, to form the world-renown band, Bob Marley and The Wailers (BMW).
Critical to the release of my 13-song album, "flutemanjohn meets
Bob Marley and The Wailers and The Upsetters IN DUB" which is contained here in my BandCamp treasure trove, were the boot-legged JAD releases of Bob Marley songs, spanning 1968-1972. Also critical was the 2-track recording methodology, employed in Kingston in this era, and the early black "dance hall" teen culture.
This was the run stream, established for recording pop, ska, reggae, and dub, during this time and space. A seminole example is Studio One, the "Motown Records" of Jamaica, founded in 1954 by Coxsone Dodd. Everything is intertwined.
Typically, to cut a 45rpm record, the studio would hang one mic in the middle of the room. The instrumental players (no singers) would array their instruments around this single mic, using distance from the mic to create the one-track "monaural instrumental mix". For this example, the instrumental players were the horn band The Skatalites, a group of Rastafarian ska/jazz elder musicians. They would lay down all the instruments of the 2-3 minute song, thru the single mic, all at once. This would become the instrumental "version", or "Side B" of the 45 vinyl record. Then they would leave. Later, the singers (in this example Bob Marley and The Teenagers), no instruments, would record their rich vocal harmonies, again altogether in one track, over the prerecorded instrumental track. then the vocal track and the instrumental track (remember its a 2 track studio) would be merged or fused together, to form the monaural actual song recording, or the Side A of the 45rpm record. In the last production step, the Side A and Side B were actually physically pressed onto the hot PVC vinyl, on site at the studio, to make the "final vinyl", and labeled and sleeve-packaged for distribution.
That night, as the records were stamped out one at a time, the younger participants (in this case Bob Marly and the other young singers) would mount their bicycles, armed with bundles of brand new "hot wax", and cruise to the "dance halls" on Friday and Saturday nights. (Note a similarity to the USA non-alcoholic youth "teen towns" of the same vintage in the USA.) These Kingston dancehalls were often no more than an abandoned warehouse or vacant city lot, where a DJ would bring a portable sound system. He would receive the newest cuts, often before they made it into the AM radio rotation. This was a coup for the DJ, if it was a new cut from a known band. It was great promo for the new record, also, as it was happening simultaneous, all over Kingston, from the Trench Town ghetto to the city proper. Free same-day promo!
Once in the DJ's hands, he would spin the Side B instrumental cut, very loudly, and talk over his microphone, in impromptu rhymes, hyping the band and their brand new release that "no one else had yet". This paradigm could quite literally be considered as the birth of live rap music.
Returning to the boot-legged early 70's JAD release of the Bob Marley songs: The 8 CD release called "Bob Marley the Complete Wailers 1967-1972" included not only the Side A hit track, but often included the Side B instruments-only cut. This allowed me to load certain hits, plus the instrumental "version" into my studio workstation at Fried Piper Studios. From there, where the two sides synched up perfectly in time, it was a straight-forward process to mix the vocals in and out of the mix as i pleased. I studied in great detail the vocal melodies and harmonies of Peter, Bunny and Bob. I judiciously kept some of the vocals, to ID the song for the listener, but the gist of my "flute-dub" album was to meticulously replace the original vocals with flutes, flute melodies and harmonies plus new flute lines, using my collection of symphonic solid silver or metal flutes and hand-crafted bamboo or cane flutes.
The result is a thrilling cohesive whole, a new take on the music of the legends. The overall result is a magical musical juxtaposition of myself, with Bob and associates. I become effectively a time traveler, as the flutes integrate seamlessly with the original songs from over a half-century ago. It came out while i was still touring live with The Wailers, including Familyman (Fender bass guitar and Bob's musical director), Wya Lindo (inventor of the bubblin B3 organ sound in reggae), Al Anderson (lead guitar), Junior Marvin (lead guitar), Vince Gordon (trombone), Glenn DaCosta (sax), Marcia Griffiths (original back up singer for Bob in his "Three Little Birds" with Bob's wife Rita Marley), and many other reggae giants, all of whom who had played live and/or recorded with Bob Marley and the Wailers. It is a great honor to have played ten years with these legendary giants, on the road, live on stage, and recording, and to have multiple generations of the Marleys and the Wailers, "dem know me name".
When my flute dub CD first came out, I of course gave many copies to everyone associated with The Wailers at the time. They loved it, especially hearing themselves play their original musical parts, which i had altered in no way. They clamored for more CDs. I probably gave away at least several hundred units to my friends in The Wailers, free of course, and I was overjoyed to do it for them, taking them on a ride down wonderful memory lane. it was a great privilege and an enduring pleasurable memory to play with these reggae foundation giants, but more importantly, to become one of them, to be friends.
I played flute ten years (2000-2010) with Bob Marley's immortal band The Wailers. Other folks I got to play with include
Umphrey's Magee, Peter Rowan, New Monsoon, Ancient Harmony, Carolyn Wonderland, and many more. I write & record all my own original music. Please follow me on BandCamp. My music is ever evolving. Please check my new $6 paperback on Amazon under Books: "Lyrics Poems Tales" fmj...more
Backed by a rotating cast of collaborators, the Australian singer-songwriter refines her folk-tinged indie pop sound. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 11, 2024
