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Posts tagged as “Jamaica”

MUSIC MONDAY: “Dubwise: An Essential Dub Reggae Collection” (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Dubwise: An Essential Dub Reggae Collection” (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on June 8, 2026

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Music Monday! It’s your groove pathfinder, Marlon, back with another musical offering.

While reggae and dancehall are well-known when it comes to Jamaican music, not everyone may be in tune with its more electronically-minded cousin, dub reggae, and the sound system culture that accompanies it.

Dub music grew out of reggae in the 1960s and 1970s. The songs largely consisted of heavily-edited remixes of existing records, created by removing the vocal sections and placing increased focus on the rhythm section, or riddim.

Audio effects like reverb and delay would then be applied, often quite generously, and vocal snippets and other instruments from the original song (and other songs) can be worked into the track by means of dubbing or sampling. The term ‘dubbing‘ has also come to mean emphasizing the bass and the drums.

Included in this collection are works of influential figures including Lee Scratch Perry, Osbourne Ruddock (better known as “King Tubby”), and Hopeton Overton Brown (aka “Scientist”) and many others.

The influence of Dub can be heard across many genres of music, including rock, hip hop, techno, ambient, house music, trip hop and others

This collection features classic works and tracks across the decades. Hope you all enjoy this essential collection of Dub Reggae.

Until next month, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Sonia Pottinger – The First Lady of Reggae” Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Sonia Pottinger – The First Lady of Reggae” Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 9, 2026

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Women’s History Month! Welcome to another Music Monday at GBN. Your monthly groove wrangler is back with a new collection for your musical pleasure.

When discussing Jamaica’s greatest reggae producers, names like Lee “Scratch” Perry, Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, King Tubby, Bunny Lee, and Joe Gibbs are frequently bandied about. However, Sonia Pottinger—the “First Lady of Reggae”—is seldom included in that conversation.

Against all odds, Pottinger became a formidable force in Jamaica’s male-dominated music industry as the country’s first female record producer, record shop owner, and label head. Today, we are shining an audio light on her incredible work.

Affectionately known as “Miss P,” she was one of Jamaica’s most noteworthy producers from the 1960s through the 1980s. She excelled through an individualized approach to production bolstered by keen business acumen, leaving behind a catalog of outstanding breadth and quality.

Reggae producer Sonia Pottinger (photo via reggaereport.com)

From the rocksteady craze of 1966 and ’67 to the classic roots reggae recordings of The Gladiators, I have gathered this collection of Sonia Pottinger’s essential tracks.

Please enjoy!

As always, stay safe, sane, and kind. See you next month for another dose.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
University of Michigan Economist Susan M. Collins to Become President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

University of Michigan Economist Susan M. Collins to Become President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

By goodblacknews on March 7, 2022

University of Michigan economist and executive vice president of academic affairs Susan M. Collins will be the next president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, taking office on July 1.

Collins will be only the second Black president and first Black woman to head one of the 12 Federal Reserve banks in the century-plus history of the institution. Raphael Bostic, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president, was the first Black person ever to lead a reserve bank.

“It is an honor and an inspiration to serve as the Boston Fed’s next president,” Professor Collins said. “Throughout my career, I have been driven by a commitment to leveraging research, education, and public service to improve lives. I look forward to helping the Bank and System pursue the Fed’s dual mandate from Congress – achieving price stability and maximum employment.”

Dr. Collins added that “I am also inspired by the portfolio of important and innovative work underway at the Boston Fed,” Collins said. “I am delighted with the opportunity to lead such a dynamic organization, engage with its talented staff, and work with its constituents – to understand their economic challenges and help explain the work of the Fed in the economy. It will also be a pleasure to return to Greater Boston and New England.”

MUSIC MONDAY: “African Unity” – A Collection of Reggae From Around the World (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “African Unity” – A Collection of Reggae From Around the World (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on July 19, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Monday, you all! This week’s playlist celebrates reggae music from around the world.

Reggae originated in Jamaica in the 1960s. It is deeply linked to Rastafari, Afrocentric thought, and promoting Pan Africanism. It is the nation’s most impactful export.

Over the decades, reggae has traveled with Jamaican immigrants, and its message and popularity has spread cross the globe.

Today there are reggae performers from every corner of the planet. In the United States, Latin America, Europe, the UK, Asia, and Africa you will find reggae artists thriving.

Here’s a collection of established artists like Linton Kwesi Johnson, Steel Pulse, the late Lucky Dube, and Alpha Blondy. Also included are emerging artists like Awa Fall, Los Cafres, and Matthew McAnuff.

Hope you enjoy this collection of classics and new music. And as always, stay safe sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Dream Land” – A Tribute Playlist to Bunny Wailer and the Wailers Legacy (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Dream Land” – A Tribute Playlist to Bunny Wailer and the Wailers Legacy (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 8, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Bunny Wailer, born Neville O’Riley Livingston, died on March 2nd. He was an original member of The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and a lifelong standard-bearer of reggae music.

“The Wailers are to reggae what the Beatles are to rock ‘n roll and pop music,” according to Jamaican music-business veteran Copeland Forbes.

This collection is devoted to the work of The Wailers, and the solo work of Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, and of Bunny Wailer himself.

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In the 1960s The Wailers hit their initial stride with Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label, often called Jamaica’s Motown. They recorded for several producers, including Leslie Kong and, most notably, Lee “Scratch” Perry.

I’ve included several of those songs, and ones The Wailers went on to release on their own Wail ‘N Soul ‘M and Tuff Gong labels.

By 1974, Tosh and Wailer both would leave the group for solo careers. Bob Marley would use The Wailers name for his backup band.

Hope you enjoy this collection of music by greats artist done together and separately.

Stay stay, sane, and kind, you all. Until such time.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
R.I.P. Reggae Legend Bunny Wailer, 73, Founding Member of the Wailers with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh (VIDEO)

R.I.P. Reggae Legend Bunny Wailer, 73, Founding Member of the Wailers with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on March 2, 2021

Bunny Wailer, a founding member of the Wailers and a reggae music titan whose career spanned seven decades, died today at the age of 73, according to the Jamaica Observer.

Wailer’s manager Maxine Stowe confirmed that Wailer died  at the Medical Associates Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica (via the Jamaica Observer). No cause of death has been named so far, but Wailer had been in and out of the hospital since suffering his second stroke, in 2020.

Wailer, born Neville Livingston — before adopting his famous moniker — was a member of the original Wailers trio with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

https://youtu.be/R2rmFRHhwoA

To quote from Rolling Stone:

While Marley and Livingston were being mentored by Joe Higgs, “the Godfather of Reggae,” they met Higgs’ fellow student Peter Tosh; the then-trio ventured to Kingston. Soon after, they were joined by singer Junior Braithwaite and backup vocalists Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith. Following a string of name changes that included the Teenagers and the Wailing Wailers, the Wailers aligned with Coxsone Dodd’s sound system and Studio One label — which employed songwriters and producers like Lee “Scratch” Perry and Jackie Mittoo — and released the Marley-penned “Simmer Down,” a Number One hit in Jamaica.

Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith soon departed the Wailers, leaving the nucleus of Marley, Livingston, and Tosh intact; that trio recorded the band’s debut LP, 1965’s The Wailing Wailers, a collection of tracks the band recorded during the mid-Sixties. The Wailers then went on hiatus as Marley married his wife Rita and joined his mother in Wilmington, Delaware; during this period, Livingston served a yearlong sentence for marijuana possession. However, the three principle Wailers reunited upon Marley’s return to Jamaica.

While Marley and Tosh served as the Wailers’ primary singers and songwriters, Livingston played an indispensable role in providing harmonies to the trio’s songs. The Wailers next teamed with Perry and his Upsetters for 1970’s Soul Rebels and 1971’s Soul Revolution; around that time, Livingston wrote and recorded one of his signature songs, “Dreamland,” a track he revisited when he released his solo LP Blackheart Man in 1976.

To read more:

MUSIC MONDAY: “Roots, Rock, Reggae” – a Bob Marley Collection in Honor of his 76th (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Roots, Rock, Reggae” – a Bob Marley Collection in Honor of his 76th (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 15, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Earlier this month was the 76th anniversary of the birth of Robert Nesta Marley.

It is hard to overstate his impact on popular music and culture. Marley was a Rastafari icon, and he infused his music with a sense of social consciousness and spirituality.

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He is still a global symbol of Jamaican music, culture, and Pan-Africanism. He co-founded The Wailers vocal group with Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Beverley Kelso and Junior Braithwaite.

They created early ska and rocksteady in the studios of legendary producers Coxsone Dodd and Lee “Scratch” Perry.

Marley would go on to bring reggae music to an international audience, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Rolling Stone has ranked him No. 11 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Here’s a collection includes his many classics, early recordings, live performances, and remixes, and dub reworkings. This playlist is a testament to the lasting impact of Bob Marley.

As always stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Nothing Comes Easy” – A Celebration of Dub Reggae (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Nothing Comes Easy” – A Celebration of Dub Reggae (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on November 16, 2020

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Dub has become its own genre of electronic music. Though it grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Dub reggae started as a “version” of an existing song. The cuts were achieved by significantly manipulating and reshaping the recordings, often through the removal of some or all of the vocals, with the emphasis on the drums and bass. They were usually pressed on the B-sides of 45 RPM records.

The dub version is often made for a DJ to “toast” over. That tradition continues to this day across many music genres.

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Dub was pioneered by recording engineers and producers like Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Errol Thompson, and others in the late 1960s. Augustus Pablo is credited as one of the pioneers and creators of the genre, and for bringing the melodica to dub.

The “Roland Space Echo” was widely used by dub producers in the 1970s to produce echoes and delay effects. These artists, especially King Tubby, Scientist, Lee Perry, and many that would follow, look upon the mixing console as an instrument itself.

This collection brings together early pioneers, and tracks by current artists. Enjoy! And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

(A note to the Spotify adherent: This collection will benefit from going to your “Advanced Preferences”, and setting your crossfade to its maximum of 12 seconds. Lean into that Dub-stylee.)

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “I Can See Clearly Now” – A Playlist Tribute to Johnny Nash (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “I Can See Clearly Now” – A Playlist Tribute to Johnny Nash (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 12, 2020
[Photo: American singer and songwriter Johnny Nash poses in a park in London, 1972. By Michael Putland / Getty Images]

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Johnny Nash had no particular episode of personal hardship in mind when he composed “I Can See Clearly Now” in the early 1970s, though over the years it has struck a firm chord with generations who appreciate its feeling of new hope emerging from the despair: “I can see clearly now the rain has gone / I can see all obstacles in my way / Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind / It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshine-y day.”

He died last week at age 80.

Nash was American but spent time living in Jamaica in the mid-1960s, and the island’s influence on his music came to the fore in 1968, when his rock-steady compositions “You Got Soul” and “Hold Me Tight” were Top 10 hits in the UK, helping to kickstart a period of mainstream interest in reggae that remains to this day.

His reggae-fied version of Sam Cooke’s “Cupid” made it to No. 6 in the UK the following year, followed by “Stir it Up,” written for him, and later reclaimed, by his friend Bob Marley. That was a UK No. 13 in 1972, only months before the release of “I Can See Clearly Now.”

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This playlist includes many of Johnny Nash’s recordings, songs by him, Bob Marley, and other early reggae artists, plus many of the cuts that dominated the radio in 1972 alongside Johhny Nash’s enduring song of hope.

Hope you enjoy this tribute collection. Next week I’ll be back with a more “seasonal” offering.

Until such time, stay safe sane, and kind… and vote!

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Time Tough”- A Tribute to Reggae Legend Toots Hibbert (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Time Tough”- A Tribute to Reggae Legend Toots Hibbert (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 14, 2020

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

This September 11th also marked the passing of one of the fathers of reggae music: Toots Hibbert.

Starting out with the rock steady pioneer Clement “Coxcome” Dodd, The Maytals emerged as one of the earliest reggae hit-makers. Hibbert holds a firm spot in Jamaica’s musical pantheon as the first artist to use the word reggae on a record, “Do The Reggay,” and to bring the music to the world at large.

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Many likely first heard his songs covered by The Clash, The Specials, and other punk and ska artists. This collection features the Toots & The Maytals versions of “Monkey Man” and “Pressure Drop.” 

I have also included some of his many covers including “Country Road” and collaborations with Willie Nelson, UB40, The Easy Star All-Stars, Los Pericos and others.

Hope you all enjoy this tribute to one reggae and ska music’s most enduring founders. Have a great week, and see you next Monday.

Stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)