[the shadefoot]

Stanley Motta is credited as being the first man to have recorded Jamaican music. At his Kingston studio in the mid-1950s he produced Mento and Calypso primarily for the tourist trade. There were not yet any other purpose-built recording studios on the island. Coxsone Dodd, Lloyd Daley, King Edwards, Duke Reid and the other trail-blazing producers were forced to use the primitive one-track facilities at the island's radio stations. Eventually, a local merchant, Ken Khouri, bought Motta's studio, renamed it Federal Records, and made it and his resident studio band, The Caribs, available for hire. The Caribs were the house-band at the Glass Bucket's and were, in fact, three Australians (Lowell Morris, Peter Stoddart and Dennis Sindrey) and one Jamaican (Lloyd Brevett).

Federal employed one-track and later two-track equipment - the singer on one track - the group on the other. Tenor sax-man Rolando Alphonso laughs as he recalls "twenty guys on one mike - all trying to get a shot off. Hah!"10. The positions of the players were marked out on the floor with chalk. When called upon for a solo, the trombonist, guitarist or whomever, took two steps towards the microphone, moving back when finished. Australian Graeme Goodall, being the only qualified sound engineer on the Island, was involved in virtually every recording session during the Shuffle and Ska periods.

source: http://www.bluejuice...ican_music.html

I had read about Graeme Godall before, but does anyone have any more info on The Caribs.........

....I met a guy in Tuscany and he told me about The Caribs......apparently a Jamaican band toured to Australia, met some musos in Brisbane and convinced them to come to Jamaica, where they have been ever since..........and apparently a documentary is being made on them............

Does anyone have any more info on this?

[bigboyrock]

I'd be interested to know what year exactly the Jamaican band toured here and if they were black. It must have been at least late fifties at the earliest. From memory black artists were not allowed to tour Australia from around 1928 when Sonny Clay's orchestra got kicked out for 'cavorting with white women' until the mid-fifties when Louis Armstrong came in.

[L.Static]

Yes Craig "The Professor" is writing a book about it! Too true Mr.Goodall engineer a lot of early recordings especially Beverleys. He also started the Doctor Bird imprint in Ja. and it was continued in the U.K. I've known about this since the early 90's bot Proffesor knows G.Goodall personally so he should come about this one................................

[L.Static]

Yeah Ozreggae been there a long time, just like Valiants!!

[bigboyrock]

Dennis Sindrey was an Australian country artist from Melbourne:

http://calypsoworld....rld/sindrey.htm

Also in the AGE:

http://www.theage.co...l?from=storyrhs

Bob Marley's biographer, Roger Steffens, gave a fascinating insight into the reggae icon's life over two nights at the Blackbox Theatre last week, but he overlooked the important roles of two Australians who were pivotal in the birth of the Jamaican sound. Engineer Graeme Goodall had a hand in just about all of the releases that came out of Studio One, and Dennis Sindrey was an original Mento-Ska guitarist. Both men now live abroad but are visiting Melbourne at the moment, and one of Sticky's favourite shows on air, 3PBS's (106.7FM) Blue Juice, will air interviews with both men telling their fascinating stories from 11am over the next two Sundays.

Goodall began his career as an electronics engineer working on outside broadcasts of football matches and concerts for 3KZ in the early 1950s, before going to work installing radio antennas for Jamaican radio station RJR. Goodall found his skills as the only qualified sound engineer on the island in great demand by artists including the Skatalites, Carlos Malcolm, Bob Marley and the Wailers and Jimmy Cliff, as well as producers such as Island's Chris Blackwell and the late Sir Coxsone Dodd. In 1964 he set up his own label, Doctor Bird, releasing albums by Roland Alphonso, the Ethiopians, the Gladiators and Lee Perry, before relocating to London in 1967 and building a studio fromwhere he released Desmond Dekker's massive hit The Israelites.

More recently, he worked on Eric Clapton's album There's One In Every Crowd and is now semi-retired in Georgia, in the US.

Sindrey grew up in Camberwell and in 1957 formed an Afro-Cuban jazz band, the Caribs (right), who played the Surfer's Paradise cabaret circuit before accepting an offer to be the house band at the opening of the Caribbean's then newest luxury hotel, The Glass Bucket, in Kingston. Their first bass player was local musician Lloyd Brevett, who would become a founding member of the famed Skatalites. The Caribs became the first session band at Jamaica's first commercial recording studio, Federal Recordings, and Sindrey's echo-laden guitar sound can be heard on many classic pre-ska recordings. Respect.

[bigboyrock]

Lowell Morris - still playing now(?) in the Ska Vendors

http://theskavendors...net.au/bio.html

[bigboyrock]

And....

Check this:

http://gojira.com/mu...%20capers/html/

THE CARIBS IN ACTION AT THE KINGSTON SHERATON HOTEL Jamaica, a happy mixture of different Peoples is a veritable melting pot of music. From the folk music of Africa to the lively "Jump Up" and the trend setting Ska, Jamaican music, although wide in variety has one thing in common...it pulsates ' with life.

The Caribs fit this pattern exactly. Their music as this record shows, is as varied as it is lively. Since they came together, THE CARIBS have won acclaim in such hard-to-please places as Kingston's Glass Bucket Club, Caymanas Country Club, the North Coast's Tower Isle Hotel, and the famous Kingston Sheraton Hotel.

The versatile selection on this record gives only a brief introduction to the full range of this popular group. It does, however, tell a lot about their understanding of the West Indian musical idiom. For example, the Calypsos of Dennis Sindrey ("Going down to Jordan" and "The River") capture to the full this uniquely West Indian musical form. The ballads of Carl Reynolds ("More" and "I wish you love") although not expecially West Indian in origin retain in this interpretation the true flavour of the Caribbean. Of course, when it comes to The Ska (represented here by Billy "Deacon" Dean's version of "Bangalou" and "Sammy Dead") you realize that you are listening to music that was born right here in Jamaica and sung as only a Jamaican could sing it.

Talented Pianist and Arranger Peter Stoddart, leads the group with background by Steve Lauz (Bass) and Ainsley O'Reilly (Bongo's).

THE CARIBS

The original Caribs after whom the Caribbean is named were a tribe of maurauding Indians who caused more than a little trouble by their plundering raids in and around the Caribbean Islands. They also earned quite a reputation for taking the women by storm. Luckily their infamous deeds are a thing of the past but, THE CARIBS who made this recording and who borrowed their name have followed their example and have (musically speaking) taken Jamaica by storm.

Peter Stoddart ................. Piano

Dennis Sindrey......... Guitar & Vocal

Steve Lauz.................... Bass

Billy "Deacon" Dean ... Drums & Vocal

Carl Reynolds ................. Vocal

Ainsley O'Reilly .............. Bongo

[Jesse I]

bigboyrock, on Sep 19 2006, 08:58 PM, said:

Bob Marley's biographer, Roger Steffens, gave a fascinating insight into the reggae icon's life over two nights at the Blackbox Theatre last week, but he overlooked the important roles of two Australians who were pivotal in the birth of the Jamaican sound. Engineer Graeme Goodall had a hand in just about all of the releases that came out of Studio One, and Dennis Sindrey was an original Mento-Ska guitarist. Both men now live abroad but are visiting Melbourne at the moment, and one of Sticky's favourite shows on air, 3PBS's (106.7FM) Blue Juice, will air interviews with both men telling their fascinating stories from 11am over the next two Sundays.

These interviews were excellent. Prof, I'm assuming you already know Mohair Slim, but if not, you should get in contact. He's another scholar of early Jamaican music like yourself...

I think the above is a bit harsh on old Roger though, he was never trying to give an overview on Jamaican music - just Bob Marley.

[Jesse I]

Mohair Slim's Blue Juice website

[the shadefoot]

bigboyrock, you have been googling your buttocks off old son, jolly good show.........

[crazybaldread]

Wicked. Had heard of Goddall but none of those other cats... Whoah.

[L.Static]

Dennis Sindrey did an l.p. in about '67-'68 it's a calypso type thing. I had a double and give it to Prof.! I think it is called "The Pill" and is on Federal, he and a few of the others played on Beverleys hits like Derrick Morgan & Patsys "Housewives Choice".

[professor]

Graeme and the Caribs story is a pretty incredible one, hence the reason I'm writing a book about it. I've been in touch a bit with Lloyd and Stevie from the Ska Vendors over the years about this story and they've helped me out as they can, particularly in hooking me up with Owen Gray when he was out here and their help is definitely appreciated. (they sent me copies of Slim's interviews too with Mr Sindrey busting out a wicked version of Hard Man fe Dead). L Static and Jesse have helped me out too, sharing knowledge, tunes and contacts too, onyerz. It's pretty tricky to piece it all together properly as it was about 50 years ago when the story happened, but I'm giving it a shot and want to get it right, and hence am taking a fair bit ofdtime about it. I've been gathering as much material as I can via the Gleaner Archive, the internet, liner notes, books, interviews with Graeme, Dennis, Lowell, Owen Gray, Lloyd Knibbs, Monty Alexander, Jimmy Cliff, Phil Chen, basically anyone who knew them back in the day that I can contact. If anyone knows a publisher that might be interested or can help me in any way with this project, or just has any questions about these unsung Aussie champions then I'd be happy to answer
Factoid of the Day: who first called Lee Perry: Chicken Scratch? Graeme Goodall.

[Jesse I]

gwaan Professor! big things, and respect due!

[professor]

Shadey - your man in Tuscany had it a bit wrong. The Caribs (then known as Max Wildman's Group) met Jamaican Tourist Board boss Abe Issa when they were working at the Corroboree Club on the Gold Coast. Abe wanted a new manager for the Glass Bucket Club in Kingston and thought Max Wildman was the man for the job. Max was the MC, Manager and occasional saxophonist, with the band and said I'll take the job, but the band come with me. The Caribbean muso part of the story probably refers to a Haitian bloke called Albert Laguerre who came to Australia with the Katherine Dunham Dancers, liked the place and stayed here. He taught Lowell Morris how to play the congas.

[Chris]

Professor. Good to see you on the thread. Hoping all that work does come together into a great book.

[professor]

Hey Chris, in fact, I was just sitting here working on it when I procrastinated across this thread! My head is currently in 1930s Caulfield where a young child is picking up a screwdriver for the first time ...
as you can see, I've got some work still to do, best get back to it.

[dunchillin]

professor, on Sep 20 2006, 04:47 PM, said:

Shadey - your man in Tuscany had it a bit wrong.

I dunno man - I reckon some bloke Shadey met on a beach got heaps more credability than

Quote

gathering as much material as I can via the Gleaner Archive, the internet, liner notes, books, interviews with Graeme, Dennis, Lowell, Owen Gray, Lloyd Knibbs, Monty Alexander, Jimmy Cliff, Phil Chen, basically anyone who knew them back in the day that I can contact.

don'tcha think?......

[the shadefoot]

huge prof..........when we started talking about reggae we both had been drinking Chianti Classico all evening, so that retelling of the story was the best chinese whispers I could come up with....

University of Queensland Press are worth a go for publishing I reckon, they are into history, culture and biography, plus there is a Queensland link...........it is times like these I wish I was a filthy rich philanthropist........but all the best!

[professor]

True - UofQ Press is a good prospect Shadey, but I'll vanity-publish it my damn self if needs be. It does feel pretty good to be actually underway with the thing after so much time thinking about it and researching, I suppose that's a necessary part of it just to get the story straight. It is hard to put yourself back in time, especially when there are so few accurate written sources about the times I'm researching. I was thinking about a documentary myself, that still aint out of the question at some stage, but I spoke to film funding bodies and they said no dice as Graeme no longer lives here. Desparate Man Blues is pretty damn inspirational though and documentaries have greater reach than books. The story has to be told!