Jah Jerry - Founding Member Of Skatalites Died At 80

Reggae veteran Jah Jerry died last week at the ripe old age of 80. Jah Jerry was one of the founding members of the Skatalites, reggae and ska's most prolific band as well as the pioneers of the ska sound. Infamous for their years as the house band at Studio One, The Skatalites were formed around 1963 by Jah Jerry, Tommy McCook, Don Drummond, Jackie Mittoo, Johnny Moore and Rolando Alphonso, but many more legendary musicians participated in the band during its continuous career. It was The Skatalites that created and developed the ska sound with bass guitar, rhythm guitar, drums, and horns. Most of the music coming out of Studio One in the 60's, and probably the 70's too, featured the Skatalites playing all kinds of reggae styles as the backing music for the many different vocalists who would come in to record a record. The band consists of new members these days, as most of the founding members have passed on, but they continue to tour and record, carrying the ska torch into the future. You can download quite a few tunes on their website from different albums and different lineups.This documentary gets the inside story on the roots of ska music and the beginning of Studio One. Includes interviews with Johnny Moore, Coxsone Dodd, Alton Ellis and friends. Excellent behind the scenes footage, I highly recommend watching the full story. I bet you can find the whole thing on Google video or youTube or somewhere. But it is fully worth owning on DVD if you are a fan of roots reggae. Here is a snippet from the DVD:The Skatalites website with free mp3s