The Upsetters

The Upsetters

Although so much of the instrumental work that came out ofthe Black Ark is credited to the Upsetters, you shouldn’t thinkof this as the same group who cut the Django-era stuff. The drum and bass engine room of those earlier sessions, Aston (aka Family Man) and Carlton Barrett, respectively, were now full-time members of the Wailers’ band and thus were unavailable to work elsewhere. 

Within his new studio set-up Perry used a fluid session crew that comprised most of the best players on the island, but couldn’t be pinned down to any regularline-up. Among them, Boris Gardiner and Robbie Shakespeare played bass; Sly Dunbar and Mikey ‘Boo’ Richards were on drums; the guitarists were Chinna Smith, Geoffrey Chung and Willie Lindo; keyboards were manned by Augustus Pablo, Theophilus Beckford, Winston Wright and Robbie Lynn; percussion came courtesy of Skully Simms; and the brass section included Vin Gordon, Glen DaCosta and Bobby Ellis. 

While his being able to get the same sound from so varied a group of highly  individual players gives an indication of Lee Perry’s abilities as a producer, it also shows a man keen on the wider range of alternatives that a fiexilble session crew such as this could offer. For many of the players it was a chance to flex muscles that other studios might have ignored. (Lloyd Bradley Bass Culture: Ehen Reggae Was King, p. 326)

Significant. File under: Roots Reggae Masters     Discography: Albums     Contributions

In the music library: The Return of Sound System Scratch     Sound System Scratch     

Rude Boy SkaClint EastwoodReturn Of Django

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© Ian Hughes 2015