Review
Publication date : Wednesday, May 05th 2004 - 22 854 views Fatherless Reggae
Reggae mourns its most prolific contributor. Clement "Coxsone" Dodd died on Tuesday 4 May of a heart attack, aged 72. The founder of the legendary Studio One, godfather of the reggae industry, leaves behind a teeming catalogue and an exceptional contribution to Jamaican music.
 It all began in the 50’s, in his parents’ liquor store in Kingston. Clement Seymour Dodd played jazz, boogie and bebop records there for the customers. After a brief stay in the USA, where he discovered r’n’b, Coxsone (named after the Yorkshire cricketer of the day) returned to Jamaica with what he needed to build his own sound system. When “ Sir Coxsone Downbeat ” was born in 1954, Clement Dodd was only 22. Competition with Duke Reid and Tom The Great Sebastian had him travelling thousands of kilometres in search of rare gems. His comings and goings to the USA thus secured him a large stock of jazz and r’n’b titles. It was at this time that the labels on the vinyl were scratched off so that his rivals could not identify the artists and get hold of the precious songs. Besides the tunes, his reputation rested on his deejays: Coxsone employed Prince Buster, a former boxer whose build came in handy for defusing trouble, Count Machuki, but also King Stitt, U Roy and Lee Perry. By 1957 he owned three sound systems roaming Kingston.
It was in 1959 that Coxsone decided to sell his productions. The first recording session took place at Studio Federal: from it came “ Muriel ” by Alton Ellis, accompanied by the Clue J’s Blues Blasters, a group made up of Cluett Johnson, Roland Alphonso, Ernest Ranglin, Rico Rodriguez and Teophilus Beckford. That same year, tired of hearing music modelled on the American template, Coxsone told Ernest Ranglin and Cluett Johnson of his wish to find a new rhythm. The three men got together and decided to put the emphasis on the offbeat. Ska was born. Its first avatar, “ Easy Snappin ” by Teophilus Beckford, was a smash, flooding the airwaves and the dances. The island’s independence was celebrated to the sound of this new music.
13 Brentford Road, Kingston
After buying Federal Studio’s one-track machine, Clement Dodd set up in 1963 at 13 Brentford Road, a former night club. Studio One was then the first studio owned by a Black man in Jamaica. Ernest Ranglin was his arranger, and his house band was made up of musicians who, a few years later, would form the Skatalites: Lloyd Knibbs, Jackie Mitto, Tommy McCook and Lloyd Brevette, later joined by Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso and Johnny Dizzy Moore. It was also in 1963 that Coxsone auditioned a certain Bob Marley and his group The Wailers, on the advice of Seeco Patterson. After the departure of Junior Braithwaite, lead singer on “ It Hurts To Be Alone ”, Coxsone required the Wailers to name a single singer. It would be Bob. “ Simmer Down ” (number 1 in 1964), “ One Love ” and “ Put It On ” kept the group at the top of the charts. At that time Bob Marley lived in the room used for auditions, and a father/son relationship developed between the two men. But when rocksteady exploded in 1966, Coxsone was beaten to it by Duke Reid, who recorded Alton Ellis’s “ Girl I’ve Got A Date ” and the Paragons’ “ Happy Go Lucky ”. For a time Studio One was out of the game and the Wailers left it in 1967. A break all the more inevitable as Bob disagreed with Coxsone over money, a situation that would often recur at Studio One.
13 Brentford Road in 1963 | 
13 Brentford Road in 2003 |
With the Wailers gone, Studio One welcomed the future big names of reggae. Dozens of artists rushed to 13 Brentford Road for the famous Sunday auditions. Burning Spear thus recorded his first two albums at Studio One, on which he appears without locks, Coxsone being convinced (wrongly) that they would harm his career. The list of artists is long: Freddie Mc Gregor, The Gladiators, Johnny Osbourne, The Maytals, Horace Andy, Marcia Griffiths, The Skatalites, Prince Jazzbo, Cedric Im Brooks, The Paragons, Dennis Brown, The Wailing Souls, Delroy Wilson, The Heptones, Culture, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, John Holt, Sugar Minott… The adage goes that it is easier to list the artists who did not record for Coxsone.
Rebirth and recognition
In the mid-80s, Studio One closed and Clement Dodd moved to the USA. The studio, run by Coxsone’s mother, opened only one day a week to supply the shops. It was not until 2003, forty years after its creation, that it was reborn. Coxsone moved back in, his head full of projects, wanting to bring some acoustic warmth back to reggae. But time ran out on him.
A pioneer, Coxsone Dodd was nevertheless able to witness the recognition of his work. After receiving Jamaica’s Order of Distinction in 1991, he was honoured for his overall contribution to Jamaican music at the island’s 40th independence anniversary in 2002. Last Friday he attended the ceremony at which Brentford Road was renamed Studio One Boulevard.
Report written by Sébastien Jobart,
Le 5 mai 2004
Tags : The Skatalites (8), Alton Ellis (11), Disparitions (97), Historique (17)
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