smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | <gabrielfuentes@fibertel.com.ar> |
| Subject | Re: Jamaica Gleaner News - Alton Ellis - Godfather of |
| Date | Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:10:51 -0300 |
[Part 1 text/plain iso-8859-1 (2.9 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
Oh John..hit on a very sensitive topic for me and millions of reggae fans worldwide..you should see the tributes being paid on various reggae sites..
For those of you who don´t know, Alton Ellis was a ¨foundation¨ artist of the very highest order within Jamaican music. Any semi-serious fan of reggae should be very familiar with his output. While he has been dubbed the Godfather of Rocksteady (rocksteady came right before reggae and right after ska), he continued to record and his live shows were loved. He recorded for Coxson Dodd at Studio One and also for Duke Reid at Treasure Isle. In fact, many argue that Alton´s output for Reid at Treasure Isle was better than the material he layed down at Studio One during that era. In any event, while it may seem dated to many of you, I urge you all to seek out some Alton Ellis (even through myspace) just to hear his tunes and voice.
Reggae music is losing so many of its original artists, due to age and poverty. There are not many left and the new artists, with the exception of Luciano, are not filling the void left. Thanks John for putting this up in this forum. I try not to cross forums too much but Alton was one artist that deserves greater attention.
Finally, one story. In the mid 80s, Alton Ellis toured the west coast. He was using a backing band from Los Angeles that was augmented by a few world class reggae musicians living in California. As he came out, he just sang hit after hit..and did a Studio One Medley that was to die for. I was younger and I was directly in front of the stage just to the left of his monitor. During the Studio One Medley, Alton could hear the crowd singing along. I was wearing my Studio One T-shirt at the time and he noticed me since I was pointing to the logo on the front of my shirt. He then crept up to me and as the chorus of one of his great songs was coming up, he put the mic in front of me and let me sing the chorus! It was amazing. As he stepped away from me he had a huge grin on his face. I was later told that Alton was completely blown away during that tour that so many people knew the words to his songs.
----- Mensaje original -----
De: "John L. Micek" <jlmicek@verizon.net>
Fecha: Lunes, Octubre 13, 2008 2:42 pm
Asunto: Re: Jamaica Gleaner News - Alton Ellis - Godfather of Rocksteady -
> That's really a shame.
> The story is quite moving. He was not living in the best of
> conditions.
> john micek
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joseph Savitz" <jsavitz3@gmail.com>
> To: <audities@smoe.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 13, 2008 1:06 PM
> Subject: Jamaica Gleaner News - Alton Ellis - Godfather of
> Rocksteady -
> 1938-2008 - Monday | October 13, 2008
>
>
> > http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20081013/ent/ent2.html
> >
> >
> > Joseph L. Savitz III
> >
> > (803) 319-7004
> > jsavitz3@gmail.com
> >
> > Columbia, South Carolina
> >
>
>
>
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.