Bobby Ellis was born to blow
Chordially Speaking |
Howard Campbell
Saturday, April 05, 2003
|
 |
| BLOWING UP A STORM: Trumpeter Bobby Ellis at the Tuff Gong studio. (Photo: Joseph Wellington) |
Back in the days when blaring horns figured strongly in Jamaican popular music, trumpeter Bobby Ellis was in demand as a session man and arranger. Born in west Kingston, Ellis first took up the trumpet in 1941 at the Alpha Boys School; when he left the Roman Catholic institution, he played on the Kingston club scene.
Ellis started recording at Studio One in the early 1960s; he remembers his first time on record being his own composition, Cyrus, with the Mighty Vikings band before going on to work on hit songs by The Wailers (Lonesome Feeling), There's a Reward (Joe Higgs) and I've Got to Go Back Home by Bob Andy.
Most of Ellis' time at Studio One was spent as horn arranger. After leaving Clement Dodd's studio, Ellis became a part of Trinidadian guitarist Lynn Taitt's band, The Jets, which also included fellow saxophonists Headley "Deadly Headley" Bennett and Carlton Samuels, keyboardist Gladstone "Gladdy" Anderson, bass player Brian Atkinson and drummer Joe Isaacs.
Ellis' reputation as a trumpeter and arranger had grown by the dawn of the 1970s when reggae was growing in stature. It was during this period that some of his best work can be heard, particularly on Burning Spear's landmark Marcus Garvey and Man in The Hills albums which were produced by Lawrence "Jack Ruby" Lindo and distributed by Island Records.
Ellis spent 10 years touring and recording with Spear. The computer age has ended the career of many a horn man, and Ellis, now 71, is no exception; he continues to tour, however, going on the road intermittently with Bunny Wailer and has just returned from Europe with The Mighty Diamonds.
Recently, Ellis chatted with this column during one of his rare recording sessions at the Tuff Gong Records studio.
Howard Campbell:/B> Who was your biggest influence?
Bobby Ellis:/B> Raymond Harper, he was also a trumpeter. He taught me how to blow, back in those days at Alpha it was someone older who taught yuh how to blow, not the bandmaster. Then yuh get some tests to see if you are ready for the senior band.
HC:/B> How did you end up at Studio One?
BE:/B> It was through 'Deadley Headley', he told mi that 'Coxsone' wanted an arranger and I went. I did about three years there, work wid people like Bob Andy, The Wailers, Joe Higgs.
HC:/B> Did you meet Spear at Studio One?
BE:/B> No, is when the Marcus Garvey album I get involved wid him. They (producers) were working with Soul Syndicate who I did some recordings with and they brought in me, (alto saxophonist Herman) Marquis, trommie (trombonist Vin Gordon), (trumpeter David) Madden and 'Dirty Harry' (tenor sax).
HC:/B> What was the most memorable thing about the Marcus Garvey sessions?
BE:/B> Everybody was striving for excellence 'cause the music was still young. It was Jack Ruby first try at recording and the way Spear record yuh nuh...him don't use a lotta words, therefore the horns did a lotta work and that's one of the reason why it's such a great album.
HC:/B> At that time, horns were big at Channel One with The Revolutionaries. You got a lot of work there?
BE:/B> No, yuh nuh. Fi some strange reason the man (producer Joseph Hoo-Kim) neva like the trumpet sound.
HC:/B> How tough was it to get work after everything went computers in the 1980s?
BE:/B> Real tough (laughs). To tell you the truth, for the past six years I think is six times I go into a recording studio. But mi not bitter, yuh nuh, is like I did my time and another set of man come in and tek over.
HC:/B> What do you miss most about recording?
BE:/B> The fact that it keeps yuh brain ticking. When yuh in the studio yuh have to think about the phrases to put on the song depending on the melodies and sometimes the sound of the singer. It's like painting a picture, yuh have to get everything right.
HC:/B> What are some of the songs you count as the best you played on?
BE:/B> Most of them I look at as good songs, yuh nuh. But I really love Slavery Days (Burning Spear), the horns were well put together, as I say we had the freedom to put a lot of horns on that album (Marcus Garvey). Pomps and Pride (Toots and The Maytals) and So Jah Seh (Bob Marley and The Wailers) were good...I like I've Got to Go Back Home.
HC:/B> For a long time you recorded on two track, how difficult was that?
BE:/B> Very difficult, if yuh brain not clicking yuh going to make a lotta mistakes. Yuh had to be concentrating all the time, and back then a lot of engineers could not get that right horn sound; sometimes three man play and dem only get two, things like that.
HC:/B> Who were some of the better engineers in the 1960s and 1970s?
BE:/B> Quite a few, Sylvan (Morris), Errol Thompson, Errol Brown, Karl Pitterson. Wi used to get some great sounds at (King) Tubby's....wi used to call him place the oven 'cause it was so small and yuh used to sweat a lot (laughs), but him and Jammys used to good with the horns.
HC:/B> Any new horn players you hear and like?
BE: There are not much around, again it comes down to the lack of work. But Dean (Fraser) stands out, he's gifted, has a lotta ability.
|
|
| Related Articles |
| No
related articles were found |
| |
|
|
| 
