Reggae didn’t always shape national identity, in fact jazz played a significant role in how we consumed music in pre-Independent Jamaica. SO offers a glimpse, or rather notes, on some of those whom we consider our coolest ‘jive cats’.

Sonny Bradshaw

It’s been a year and a bit since his passing, but Cecil ‘Sonny’ Bradshaw has left an indelible mark on Jamaica’s musical forms. Often referred to as the “musician’s musician”, Bradshaw is the godfather of jazz on The Rock. His legacy continues with the prolific works of his pupils like Desi Jones, Dean Fraser and Dwight Pinkney, to name a few.

Marjorie Whylie

Marjorie Whylie was considered a musical prodigy, having started tinkling the ivories at the age of two before beginning formal lessons at age five. A graduate of the University of the West Indies where she studied Spanish, she readily admits to harbouring interest in other music genres such as religious, instrumental and African folk forms. Her involvement in jazz remains substantially consistent as she’s played jazz festivals in St Lucia, Barbados, Miami, Toronto and London, where she toured with Monty Alexander. In the late 1980s, she went on to form Whylie Wrhythms, a jazz outfit that was resident at the former Wyndham Hotel for several years, and since the passing of Sonny Bradshaw, the recently retired Whylie assumed the position of band manager for Jamaica Big Band.

Ernie Ranglin

Ernie Ranglin is hailed by many as a supremely gifted composer and guitarist. The Manchester-born musician is credited with birthing the ska genre in the late 1950s through his signature guitar styling of “scratching,” consistently present in his recorded session work at Studio One. Ranglin, who learnt the guitar by watching his uncles play their instruments, became a seasoned guitarist in the 1950s and toured abroad, eventually playing with Eric Deans and Count Boysie. The soundtrack recordings for the first James Bond film released in 1962 featured Ranglin’s stellar guitar work and he was also the featured guitarist on My Boy Lollipop, the first Jamaican pop song to achieve international success. During the 1970s, Ranglin was much in demand as a studio musician and arranger, working with top Jamaican producers such as Clement ‘Coxson’ Dodd, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, and Clancy Eccles. He was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican government for his contributions to music in 1973 and has been inducted into the Jamaican Music Hall of Fame.

Monty Alexander

Awarded the Order of Distinction (Commander Class) by the Jamaican government in 2000 for his outstanding services to the island as a worldwide musical ambassador, Monty Alexander has a storied and illustrious five-decade career that bridges American jazz, popular song and native folk. He saw concert performances by Louis Armstrong and Nat ‘King’ Cole at Carib Theatre in Cross Roads as a teenager, and these had a profound effect on him. Moving with his family to the United States in 1961, the highly regarded pianist has recorded with such jazz luminaries as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Charlie Parker, and Ray Brown. Today, the 67-year-old musician maintains an active touring schedule that ranges from intimate jazz clubs to concert halls and jazz festivals across the globe.

Dizzy Reece

Known for his distinctive sound and compositional style, Alphonso ‘Dizzy’ Reece is a hard bop jazz trumpeter who was born in 1931 in Kingston. He attended the Alpha Boys’ School and switched from playing the baritone to the trumpet at 14. He became a full-time musician at 16, moving to London in 1948 and spent most of the 1950s working in Paris. He played with Don Byas, Kenny Clarke, Frank Foster and Thad Jones et al. He won praise from the likes of Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins and emigrated to New York City in 1959, but found the Big Apple a struggle in the socially turbulent 1960s. Reece recorded a series of critically acclaimed records on the Blue Note label, which were reissued on Mosaic in 2004.

Tommy McCook

The late Tommy McCook, a founding member of The Skatalites, was a skilled, respected saxophonist. McCook directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s. Born in 1927 in Cuba, he moved to Jamaica in 1933 and took up the tenor saxophone at the age of 11 when he was a pupil at the Alpha Boys’ School, eventually joining Eric Dean’s Orchestra. His first ska recording was an adaptation of Ernest Gold’s Exodus, recorded in November 1963 with musicians who would soon make up the Skatalites. McCook recorded with prominent reggae artists of the 1960s and 70s, working particularly with producer Bunny Lee and his house band, The Aggravators.

Dean Fraser

Dean Fraser is a celebrated saxophonist who was awarded the Musgrave Medal by the Jamaican government in 1993 in recognition of his services to music. Fraser started to play the clarinet at the age of 12 and took up the saxophone at the age of 15. Fraser appeared at the 1981 Reggae Sunsplash, performing an instrumental version of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, which led to the 1984 album Pumping Air on Island Records’ Mango label. Fraser went on to record two albums of Marley covers, Dean Plays Bob and Dean Plays Bob Volume II. Fraser has released several more albums since then and is recognised as one of Jamaica’s top musicians.