Pioneer Peter Stoddart remembered
IT took Peter Stoddart more than a day to reach Jamaica from his native Australia to Kingston in November, 1958. He would not see his homeland for 12 years.
“There were a lot of beautiful women and great music, so we decided to stay a bit,” Stoddart told the Jamaica Observer in July 2012.
Stoddart, affable leader of The Caribs band, died December 26 at age 79 at Andrew’s Memorial Hospital in Kingston. Rilla, his wife of 52 years, said her husband died from cancer.
Guitarist Dennis Sindrey and drummer Lowell Morris were the other Aussies who came to Jamaica with Stoddart 56 years ago. Sindrey lives in Boca Raton, Florida while Morris resides in Melbourne, Australia.
Stoddart, Sindrey and Morris were part of a band that played the Surfers Paradise scene in Queensland. Originally from Adelaide in South Australia, Stoddart said they were invited to the Glassbucket club in Kingston by its owner, hotelier Abe Issa.
“He was a good friend of (Australian actor) Errol Flynn who knew of us. So he said if we were passing this way, we should give him a call,” Stoddart recalled two years ago.
The trio took up the offer en route to England where they were scheduled to do some shows. They ended up playing with local musicians, eventually becoming The Caribs, resident band at the Glassbucket (1959-62) and Jonkanoo Lounge (1962-74).
Some of Jamaica’s talented musicians came up through the Caribs ranks. They include: drummer Karl McLeod, vocalist Louis Sparks, congo players Cecil Scott and Noel Seale, bass players Steve Loutz, Lloyd Brevett and Jackie Jackson, and Trinidadian drummer Roger Bethulme.
The Caribs were also session musicians. They played on hit songs such as Tell Me Darling by Wilfred ‘Jackie’ Edwards and Laurel Aitken’s Boogie in My Bones.
The songs were produced by a young man named Chris Blackwell with Graeme Goodall — another Aussie who had lived in Jamaica since 1955 — the sound engineer.
Goodall also died in December, in Atlanta, at age 82.
The four Australians were honoured for their contribution to Jamaican music in July 2012 during the Tributes To The Greats show at Curphey Place in St Andrew.
— Howard Campbell
