Jamaica’s recording studios had a number of top-notch musicians in the 1960s and 1970s. Some of them, like Gladstone ‘Gladdy’ Anderson, were session masters.

“One thing I always remember about Gladdy was how he stressed to the musicians to keep the rhythm steady. That’s usually left to the drummer, but he would also say, ‘Keep the rhythm steady!’” singer/producer Derrick Harriott recalled.

Anderson, a keyboardist, died on December 3 at the Kingston Public Hospital at age 81. He played on numerous ska, rocksteady and reggae hit songs for producers like Harriott, Duke Reid and Harry Mudie.

“He was a very jovial person. When you had someone like Gladdy on a session, you knew it was going to be special,” said Harriott.

Anderson’s distinctive feel can be heard on several of Harriott’s hits, including:

Walk the Streets, Solomon andBorn to Love You. He also played on Keith and Tex’sTonight andStop That Train, both produced by Harriott for his Crystal label.

In the 1960s, Anderson and singer Stranger Cole had a hit song in

Just Like a River, which they co-produced. Cole, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, said Anderson played on most of his songs, which includedRough and Tough andWhen You Call My Name (done with Patsy).

“I know Gladdy from the late 1950s in Trench Town. Him was a mentor to me, a great human being. If everybody was like him the world would be a better place,” said Cole.

Born in Kingston, Anderson was a nephew of Aubrey Adams, a keyboardist who worked with Reid.

It was through Adams that Anderson started his career as a session musician for Reid’s Treasure Isle label during the late 1950s.

A decade later, he was an established musician in high-profile bands such as the Jets, Harry J All Stars, the Supersonics, and the Dynamites.

Some of his regular bandmates included saxophonist Tommy McCook, guitarists Hux Brown and Lynn Taitt, bassist Jackie Jackson, and organist Winston Wright.

With the Jets, he played on Take It Easy, the 1966 song by Hopeton Lewis regarded as the first rocksteady record.

Other hit songs he worked on were Alton Ellis’s

Girl I’ve Got a Date, Roy Shirley’sHold Them,It May Sound Silly by John Holt, andYou’re Gonna Need Me done by a teenaged Errol Dunkley.

Not restricted to the Jamaican scene, Anderson featured on three albums by jazz great Herbie Mann. He also recorded several solo albums.

Gladstone ‘Gladdy’ Anderson is survived by four daughters, two sons, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.