60 years of rocksteady
Boris Gardiner, Jackie Jackson talk about the early years
With 2026 celebrated as the 60th anniversary of rocksteady, only a handful of people who helped make that genre famous remain alive. They include bass guitarists Boris Gardiner and Jackie Jackson, who played on some of its biggest hit songs.
Gardiner and Jackson, along with fellow ‘bassy’ Lloyd Parks, will tell their stories on ‘Back 2 Bass-es’, a forum staged by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA) on February 4 at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in St Andrew.
It is part of the JaRIA’s Reggae Month activities.
Jackson, who was a member of producer Duke Reid’s Supersonics band during the 1960s, played on many rocksteady classics. They include Girl I’ve Got A Date and Rock Steady by Alton Ellis, Ba Ba Boom by The Jamaicans, and Thank You Lord by The Wailers.
He is looking forward to Back 2 Bass-es, especially sharing the stage with Gardiner, who was bass player at Studio One, main rival to Reid’s Treasure Isle label during the 1966-68 rocksteady era.
“I’ve been an admirer of Boris Gardiner’s playing long before he connected with Studio One, when he was a member of Carlos Malcolm & The Afro Rhythms Band and when he formed his own band, Boris Gardiner Happening,” Jackson told the Jamaica Observer. “When he was at Studio One, he was my inspiration when I was at Treasure Isle.”
The unassuming Gardiner played bass on numerous hit songs such as Why Did You Leave and Party Time by The Heptones, and Feel Like Jumping by Marcia Griffiths.
Parks’ music career started in the rocksteady period as a singer in groups like The Techniques. He came into his own as a bassist during the 1970s, playing on hits by Dennis Brown (How Could I Leave, Should I), Horace Andy (Girl I Love You) and Ken Boothe (Everything I Own).
Jackson, who was bass player for Toots And The Maytals for 50 years, believes events like Back 2 Bass-es are critical for posterity.
“It is a great and wonderful conception, 99 per cent of all the aspiring bass players and young musicians have no knowledge of the rocksteady era, or us guys. So they may be inspired by having us in their presence for a moment,” he said.
Many musicologists point to Take it Easy by Hopeton Lewis as the first rocksteady song. Rocksteady succeeded ska and set the tone for the roots-reggae explosion of the 1970s.
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Lloyd Parks.
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