|
LP version. 2011 release. Two "Kings" for the price of one!, King Tubby the master of the dub cut, has had many protégés that trained and worked with him over the years, as his services became more and more in-demand. Producer Scientist, singer Pat Kelly, Prince Phillip Smart, etc., all served their time at King Tubby's studio at his home on 18 Drummile Avenue, Kingston, Jamaica. But the person who would take his production skills on to another level and had cut his musical teeth with Tubby was Prince Jammy, who would soon be renamed King Jammy. King Tubby's (b. Osbourne Ruddock, 1941, Kingston, Jamaica) fascination with all things electronic grew out of working and repairing radios and TV sets. This would eventually lead to working with amplifiers and the lucrative work of winding transistors, a job that was much in-demand in Jamaica and work that Tubby carried on with throughout his career. This knowledge of the way sound/music was made and transferred, Tubby would adapt into groundbreaking ideas, like removing various parts of the recordings: for example, the vocals and distorting elements of the sound like the bass line or drums and adding delays and echo to enhance and reshape the song. King Jammy (b. Lloyd James, 1947, Montego Bay, Jamaica), then named Prince Jammy, took up the vacant spot as engineer at King Tubby's request around 1975, after what turned out to be a 5-year hiatus in Canada. Jammy had worked with Tubby for many years previous to this and had built a great working relationship, but Jammy had taken a work opportunity that would see him actually staying in Canada for 5 years. It was Tubby's offer of full-time work and missing Jamaica and family that would lead to his return. This would enable Tubby to continue his electrical business, knowing full well that Jammy could be trusted to run the studio sessions smoothly. Jammy was always the first to arrive and the last to leave during the hundreds of sessions he oversaw at Tubby's studio, honing his skills, that again, with Tubby's blessing and guidance, would lead to building his own studio not a stone's throw from Tubby's in the Waterhouse district of Kingston. Here is a selection of tunes that were worked on at King Tubby's with King Jammy at the controls. Yes, two Kings at the top of their game.
|
|