Music Doctor

Groundins

By: Charles H. E. Campbell

DURING the first decade of our modern popular music, its creators -- the musicians, artistes and producers -- started from a sound base in which the various church choirs (and halls), school bands, especially Alpha Boys' School, and later The School of Music, The Military and Constabulary bands, the big Jazz/swing bands or combos of the time, all played a most significant part in their development. Subsequently, they sought to constantly and continuously hone and upgrade their skills through formal and/or informal means.

In preparing themselves for life, and the profession they had chosen, most instinctively sought to expand their education, knowledge of history, heritage, and folk tradition and how those related to the world in which they lived. This approach profoundly influenced their lifestyle, and more so, the music, songs and genres which they created and bequeathed to us.

Many like Joe Ruglass, Joe Higgs and Ernie Ranglin even cultivated an interest in philosophy, becoming gurus, seers, role models, songwriters, composers and teachers, to the second post-Independence generation of musicians, artists, cultural professionals and entrepreneurs that came of age in the seventies.

Just by being in their presence and reasoning, one would obtain an increased knowledge of self-identity, potential, universal principles, and the nature of the business, through their wisdom and understanding. These were by no means, rich people or high profilers. They were quiet intellectuals, the consummate professionals, fiercely patriotic, and the salt of the earth.

This is the tradition from which Dennis Howard sprung, and because his father is Jimmy Solo — as he is popularly known — Dennis is from the bowels of our culture and is well-steeped in its rites and evolution. Jimmy is a long-established exemplary member of that ilk referred to above, who at the tender age of 14, in 1958, started spinning records for Thompson Hi Fi based out of Pink Lane.

During these early years of our sound systems, Jimmy was a close friend of Duke Reid, yet well respected by Coxone, and was able to move from one dance to the other without acrimony from either. He used this period and relationships engendered with the two greats as an invaluable apprenticeship. In 1974 Jimmy solo became road manager for Shang Hi Disco, originally owned by Sydney Errar and his brothers, which was then operating out of Rose Lane.

Jimmy 'tricked' a younger audience to gravitate to this sound system through his superior knowledge of the standards made popular by the more established sets, combined with his magical touch in its sequencing at his sessions.

Four years later (1978), Jimmy became the sole proprietor of the Shang Hi, adding the catch-phrase Solo Phonic to the name, and relocating it to his bar, The Jazz Hut, which was first based at 109 Orange Street and later at 126 Orange Street. From these locations, Jimmy and Solo Phonic Disco (as most people soon began referring to it) became quite famous for his Round Robins, Red Stripe Road Shows, and Independence Street Dances.

I well remember one special dance attended by President Julius Nyerere during his official visit to Jamaica. Throughout the '70s and '80s this popular spot was like a fraternity base for professionals from the cultural and media sectors. Over time, some of my more enlightening, uplifting and spiritually fulfilling discussions and debates occurred within those confines with people like Tony Laing and Winston Williams leading the charge.

Dennis and Jimmy were an inseparable pair over all this period, so it's little wonder that the topic of Dennis' recent, successful, doctoral thesis was 'Popular Music Production in Kingston, 1956-2006: Creative Genius, [Dis] Functional Institutional Framework'. He was an integral part of the experience.

For years, in the music industry, there has been an under-current of resentment about academics who sit in their ivory towers, profess and propound on the history, state and solutions of the entertainment sector, without adequate background, or without ever being immersed in it. Like his mentor Clinton Hutton, Dennis Howard however, comes from a different mould. He effortlessly straddles academia, the media and entertainment sectors in his daily professional life.

Starting out at JBC Radio he deliberately, painstakingly, learnt all the roles of broadcasting. While there he hosted a very popular programme then moved on to Irie FM as a founding manager, where he was responsible for many innovations still being utilised. He eventually branched out entrepreneurially as a successful publicist and event planner. In addition, Dennis lectures at the Vocational Training and Development Institute (VTDI) and the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Congratulations 'Dr Music', the entire entertainment fraternity is proud of you and hopes that your association and new-found status will effect greater objectivity and balance in the output of the university's Reggae Studies Unit, about music-related history, issues, practices and guiding principles.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Doctor-Music_8969997#ixzz1OVlciClR