Ernest Ranglin
| Ernest Ranglin | |
|---|---|
 Ernest Ranglin, performing at WOMAD in the UK, in 2008 |
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| Background information | |
| Born | 19 June 1932 |
| Origin | Manchester, Jamaica |
| Genres | Ska, rocksteady, reggae, jazz |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Labels | Federal, Island, Studio One, MPS, Palm Pictures, Telarc, AIX |
| Associated acts | Clue J & His Blues Blasters, Prince Buster, The Skatalites, Ronnie Scott's House Band, Soul Vendors, Sound Dimension, Monty Alexander, Jimmy Cliff, St. Germain |
Ernest Ranglin O.D. (born 19 June 1932, Manchester, Jamaica) is a Jamaican guitarist and composer. Best known for his session work at the famed Studio One, Ranglin helped give birth to the ska genre in the late 1950s. Some[who?] credit Ranglin with the invention of the core style of guitar play (sometimes known as "scratching") found in nearly all ska music.
Ranglin played on many classic Jamaican recordings, performing with artists such as Theophilus Beckford, Jimmy Cliff, Monty Alexander, Prince Buster, The Skatalites, Bob Marley and Eric Dean's Orchestra. He has also explored other styles of music, notably blending jazz, mento and reggae.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
As a child, Ranglin had two uncles who played guitar and ukulele. After watching them play, he practiced on their instruments, and stood in for one of them when they failed to turn up for a recording session, impressing his other uncle so much that he was given the instrument for his seventh birthday.[1] He built his own guitar using a sardine can and wires,[1] before progressing to a real one.[2] He moved with his family to Kingston, where he was educated at Providence, Kingston Senior School, and Bodin College.[1] While still in his teens, he began performing live, locally and in the Bahamas, often with the young Monty Alexander. Charlie Christian was an early influence. Aged 15, he joined the Val Bennett band, and went on to play with the Eric Deans band and Count Boysie.[2] By the early 1950s, Ranglin had become a proficient jazz guitarist and toured overseas.[2]
In the 1950s Ranglin recorded plenty mento (traditional Jamaican music style), including the fine 1958 album by Denzil Laing and the Wrigglers, At the Arawak Hotel on which his early, outstanding jazz guitar is featured. Some of these rare and significant 1950s mento records, his earliest recordings, were reissued in 2010 on the Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958 album [3].
Chris Blackwell produced a Ranglin single, which was one of the first releases on Blackwell's R&B label in the late 1950s. A live album split between Ranglin and Bermudian pianist Lance Hayward was among the first recordings released by Blackwell. Around 1956, Ranglin had also joined Cluett Johnson's studio band Clue J and the Blues Blasters, recording several tracks for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, including Theophilus Beckford's hits "Easy Snapping" and "Jack and Jill Shuffle" as well as "Shuffling Jug," regarded as some of the first Jamaican rhythm and blues records.[2] In 1962, the James Bond film Dr. No was filmed in Jamaica. While Byron Lee & the Dragonaires appeared in the film, the soundtrack recordings were actually made by Ranglin.[4] In 1964, Ranglin played guitar on singer Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop", the first Jamaican song to achieve international success.
Ranglin recorded two jazz albums in the mid-1960s for the Merritone record label - Wranglin (1964) and Reflections (1965), also working for Duke Reid as a musical director at the Treasure Isle recording studio during this period.
He began attracting international notice in 1964 when he traveled to London, England to perform at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. He became the venue's resident guitarist for nine months, backing numerous guest artists and appearing in a recording of a Sonny Stitt/Dick Morrissey jam session in 1966.[5] He made several solo records for Island Records, as well as collaborating with Prince Buster. He returned to session work, arranging songs such as the Melodians' "Rivers of Babylon" and playing guitar leads in the Wailers' "It Hurts to Be Alone".[5]
During the late 1960s and the 1970s, Ranglin was much in demand as a studio musician and arranger, working with top Jamaican producers such as Dodd, Lee "Scratch" Perry, and Clancy Eccles.[2] He also toured with Jimmy Cliff in the 1970s.[5] In the late 70s, he re-teamed with his friend Monty Alexander to record Latin-Caribbean infused jazz for Pablo Records.[6]
In 1973 he was awarded the Order of Distinction from the Jamaican Government for his contributions to music.[5] He moved to Florida in the late 1970s, where he performed at jazz festivals and continued to record occasionally.[7] He signed to Chris Blackwell's newly-formed Palm Pictures label to issue 1998's In Search of the Lost Riddim.[5] The albums E.B. @ Noon and Modern Answers to Old Problems followed two years later. In 1998 Ranglin performed with Spearhead for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody. Grooving was released in early 2001. In 2002, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of the West Indies for his outstanding contribution to the development of music in Jamaica.[1][8] In 2006, he was the subject of a documentary covering his career - Roots Of Reggae: The Ernest Ranglin Story, produced and written by Arthur Gorson.[9][10] In 2008, he was inducted into the Jamaican Music Hall of Fame by the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA).[11]
Ranglin's fusion of jazz and reggae was continued by his nephew, Gary Crosby, who formed the group Jazz Jamaica in 1991.[7]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Guitar in Ernest (1958) Island
- Wranglin' (1964) Island
- Reflections (1964) Island
- Guitar in Ernest (1964) Federal Records (different from 1958 Island version)
- The Exciting Ranglin (1966) Federal Records/RCA Victor
- Boss Reggae (1969) Federal Records
- Mr. Ranglin With Soul (196?) Federal Records/RCA Victor/Steady Records
- Softly With Ranglin (196?) Federal Records/Twilight Records/Merritone
- Today's Best (196?) Federal Records
- A Mod A Mod Ranglin (1970) Federal Records
- Ranglin Roots (1972)
- Ranglypso (1976) MPS
- Be What You Want to Be/From Kingston JA to Miami USA (1983) Konduko/Vista Sounds
- We Want to Party (1989) Rooney
- True Blue (1990) Rooney
- Play the Time Away (1996) Grove Records/Runn
- Below the Bassline (1996) Island Jamaica Jazz
- Memories of Barber Mack (1997) Island Jamaica Jazz
- Tribute to a Legend (1997) Kariang/K-Jazz
- In Search of the Lost Riddim (1998) Palm Pictures
- EB @ Noon (2000) Tropic
- Modern Answers to Old Problems (2000) Telarc
- Grooving (2001) Blue Moon
- Gotcha! (2001) Telarc
- Alextown (2005) Palm Pictures
- Surfin' (2005) Telarc
- Order of Distinction (2006) AIX Records
- Ranglin & Friends (2010) Dubtonic (download only)
[edit] Compilation albums and re-issues
- Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958 (2010) (Frémeaux et Associés)[12]
- Ranglin Roots (1976) Water Lily
- Sounds & Power (1996) Studio One
- Soul D'Ern: Recorded Live at Ronnie Scott’s Club (1997) Jazz House (recorded live circa 1964)
- Now is the Time: The Legendary MPS Sessions (1999) MPS/Verve
- Ultimate Ranglin Roots (2002) Tropic (remix/remaster of Ranglin Roots with additional songs)
- Ska Wey Dat (2003) Trojan (reissue of EB @ Noon with bonus live disc)
- Guitar in Ernest (2004) Dub Store (reissue of original 1965 Federal Records album)
[edit] Guest appearances
- With Monty Norman: Dr. No (soundtrack) (1962) United Artists (wrongly credited to Byron Lee and the Dragonaires)
- With Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, et al.: Jazz Jamaica from the Workshop (1963) Studio One
- With Millie Small: My Boy Lollipop (1964) Island
- With The Melodians: Rivers of Babylon (1970) Trojan
- With Jimmy Cliff: In Concert (1976) Reprise
- With St. Germain: Tourist (2000) Blue Note
- With Charlie Hunter & Chinna Smith: Earth Tones (2005) Nature Sounds
With The Skatalites:
- Ska Boo-Da-Ba (1966) Top Deck
- African Roots/The Legendary Skatalites (1975/1976) United Artists
- Ball of Fire (1998) Island
With Monty Alexander:
- Rass! (1974) MPS
- Love and Sunshine (1975) MPS
- Unlimited Love (1976) MPS
- Cobilimbo (1977) MPS
- Estade (1979) MPS
- Just Friends (1980) MPS
- Monty Alexander — Ernest Ranglin (1981) MPS
- Rocksteady (2004) Telarc
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Clarke, Ossie "Dr. Ernie Ranglin, I presume?", Jamaica Gleaner
- ^ a b c d e Larkin, Colin (ed.) (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9, p.235
- ^ Read about the Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958 album on which some of Ernest Ranglin's earliest recordings can be heard: [1]. An English version of the CD booklet can be found here : [2]
- ^ Thompson, Dave (2002) Reggae & Caribbean Music, Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-655-6, p.144
- ^ a b c d e Ankeny, Jason "Ernest Ranglin Biography", Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation
- ^ Pablo LP "Jamento", 1978 - 2310 826.
- ^ a b Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn., Rough Guides, ISBN 1-84353-329-4, p.50
- ^ "UWI to confer honorary degrees on 11 this year", Jamaica Observer, 27 April 2002
- ^ "Guitar great Ernie Ranglin on film", Jamaica Observer, 19 February 2007
- ^ Henry, Heather (2006) "FlashPoint Film Festival - Ernie Ranglin's musical genius immortalised", Jamaica Gleaner, 5 December 2006
- ^ Walters, Basil (2008) "JAVAA's first 12 inductees in Jamaica music hall of fame impressive", Jamaica Observer, 14 July 2008
- ^ Read about the Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958 album on which some of Ernest Ranglin's earliest recordings can be heard: [3]. An English version of the CD booklet can be found here : [4]
