Musicman Dispatch

Sonny 'The Musicman' Bradshaw offers another update form multiple points on the music compass, looking at Reggae Month (starts tomorrow) and other regional and global developments



JAMAICA JAZZ NEWS By Musicman FEBRUARY, 2008

….social writers Chester Jackson-Francis and Novia McDonald -Whyte missed The Kings House launch of ‘Reggae Month’ headlined by The Governor General and The Prime Minister, perhaps scared of the mostly black reggae icons who were present. The social writers would have mentioned the names of the entertainment ‘industry which included Derrick Harriott, Copeland Forbes, Sly Dunbar, Brother Sam Clayton , The MRR, Dizzy Moore, Herby Miller, Dennis Howard, Eggy Evans, Tarrus Riley, Bunny Lee, King Jammy, Dean Fraser, Producer Riley, Jimmy Riley, Barbara Blake-Hannah, Desi Roots Young, Lloyd Parks, Clyde McKenzie, Ronnie Burke, Sharon Burke, Jerome Hamilton, Mr. & Mrs. Bagga Case, Sonny Bradshaw, Basil Walters, Maurice Gordon, Lloyd Stanbury ,Roy Rayon, Tommy Cowan, Carlene Davis, Ephraim Martin, Derrick Morgan, Niney Holmes, Steve Golding, Danny Brownie, Lovindeer, Carolin Cooper plus many more who we can’t remember, but there were some important names who did not make it due to lack of organising time…….Eddie Seaga, Chris Blackwell, Bunny Goodison, Winston Blake, Byron Lee, Shabba Ranks, Shaun Paul, Shaggy,………. Yes, Babsy Grange whose knock-out remark ‘from Trench Town to the halls of Kings House’ describing the march of Reggae was so apt……and the unveiled logo so terribly unartistic and unrepresentative……………but we have to unravel the true meanings of some words here like ‘music’, ‘culture’, ‘reggae’, and ‘the Jamaica Brand.’………who will take us there, or we wait on the foreign whiteman to do it for us……,.you have your work cut out for you Ms. Grange……….not the UWI Reggae Studies joke…February Reggae Month a brainchild of dreadlock entertainment lawyer Lloyd Stanbury endorsed by The Government , a great tourism vehicle now, while Synergy Reggae Sunsplash innovators Tony Johnson, John Wakeling, smile in their graves and Don Green and Ronnie Burke wonder why it has taken so long - 30 years to recognize Jamaica’s Popular Music promoted on Jamaican Radio TADP in 1959 by jazzman Sonny Bradshaw……………will someone please return the file with 5-years of weekly Jamaica Hit Parade Top 30 Charts compiled at J.B.C…………composer-performer. Bob Marley would also be greatly pleased as he took the baton around the world.. religiously and otherwise leaving a full football team of sons to carry on the music relay in the face of public illiteracy……………may the new ones write some more music the world can use…………….. copycat jumping on the band-waggon is a cultural syndrome practiced in Jamaica like- in manufacturing, in spring water, in craft vending, in politics, in the music business and now in ‘Jazz’ Festivals including Awards, Public Concerts, Jamaican acts,Divas (women), charities (In aid of), free tickets, hotel prizes……..oh well, copying is the greatest form of flattery…………they call it imitation……died on the gig one of the region’s brilliant jazz pianists, Adrian Clarke of Barbados…….a great loss.... One love