TrinityText by Harry Hawks |
With over one hundred seven inch singles, seventy twelve inch ‘disco mixes’ and fifteen albums to his credit Trinity was not only one of the most popular but also one of the most prolific deejays in the second half of the seventies.
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| Date Added: Aug 10, 2011, Date Updated: Aug 11, 2011 Copyright (C) 2024 Dub Store Sound Inc. |
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Born 10th February 1954 in Kingston's Jubilee Hospital Wade Brammer grew up in the Maverley Avenue and Oakland Road districts "I used to go to school at Boy's Town" and his favourite sound systems were Smith The Weapon, El Paso with the great Dennis Alcapone, Sir Coxsone(CS Dodd) The Downbeat, King Tubby's Home Town Hi Fi and Sir Percey The Welterweight. After leaving school young Wade trained as a plumber but the lure of music proved too strong and, after deejaying on a number of local sound systems as Prince Glen, he recorded for Enos McLeod, Winston Edwards and Lloyd 'Spider Man' Campbell(Lloyd Campbell) in 1974.
Early in 1976 Wade's friend and mentor Lester Bullocks, better known as Dillinger, took him down to Maxfield Avenue to meet Jo Jo Hookim(Joseph Hookim) at Channel One who decided he should be called Trinity... a Biblical reference. And, by translating Big Youth's cultural and stylistic influences onto the latest 'militant' or 'rocker's style rhythms from Jo Jo's The Revolutionaries, Trinity proved to be a superb deejay. He recorded three sides for Channel One: 'Set Up Yourself', 'All Gone' and 'School Days' a plea for the wayward youth not to neglect their schooling "Good, better, best..." over a version of the 'MPLA'/'Freedom Blues' rhythm. With these excellent releases Trinity set himself up as a rising star in the Kingston firmament.
After his Well Charge releases Trinity moved on to work with the self styled 'Jesus Dread' and creator of some of the most spiritually charged deep roots music ever made: Vivian 'Yabby You' Jackson(Vivian Jackson). Trinity declaimed over Wayne Wade's 'Lord Of Lords' on 'Consumption Tax' and 'Jamal Foundation' and deejayed in combination style with Dillinger over Yabby's 'King Pharaoh Plague' on 'Jesus Dread'. On the classical twelve inch release of Yabby You(Yabby U)'s almighty 'Chant Down Babylon Kingdom' backed with 'King Pharaoh Plague' he came forward with two of his best ever performances "What the man say Yabby?" which the critics rated as one of the best releases of 1977.
The twelve inch format, popularly known as a 'disco mix', ran a 45rpm single over the length of a 33rpm album giving added length, clarity and depth of sound and also introduced all manner of experimentation. The vastly improved dynamic bass and treble range heralded the beginning of a new direction for Jamaican music: the deejay version followed the vocal cut, and often extended to a dub version too, without the rhythm ever letting up. The year that the two sevens clashed was also Trinity's year and a disco mix was not a disco mix unless it featured Trinity on part two. For The Mighty Two he deejayed 'Blouse & Skirt' on part two of My Man' by Marcia Aitken (a recut of The Techniques' 'My Girl') and stormed through Ruddy Thomas' recut of Bob Andy's 'Feeling Soul'. On the the stupendous 'Funny Feelings' for Gussie Clarke(Augustus Gassie Clarke) he leapt on the end of one of Dennis Brown's biggest hits which was also one of his best ever outings.
But it was the seven inch release 'Three Piece Suit', released on Joe Gibb(Joel Gibson)s' Belmont label, which was to place Trinity alongside his friend Dillinger as the island's top deejay. This boastful tune, over Marcia Aitken's update of Alton Ellis' 'I'm Still In Love', was a superb and hilarious slice of the deejay's art. An album of the same name on Joe Gibbs Record Globe rapidly followed and an answer version 'Uptown Top Ranking' from female duo Aletha & Donna became a surprising international hit reaching Number One in the UK Charts early in 1978. Unfortunately Trinity's original version failed to scale the same heights which struck as rather odd... but the vagaries of what makes a hit crossover record are always a mystery. However, Trinity's popularity at home in Jamaica was underscored by his appearance high on the bill at the all important One Love Peace Concert held at Kingston's National Stadium on 22nd April of that year.
The success of Trinity's outings with The Mighty Two was an early indication of a move away from cultural lyrics towards the more down to earth approach of the following decade. Trinity could carry off the seemingly irreconcilable styles of culture and humour simultaneously as on his wry look at the commercialisation of roots culture: 'John Saw Them Coming'. Over a Mighty Two recut of The Wailing Wailers' 'Hypocrite' he tells his listeners "You see black people ought to know themselves. Huh! You can know that by watching the movie called 'Roots' at night on the television!" Trinity's approach was hugely influential on the new deejay school and would become the template for the up and coming dance hall style deejays.
In the eighties Trinity began a second successful simultaneous career as a singer under the name of Junior Brammer. But when a deejay is running things hot then a deejay really does run things hot, yet due to the constantly changing styles and fashions in reggae music, their time at the top is usually fleeting. For a few glorious years no-one was hotter than Trinity and he continued to demonstrate exactly why over the following two decades by becoming a top draw on the revival and veteran show circuit both in Jamaica and internationally. His prodigious talent came to the fore again when he introduced a whole new audience to the thrill of hearing a deejay live on the mic.
Just as an aside Trinity's younger brother Robert Brammer was also a very successful deejay under the name of Clint Eastwood... no not that Clint Eastwood... but as one of Eastwood And Saint(General Saint)!
Sources:
Steve Barrow: Liner Notes 'Shanty Town Determination' – Trinity
Blood & Fire BAFCD 031 February 2000
Paul Coote: Wholly Trinity Black Music Volume 3 Issue 4 August 1980 |
| Aug 10, 2011 (Aug 11, 2011 Update) Text by Harry Hawks
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