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Artist Profile

Joe Higgs

Jun 3, 1960 ~ Dec 18, 1999

Joe Higgs inspired generations of musicians during the course of his career… not only through his own music but also through his work as teacher and mentor to some of Jamaica’s biggest, brightest stars

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Real name:

Joseph Benjamin Higgs

Place of birth:

Jamaica
Kingston
Trenchtown

Joseph Benjamin Higgs, born 3rd June 1940 Kingston, Jamaica, grew up in the Trench Town ghetto listening to a wide range of music including Mario Lanza and "the great Caruso". In the late fifties as rhythm & blues mania gripped the nation's youth Joe formed a vocal duo, Higgs & Wilson, with Roy Wilson but, from the beginning, he knew that it was never going to be an easy path to follow.

"Music is a matter of struggle. It's not good that it's known you're from Trench Town..." Joe Higgs

In 1960 the duo's first record, 'Manny Oh' released on Edward Seaga's WIRL (West Indies Records Limited) label, became one of Jamaica's first 'local' hits and was followed by 'Pretty Baby', 'Come on Home' and 'Change Of Mind'. Edward Seaga moved into politics and Higgs & Wilson moved to Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd(CS Dodd)'s (Studio One) label where the hits continued with records such as 'Mighty Man' on Supreme and the classical 'There's A Reward' on Wincox. Put simply 'There's A Reward' is still one of the best records ever made. The duo did not record exclusively for Mr Dodd and their popularity grew as they worked for Prince Buster, Duke Reid, King Edwards, Lyndon Pottinger and Leslie Kong. After Roy Wilson emigrated to America Joe continued to record as a solo artist cutting further classics for Studio One including 'I Am The Song (I'm The Song My Enemy Sings)'.

A ghetto superstar before the term was invented Joe Higgs continually defied convention. He lived and worked in the yards of Trench Town where he actively encouraged and taught classes of up and coming impoverished youngsters. Joe's lessons not only included singing and harmonising techniques but also education in the ways of the unscrupulous music business.

"Bob Marley was with The Wailers. He wasn't the lead singer. I taught him how to sing." Joe Higgs

His pupils included The Wailing Wailers, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Neville 'Bunny' Livingston(Bunny Wailer, and Winston 'Pipe' Matthews' Wailing Souls who would refer to Joe as 'The Maestro' for ever after. As ska began to wane in popularity Joe recorded sparingly but kept on working live with Carlos Malcolm and His Afro Jamaican Rhythms, Lyn Taitt & The Jets and Coxsone's Soul Brothers. One of his most popular songs, 'Stepping Razor', was recorded by The Wailing Wailers for their Wail N Soul M label with Peter Tosh taking lead vocal.

When reggae hit the town Joe's records with Harry J, including the awe inspiring 'Wave Of War', 'Lay A Foundation' and 'World Upside Down', seldom strayed far from the narrow path of righteous messages set within memorable song structures. Joe also recorded a handful of beautiful records for his own Elevation label including the masterful 'Let Us Do Something', 'Journey To Freedom', its instrumental counterpart featuring Karl Masters, and 'Invitation To Jamaica' which won a song competition sponsored by the Jamaican Tourist Board.

In 1973 Joe became an honorary Wailer when he deputised for Bunny Livingston on an extensive tour of America. Joe sang with The Wailing Souls as Atarra (Amharic for 'to purify') in 1974 on one classic release, 'Brimstone & Fire', which he wrote and produced for the Micron label. And in 1975 it was Ronnie Burke and Pete Weston's Micron organisation that released Joe's debut album 'Life Of Contradiction'.

The songs for the album, produced and arranged by Joe, were originally recorded in 1972 for Island's Chris Blackwell. The band for the album sessions included the criminally under rated Now Generation band featuring Earl 'Wire' Lindo, Mikey Chung and Val Douglas alongside jazz virtuoso Eric Gale who Island had brought in to play when Joe had requested a "guitar decorator". But, for three long, frustrating years the tapes gathered dust on Island's shelves.

"So I was on hold. They had no plans for me..." Joe Higgs

"I don't think the market is ready for a Jamaican folk singer (reggae wise of course). But he's great. I like him very much." Chris Blackwell

But the market knew better and this unique collection, coming from a completely different direction to anything else coming out of Jamaica at the time, proved to be very popular with record buyers. Following the huge international success of Bob Marley & The Wailers the interest in Jamaican music was at an all time high and Grounation, who released 'Life Of Contradiction' in London in 1976, were in the right place at the right time to capitalise on this. After fifteen years in the music business the genius of Joe Higgs was at last recognised outside of Kingston's ghettos and his name was now placed in the same exalted bracket as Bob Marley and Burning Spear with reggae's new audience.

'Joe Higgs Is A Genius. Ask Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Eric Gale...'
Contemporary advertisement for 'Life Of Contradiction'

The album is now regarded as an acknowledged classic yet at the time it was released a number of well regarded critics felt that the sound of the set was lagging behind the times. Highly ironic when much of the music of the era now sounds dated while Joe's undisputed masterpiece sounds as fresh and as vital as the day it was recorded... and the day three years later when it was eventually released.

Joe Higgs then toured the USA again but this time working as the bandleader for Jimmy Cliff who called him the 'Father Of Reggae'.

"... It was said all over the place that he had lost his roots and he wanted to get back into that mode so he came and he got in touch with me in Trench Town..." Joe Higgs

Jimmy Cliff had found international success with his starring role in 'The Harder They Come' film and was now drawing massive crowds to hear him sing at venues such as New York's Madison Square Garden and Joe opened the shows with his own songs. He also recorded two duets with Jimmy, 'Sound Of The City' and 'Sons Of Garvey' for Jimmy's Sunpower label.

Joe's second album, 'Unity Is Power' another self production with Ronnie Burke, was released on 1 Stop and Island in 1979. As the eighties opened Joe continued to demonstrate his mastery of succinct song writing on records such as 'Talk To That Man' for Bunny Wailer's Solomonic label in 1983. Later that year 'So It Go', a single for Earl Chinna Smith's High Times label, was openly critical of the Jamaican political hierarchy "so it go when you no have big friend" and was banned from the radio. Joe then relocated to California where he settled in Los Angeles and released two albums 'Triumph' on Alligator in 1985 and 'Family' on Shanachie in 1988. The 1995 collaboration with his daughter Marcia Higgs, 'Joe and Marcia Together', was to be his final release.

Joe Higgs died of cancer on 18th December 1999 in the Kaiser Hospital in Los Angeles. One of Jamaica's greatest singers and songwriters his work was of pivotal importance to the development of Jamaican music. Joe Higgs will always be remembered as a true giant of the genre that he worked so hard to create.

Related artist(s):

Lynn Taitt

Jun 22, 1934 ~ Jan 20, 2010

The beautiful rock steady music created by Lynn Taitt & The Jets between 1966 and 1968 provided the basis for all that was to follow…

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Real name:

Nearlin Taitt

Place of birth:

Trinidad Tobago
San Fernando

Many cultures and races have combined in Jamaica to make a unified whole: 'Out Of Many One People'. Many forms of music and many musicians, whose origins lay outside the island, have wielded varying degrees of influence on Jamaica's rich musical history. Trinidadian Lynn Taitt is one of the most significant ever.

"The first set of tunes I did was with Lynn Taitt... the greatest man that came to Jamaica and changed the whole beat from ska to rock steady was from Trinidad... but Byron Lee did bring him come to Jamaica as an organist. But he started playing guitar and the rest is history!" Bunny Striker Lee

"Rock steady was a great change from the ska... Lynn Taitt... he's the man who changed Jamaican music right round from ska to rock steady." Derrick Morgan

Born in San Fernando, Trinidad 22nd June 1934 Nearlin 'Lynn' Taitt began his musical career when he was "eight or nine years old" as a steel pan player. At the age of fifteen he acquired a guitar which he played in a group called The Dutchy Brothers but, after two years, Lyn left to form his own group. In 1962 the group were given a contract by Byron Lee to travel to Jamaica to play at the Independence celebrations. Lynn decided to stay in Kingston and joined The Sheiks then The Cavaliers before forming Lynn Taitt & The Comets who played live dates and also began to make records. Lynn's first hit recording was 'Shank I Sheck' for King Edwards where he played with Baba Brooks and his band.

After signing to Federal Records in 1966 he formed Lynn Taitt & The Jets and created what is reckoned to be the first ever rock steady record: 'Take It Easy' by Hopeton Lewis.

"Hopeton Lewis came to the Federal Recording Studio with a song called 'Take It Easy' and I find the ska was too fast. Very, very fast. So I told them let's do this one slow. Very slow. And as the music got slower it had spaces. The slower the music it have more spaces to do something with so I put a bass line and I play in unison with the bass and I get a bass line. And the piano, sometimes I strum, sometimes I play a bass line with the bass. That was the first slow song... nothing else was slow at that time. Everything had been ska." Lynn Taitt

Despite the fact that rock steady lasted only two years the extent to which Lynn Taitt's playing, arrangements and rock steady rhythms have influenced the sound of Jamaican music is incalculable. Not many records were solely credited to Lynn Taitt & The Jets but, as the most in demand session player in Kingston between 1966 and 1968, the records that Lyn and his band played on are numbered in their thousands.

"They may call me for a session at nine in the morning till twelve noon and another session would start at one and finish at four with another one at five till eight at night... so maybe four sessions a day, five sessions a day for different promoters." Lynn Taitt

In rock steady the bass no longer gave equal emphasis to every beat but instead played a repeated pattern that syncopated the rhythm. The rhythmic focus shifted to the drums and bass where it has remained ever since. The horns that had dominated ska were no longer prevalent and vocalists, influenced by American soul singers, now began to come into their own. Credit has to be given to piano player, Gladstone 'Gladdy' Anderson(Gladstone Anderson), who was also a musical arranger for The Jets. Gladdy gave this new music a name on finishing the final take of 'Take It Easy' when he remarked on the 'rock steady' nature of the rhythm. Another of his not so well known roles was as translator for Lynn:

"I had a really strong Trinidadian accent...the Jamaicans didn't really understand it fully so Gladdy used to look after all of that. Talk to the singers and get everything clear." Lynn Taitt

The inherent beauty and understated elegance of rock steady are truly beyond compare and have held Jamaican music in a vice like grip for over forty years. Its enduring appeal proved pivotal to all that followed as each successive chapter in reggae's development relied on its rhythms, bass lines, musical motifs, lyrical pre-occupations, melodies and songs. The lyrics became increasingly important as the slower pace and open nature of the music allowed vocalists the room to voice not only their traditional avowals of love and affection but also their discontent and disaffection.

There were other rock steady bands including Bobby Aitken & The Carib Beats, Duke Reid's Treasure Isle house band Tommy McCook & The Supersonics (who often featured Lynn Taitt) and The Soul Brothers and The Soul Vendors (who would also feature an uncredited Lynn Taitt) at Coxsone Dodd(CS Dodd)'s Studio One but the achievements of Lynn Taitt & The Jets remain unmatched in the history of Jamaican music. However, Lynn was always a modest, self-deprecating figure.

"It was a pleasure to get up and get an idea and put your idea on to a record and to have the public like what you do is a great gift. At the time we were not thinking of it from a business aspect. We were just interested in creating beautiful music... (I'm) just an ordinary guitar player trying to continue the heritage of black music from the West Indies." Lynn Taitt

In August 1968, after two years of unprecedented and unparalleled musical creativity, Lynn was offered a contract to work as musical arranger for the house band at The West Indian Federated Club in Toronto, Canada. He "jumped at the chance" and left Jamaica never to return.

"Give me some soul Bassie (Bryan Atkinson)
A skinful of drums (Joe Isaacs)
A tickle of ivory Gladdy (Gladstone Anderson)
A dash of ska Hux (Hux Brown)
A few strings of Lyn Taitt ..."
Soul Food – Lynn Taitt & The Jets

Lynn Taitt died in Toronto, Canada 20th January 2010

Sources:
Robert Schoenfeld: Interview with Lyn Taitt
Dub Catcher Volume 1 Issue 4 June 1992

Related artist(s):

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[All Items] → [7"] → [Ska / Rocksteady] → [Rock Steady] → [Joe Higgs, Lynn Taitt, Jets]

Joe Higgs, Lynn Taitt, Jets / Lynn Taitt, Jets

You Hurt My Soul / Why Am I Treated So Bad?

Merritone/Dub Store Records JPN

¥1180 (US$12.42)

Rating:

No.2 at Total Ranking on Aug 1, 2011.

No.2 at Genre Ranking on Aug 1, 2011.

No.2 at Sub Genre Ranking on Aug 1, 2011.

No.2 at Format Ranking on Aug 1, 2011.

Genre:

Ska / Rocksteady

Sub Genre:

Rock Steady

Produced by:

Paul Khouri, Richard Khouri

Approx. year:

1968

Date added:

Jul 13, 2011

Date re-stocked:

Mar 21, 2012

Country:

Japan

Catalog number:

DSR-FED7-012

Music type:

Vocal B: Instrumental

Date released:

Jul 13, 2011

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SIDE A:
		You Hurt My Soul

SIDE B:
		Why Am I Treated So Bad?

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