Search Results for:

JACKIE MITTOO

Jackie Mittoo

Get Up And Get It / Keep On Dancing

Jackie Mittoo makes it clear why he’s the funkiest reggae musician ever.

‘Get Up And Get It’ is simply one of the toughest reggae / funk tunes ever committed to vinyl.

Similarly, ‘Keep On Dancing’ shows why Jackie Mittoo was the ‘Keyboard King’ at Studio One.

TRACK LISTING

Get Up And Get It
Keep On Dancing

Jackie Mittoo

Reggae Magic

Jackie Mittoo’s ‘Reggae Magic’ is a new collection from the great Jackie Mittoo. The album features a mixture of classic tunes and rarities from the period 1967-74, when Mittoo was at the height of his musical powers.

Mittoo’s solo career began after the end of The Skatalites in 1965. He began pushing new musical boundaries, creating a uniquely identifiable organ-led funky reggae sound that owed as much to Booker T and The MGs, Jimmy Smith, Stax and Motown as to the post-ska and emergent rocksteady island rhythms of Kingston, Jamaica.

His solo work at the legendary Studio One spanned seven albums and hundreds of singles. Aside from producer and founder Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, it’s hard to think of anyone more central to the sound and success of Studio One than Mittoo; keyboard player extraordinaire, songwriter, arranger, musician, truly the Keyboard King at Studio One.

Jackie Mittoo had been the youngest founding member of The Skatalites (at age 16), probably the most important group in Jamaican music. After they split, he became leader of the three pivotal groups at Studio One - The Soul Brothers, The Soul Vendors and Sound Dimension. He also became musical director for Studio One, helping create countless hits for singers Ken Boothe, Bob Andy, The Wailers, John Holt, Delroy Wilson and more - unforgettable tunes like Alton Ellis’s ‘I’m Still in Love with You’, Marcia Griffiths’ ‘Feel Like Jumping’, The Heptones’ ‘Baby Why’ and others.

Between 1965 and 1968, many of the tunes created at Studio One can be attributed to Mittoo. Timeless instrumental tracks, recorded either under his own name or those of The Soul Brothers, Soul Vendors and Sound Dimension, that have become the basis for literally 1000s of Jamaican songs over many decades, giving the music an unsurpassed longevity.

The endurance of his music was as a direct result of significant developments in Jamaican music in the 1970s, namely the creation of three important new styles; Dub, Deejay and Dancehall. In the early 1970s, Mittoo’s instrumental tracks were used as the musical source for a series of classic Studio One dub albums. At the same time, Deejays at Studio One, including Dillinger, Prince Jazzbo and Dennis Alcapone, began toasting over these same popular rhythms to create their own new songs.

In the mid-1970s, a new generation of Studio One singers and deejays, including Sugar Minott, Freddie McGregor, Johnny Osbourne, Michigan & Smiley and others, began once again creating new melodies over these original instrumentals, signalling the birth of a new Jamaican style that became known as ‘dancehall’. As dancehall swept across the island, rival producers copied these now classic rhythms.

This recycling travelled even farther afield; The Sound Dimension’s instrumental ‘Real Rock’, updated by Willie Williams on his classic ‘Armageddon Time’ was in turn covered by The Clash. Lily Allen sampled Mittoo’s debut solo single ‘Free Soul’ for Number One hit ‘Smile’; Dawn Penn’s ‘You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)’, accompanied by The Soul Vendors, was revived by Penn and producers Steely & Cleevie in 1994, since covered by Rihanna, Ghostface Killah, Stephen Marley, Damian Marley and Beyonce.

And so it goes; an endless time-leaping, continent-hopping diasporic musical map of the world with all roads essentially leading back to one man - Jackie Mittoo.

TRACK LISTING

Jackie Mittoo - Melody Maker
The Soul Vendors - Full Range
Jackie Mittoo - Ghetto Organ
Jackie Mittoo - Toronto Express
Jackie Mittoo - Black Out
Jackie Mittoo - Fireball Rock
Jackie Mittoo - Tropic Island
Jackie Mittoo - Sure Soul
Jackie Mittoo - Taste Of Soul
Jackie Mittoo & Sound
Dimension - Soul Stew
Jackie Mittoo - Reggae Magic
Jackie Mittoo & Ernest Ranglin - West Of The Sun
The Skatalites - Hanging Tree
Jackie Mittoo - Peenie Wallie
Sound Dimension - Walk Don’t Run
Jackie Mittoo & The Soul
Vendors - Ba Ba Boom
Jackie Mittoo - Dark Of The Moon
Jackie Mittoo - Full Charge

Jackie Mittoo And The Soul Brothers

Last Train To Skaville - 2023 Edition

“Jackie Mittoo was one of the great names in Jamaican music, manning the keyboards for the Skatalites, the Soul Vendors, and Sound Dimension - three of the greatest house bands of the 60s (and I mean anywhere, not just in Jamaica).” - Pitchfork

New one-off press transparent green double vinyl edition of Soul Jazz Records’ classic Jackie Mittoo and The Soul Brothers ‘Last Train To Skaville’, featuring classic tracks recorded at Studio One.

Jackie Mittoo is one of the most important artists in the history of Jamaican music. As founding member of the legendary Skatalites, as in-house arranger / producer at Studio One and as a solo artist in his own right, leading groups such as The Soul Brothers, Sound Dimension and Soul Vendors.

These classic and rare recordings were made in the mid-1960s at Studio One. The Soul Brothers bridged the gap between Ska and the arrival of Rocksteady mixing it all up with Funk, Jazz and Latin styles.

The Soul Brothers recorded at Studio One between 1965-1967, the transitionary period between Ska and Rocksteady where the music was a mixture of Funk, Latin and Jazz sometimes with a reminder of Ska and the hint of Rocksteady.

The Soul Brothers were born in 1965 out of the ashes of the great Skatalites. The new group featured ex-Skatalites members Jackie Mittoo, Roland Alphonso, Johnny Moore and Lloyd Brevitt. By the end of the year the group were up and running, releasing countless addictively catchy singles and two albums, as well as becoming the new house band at Studio One, following the demise of The Skatalites.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jackie Mittoo & The Soul Brothers – Train To Skaville
2. Roland Alphonso & The Soul Brothers – James Bond
3. The Soul Brothers – Voodoo Moon
4. The Soul Brothers – Ska Shuffle
5. Jackie Mittoo & The Soul Brothers – Take Ten
6. The Soul Brothers – Chicken And Booze
7. The Soul Brothers – Honey Pot
8. The Soul Brothers – Mr Flint
9. Roland Alphonso & The Skatalites – Dr Ring Ding
10. The Soul Brothers – Got My Boogaloo
11. Roland Alphonso & The Studio One Orchestra – From Russia With Love
12. Roland Alphonso & The Soul Brothers – Ska-Culation
13. Jackie Mittoo & The Soul Brothers – Home Made
14. Roland Alphonso & The Soul Brothers – Sufferer's Choice
15. The Soul Brothers – One Stop
16. The Soul Brothers – Hot And Cold

Various Artists

Soul Jazz Records Presents - Jackie Mittoo - The Keyboard King At Studio One - 2023 Reissue

Soul Jazz Records’ seminal double LP release, Jackie Mittoo - The Keyboard King at Studio On’, now available on black vinyl.

From forming The Skatalites at age 15, alongside Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso, Tommy McCook and others, to his work as writer, arranger, producer at Studio One records during the Sixties, writing and playing for artists such as Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths and The Heptones (to name a few), to his career as a solo artist as well as leader of bands such as The Soul Brothers, Soul Vendors and The Sound Dimension, Jackie Mittoo is at the heart of reggae music. He was one of the instigators of Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae. In the Seventies, DJ music and Dancehall were based upon classic rhythms of the sixties, many using the instrumental tracks that Jackie Mittoo created at Studio One at this time.

This compilation features the work of Jackie Mittoo at Studio One. It features music recorded as a solo artist (as opposed to the numerous singers that he accompanied). Most of these are taken from his recordings in the mid- Sixties where he was recording on an almost daily basis at Studio One’s Brentford Road studios, developing the funky reggae sound that was his trademark.

Jackie Mittoo is as much an icon of Reggae as he is to fans of Funk music. He is without doubt the funkiest keyboard player ever to come out of Jamaica.

TRACK LISTING

1. Get It Up And Get It
2. Black Organ
3. Stereo Freeze
4. Totally Together
5. Hot Tamale
6. Reggae Rock
7. Oboe
8. Juice Box
9. Summer Breeze
10. P. Cafe
11. Henry The Great
12. Killer Diller
13. Wall Street
14. Darker Shade Of Black

Jackie Mittoo

Oboe / Wall Street

Two highly sought-after tracks from Jackie Mittoo’s legendary "Showcase"album, originally released on Studio One in 1980.

Hypnotic, blissed-out funky reggae from Jamaica's finest - Bagga Walker on bass, Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace on drums, Ernest Ranglin on guitar and, of course, the inimitable Jackie Mittoo on keyboards. 

Cut super loud, it’s almost impossible to find a copy of this album and if you did it would set you back hundreds of pounds.

Housed in a heavyweight card Studio One sleeve, these won’t be around for long.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Two super rare instrumental cuts pressed so f***ing loud!! Reggae 12" singles don't come much hotter than this. Form an orderly queue....

TRACK LISTING

Oboe
Wall Street

Jackie Mittoo

Drum Song

A crucial set of mid 70s Bunny Lee produced instrumentals from the legendary Studio One keyboard player. Includes "Champion Of Arena", "Rockers Delight", "Hot Milk" etc.


Latest Pre-Sales

216 NEW ITEMS

E-newsletter —
Sign up
Back to top