Remembering ska legend Rico Rodriguez on his birthday

Raising a glass to trombone titan Rico Rodriguez on his birthday with a few pre-Specials ska gems you may have missed. 

Two For The Weekend: Kevin Fingier Collective

Kevin Fingier's swingin' update of "Comin' Home Baby" is doing surprisingly well on the UK singles chart. 

Happy Birthday Ernest Ranglin!

Celebrating the 93rd birthday of Jamaican guitar great Ernest Ranglin with a documentary, Paris performance from 2002 and more!

Ernest Ranglin career retrospective in the works

The Patriarch of Jamaican music is saying farewell to the road, to his fans...to those who don’t even know who he is. As the inventor ska and reggae music, Ernest Ranglin is arguably the most important and influential musician to emerge from Jamaica, and yet many people have not heard about him and his contributions. This project aims to change all of that— we're building a multimedia career retrospective boxed set that will celebrate his incredible life and musical legacy.

The Ernest Ranglin Legacy project is raising funds to assemble an unprecedented boxed set that will include remastered music, unreleased studio recordings from the archives, and all-new recordings and remixes, plus a detailed scrapbook, video collection, and more.

This multimedia package will take you on the journey through an incredibly fertile period of Jamaican music up to the present day. Find out more about the Ernest Ranglin Legacy project via Kickstarter right here. 

Watch the trailer video along with a documentary and various performance clips and recordings below. 

 

LINKS 

Read a feature on Ernest Ranglin which I wrote for a Toronto paper back in 2007 right here 

Happy Birthday Roland Alphonso!

Remembering legendary Skatalites saxophonist Roland Alphonso on his birthday with a couple of seven-inch gems.

That time Sonny & Cher went ska with "Baby Don't Go"

Sonny & Cher were onto the whole ska thing relatively early, releasing "Baby Don't Go" in 1964.

R.I.P. "Ranking" Roger Charlery, 1963-2019

Sadly, Two-Tone legend Ranking Roger died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 56.

Christmas greetings from Owen Gray & Clancy Collins

Midweek Mixdown: Coxsone Ska – Killer 45 selection

Enjoy this fab ska mix featuring The Skatalites, Stranger Cole and more from The Ancient Archive Of Sound. 

Rare early ska footage from Jamaica uncovered

Check out the amazing vintage clips featuring the Blues Busters, Byron Lee & The Dragonaires and others.