Probably the strangest rhythm has got to be “A Get A Lick” from Bumps Oakley. Strange because one of the main reasons why rhythms get recut is that people like the first cut so much – people including producers. And with all the good will in the world, it’s very hard to get worked up about this particular Studio One production.
For starters the rhythm is anything but Rock Steady. At any certain points in the tune the rhythm tends to change its pace and then therThe source material for some Jamaican adaptations can come from unlikely places, and surely one of the oddest choices must be a tune that quotes the language of apartheid in its title. But Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra’s “Afrikaan Beat” was selected by Studio One for their interpretation called “African Beat”. Bert’s cut is a light and breezy MOR offering featuring a trumpet or flugel-horn carrying the melody through an arrangement saturated with strings.
The alchemical powers of the Brentford Road musicians, several of whom were formerly in The Skatalites, are potently revealed in this recording which takes Bert’s lead and transmutes it into pure gold. Their adaptation has a pounding, swinging rhythm section and a powerful horns ensemble featuring solos from Lester Sterling on alto saxophone and probably Vin Gordon on trombone. The Skatalites have great importance not only as the developers and prime exponents of Ska but also as the group who brought a new respect to Jamaican music. Their jazz background and improvisatory skills sowed the seeds of much of the music that followed. And The Skatalites should also be remembered for nurturing the talents of Jackie Mittoo who was barely in his teens when he joined the group.
Although “African Beat” appears on “The Best Of Don Drummond” album, Don does not play on this track as he was detained in Bellevue sanatorium at the time that it was recorded. “African Beat” was released in Jamaica in 1968 and also issued on UK Coxsone as “Afrikaan Beat” by Lester Sterling. This latter issue has a far more full-bodied sound which was achieved by equalization in the cutting room and not by remixing. A dub version, “Accra”, appears on the 1980 album “African Rub A Dub”, and this cut includes several overdubs including some lovely guitar playing by Ernest Ranglin, and hopefully the full recording of this version will be released one day.
Herman Chin—Loy cut the rhythm in the early ’70s for Herman’s “To The Fields”, and the more rounded bassline on this cut became the model for most subsequent versions. It was during the mid-to-late ’80s that “African Beat” became a widely versioned rhythm, and even Coxsone recut an electro version of the rhythm for Wadada’s “Backramassa”. Since its first release, countless relicked versions of the riddim were done by various Jamaican producers and voiced by artists such as Johnny Osbourne, Barrington Levy, Cocoa Tea, Frankie Paul, Gregory Isaacs, Buju Banton and Anthony B to name a few.
(Source: Ray Hurford & Jean Scrivener’s “Rhythm Wise One & Two”)