Jamaican Sound System Classics 1945–1960
It’s been 20 months since our last volume of Jamaican Sound System Classics, and there is no sign that enthusiasm for the series is abating. Demand for Jumping The Shuffle Blues and Jamaica Selects Jump Blues Strictly For You remains strong, and we even receive suggestions from customers for tracks to feature in future volumes.
Finally, here is Jump Blues Jamaica Way, another 3CD selection which rounds up 84 US jump/shuffle blues recordings, which will be of equal interest to both Jamaican music fans and connoisseurs of classic US rhythm & blues. Before the development of its own recording industry, Jamaican music fans predominantly found musical fulfilment in the raw shuffle blues music that emanated from mainland USA. This no-nonsense style of R&B dominated the island’s sound system dances from the dawn of the Fifties, with operators aggressively competing with each other for exclusive discs, many of which were later covered by some of Jamaica’s biggest names.
In the tradition of the previous releases in this series, compiler and annotator Phil Etgart has selected only recordings that are known to have been played on the original Jamaican sound systems of the 1940s and 1950s, and once again he has managed to uncover a few tunes that were generally known on the island by their sound system titles. There are still many more such tracks that we would love to include if only we knew their true identities, so if you know the correct credits for such unknown gems as “Hey Hey Mr Berry”, “Blow Big Bill Blow” or “Bust Your Head”, please share the information with us!
This is the music that provided the inspiration for Ska and all that followed – and some of these 84 essential and hugely influential recordings are making their first official release on CD. So enjoy sound system favourites by Louis Jordan, Joe Liggins, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Fats Domino, Louis Prima, Rosco Gordon, Professor Longhair and a host of other names, both famous and obscure.
- Generous 84 track selection of US R&B favourites from the early Jamaican sound system scene
- Eagerly-awaited sequel to the highly popular Jumping The Shuffle Blues and Jamaica Selects Jump Blues Strictly For You compilations
- A fascinating insight into the sounds that shaped early reggae (many tracks were subsequently covered by Jamaican artists)
- Will appeal to reggae and R&B collectors alike