The Skatalites

"Ska is the father of rocksteady; grandfather of reggae music..."

These lyrics are from the track 'Ska Ska Ska', by The Skatalites. It pretty much sums up the history of the progression of Jamaican music history in a nutshell. Ska originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, prior to that and even after, most of the music that was in Jamaica were predominantly jazz and R&B music from USA. More often than not, bands in that era played a lot of these covers. The Skatalites were the first band under Sir Coxsone Dodd's Studio One and are considered by many as the pioneers of Ska, although it has been said that Prince Buster, under Duke Reid's Trojan Sound System, was actually the originator of Ska.

The Skatalites have also worked with many reggae luminaries that included record producers like Studio One's Sir Coxsone Dodd, Trojan's Duke Reid, Prince Buster, Beverly's Leslie Kong, Randy's Vincent Chin and artistes such as Delroy Wilson, Desmond Dekker, The Wailers, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Toots & The Maytal, Jimmy Cliff, Sly & Robbie and the list goes on.

Here are a couple of my favourite tracks from the legendary, The Skatalites.

The Skatalites - Ska Ska Ska



The Skatalites - Rockfort Rock



The Skatalites - Guns of Navarone



The Skatalites - Skaravan



The Skatalites - Freedom Sound (You might have to turn up your volume for this)