Coxsone Dodd
It is indisputable that without the vision and work of Clement Seymour Dodd there would not be reggae music as we now understand it. Always interested in music, he was amongst the first in Jamaica to run his own sound system—Sir Coxsone The Down Beat—(the Coxsone was taken from a popular Yorkshire cricketer of the '50s), a forerunner to the mobile discos of the '60s. The power and amount of amplification equipment ensured that you ‘felt’ the music in your chest rather than simply listened to it. Competition was fierce to be first with the latest and most exclusive discs. The music favoured was hard R&B, with Shirley And Lee, Amos Milburn and Lyn Hope being particular favourites. The ‘sounds’ would often play in competition with each other, drawing wild cheers and ecstatic reactions when certain tunes were played. Titles were scratched out on the records and songs were renamed to prevent rival sounds unearthing their identity. For instance, Later For Gator by Willis Jackson was known as Coxsone Hop to Down Beat followers. The story goes that Coxsone had been playing Later For Gator for months and his closest rival, Duke Reid, had been unable to discover its true identity. Later Reid acquired the record himself, and played it against Dodd at one of their ‘clashes’. Dodd is said to have nearly passed out with shock. Small fortunes were spent on record buying-sprees in America to keep on top. 
In the mid-50s the supply of hard R&B records dried up as the smoother productions began to find favour with the black American audience. These were not popular in Jamaica however and, starved of American records, the sound system operators started to make their own music. Initially these were intended solely for live use and were played as dub plates only, but their popularity proved overwhelming and the sound system owners began to offer them for sale to the public. Among the earliest sides to appear at the end of the '50s on Coxsone's Worldisc label were records by local artists such as Jackie Estick, Lascelles Perkins (Destiny), Bunny & Skitter (Lumumba), Basil Gabbidon & The Mellow Larks (Time To Pray), Clue J And His Blues Blasters (Shufflin Jug’), Aubrey Adams and the Dewdroppers (Marjie) and Theophilius Beckford (‘Easy Snappin"). Other artists recorded later included organist Monty Alexander & the Cyclones (Stack Is Back), the Jiving Juniors, featuring a young Derrick Harriott, Derrick Morgan, Clancy Eccles (River Jordan and Freedom), Alton ( Ellis) & Eddie (Muriel), the Charmers (featuring Lloyd Tyrell aka Lloyd Charmers), ( Joe) Higgs & Wilson (How Can I Be Sure), Cornell Campbell, and Owen Gray (On The Beach), as well as the first sides by such legendary hornsmen as Don Drummond (Don Cosmic) and Roland Alphonso. Some of these early recordings can be found on ALL STAR TOP HITS, and OLDIES BUT GOODIES VOL. 1 & 2. Although his empire was growing rapidly, Dodd shrugged off the attention with a typical: ‘I didn't realize that this could be a business. I just did it for enjoyment!’. 
Dodd's productions caught the mood of the times, and as Jamaican R&B evolved into ska, with the accent firmly on the off-beat, he was always at the forefront with his teams of session musicians and raw young vocalists. Throughout the ska era he ruled with records like Joe Liges and Spit In The Sky by Delroy Wilson, Six & Seven Books Of Moses and Hallelujah by the Maytals, Simmer Down, Hooligan, Rudie and many more by the Wailers, Rude Boy Gone A Jail and Shoo Be Do Be by the Clarendonians, I've Got To Go Back Home by Bob Andy, a brace of Lee Perry tunes including Rub & Squeeze and Doctor Dick, as well as dozens of fiery instrumentals by the Skatalites (often released crediting only the lead instrumentalist), the crack ensemble who also provided the backing on all Coxsone recordings during this time. Dodd opened his own studio on Brentford Road in the early '60s, known as Studio One, which became the generic title for all Coxsone productions thereafter. The advantages were numerous: multiple ‘takes’ to ensure that the final one is right; experimentation without having to worry about the high costs of studio time; and the capacity to attempt ‘uncommercial’ ventures. Dodd placed many of the island's top musicians on his payroll and the results were impressive. With accomplished arrangers and musicians supervising—such as Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles and Larry Marshall—just about every top name in reggae music worked for Studio One at some stage in their careers—usually at the beginning, because Dodd was always keen to develop new talent, holding regular Sunday auditions for aspiring artists. During the 1967-70 period the hits flowed out of Brentford Road in a veritable deluge of unparalleled creativity. By late 1966 ska's furious pace was beginning to give way to the slower rocksteady beat, the sparser instrumentation and the availability of multi-track recording equipment allowed for a greater emphasis on melody and subtlety, and although it is recognised that Duke Reid's Treasure Isle productions represent much of the finest rocksteady extant, Dodd's raw, almost organic productions from this period have since gone on to form what amounts to the foundation of reggae music in the following decades. 
Much of this incredible output appeared on a number of labels in the UK, notably the Coxsone and Studio One imprints handled by Island's B&C group, and, later, on the Bamboo and Banana labels. Such artists as Ken Boothe (a cover of Kenny Lynch/Garnett Mimm's Moving Away, Thinking, Without Love, Just Another Girl), Bob Andy (I've Got To Go Back Home, Too Experienced, Going Home, Unchained, Feeling Soul), Alton Ellis (I'm Just A Guy, I'm Still In Love With You, Can I Change My Mind, Still Trying), the Heptones (Fattie Fattie, Love Won't Come Easy, Heptones Gonna Fight, I Hold The Handle’, Pretty Looks, Give Me The Right, Sweet Talking), Marcia Griffiths (Truly, Feel Like Jumping), John Holt (Strange Things, Love I Can Feel, OK Fred), Slim Smith (Born To Love You, Never Let Go, Rougher Yet), Delroy Wilson (Never Conquer, I Don't Know Why), Carlton And His Shoes (Love Me Forever), Jackie Mittoo (Ram Jam, Hot Milk, One Step Beyond, Drum Song, Peanie Wallie, In Cold Blood), Ernest Wilson (Undying Love), Larry ( Marshall) & Alvin (Nanny Goat, Throw Me Corn, Mean Girl), Ken Parker (My Whole World Is Falling Down), Roland Alphonso (Jah Shaky), the Gaylads (Africa, Love Me With All Your Heart), the Eternals featuring Cornell Campbell (Queen Of The Minstrels, Stars), the Cables (Baby Why, What Kind Of World, Be A Man) and dozens of instrumental sides by the in-house session band the Soul Vendors/Sound Dimension (Full Up, Swing Easy, Psychedelic Rock, Frozen Soul, Real Rock, Mojo Rocksteady) and countless others made some of their finest records at Brentford Road. Many of these songs, arrangements and rhythm tracks in particular, are endlessly recycled by younger artists and producers. Indeed one recent trend in the music is to sample snatches of Dodd's classic old rhythms and build new versions out of the sample. 
Other, younger producers, some of whom—Lee Perry and Winston Niney Holness in particular—had learnt their trade while with Coxsone, began to take over in the early '70s, leaving Coxsone to take a less prominent role in the music's development. Nonetheless, throughout the decade Coxsone still produced a great deal of fine music including some of the earliest material from Horace Andy (Skylarking, Just Say Who, Fever, Every Tongue Shall Tell), Dennis Brown (No Man Is An Island, If I Follow My Heart, Easy Take It Easy), the Wailing Souls (Mr Fire Coal Man, Back Out With It), Burning Spear (Door Peep, Joe Frazier, Swell Headed), Dennis Alcapone (Power Version, FOREVER VERSION), Dillinger ( READY NATTY DREADIE) and Freddie McKay ( PICTURE ON THE WALL). He also re-released much of his back catalogue through the 1974-79 period, which ensured his music was heard by a new generation of reggae music lovers. As the dancehall style began to supersede the rockers and steppers forms, he was once more in full swing with artists like Freddie McGregor, Sugar Minott, Johnny Osbourne, Judah Eskender Tafari, Willie Williams and DJs Michigan And Smiley and the Lone Ranger all recording fine singles and albums. This proved to be the final golden period for Studio One however, and in the mid-80s Dodd closed his Brentford Road studio and relocated to New York. 
In 1991 Dodd celebrated 35 years in the business with two huge shows in Jamaica, featuring many of the people he had worked with over the years. He is not that interested in the past, however, and is reluctant to talk about it, preferring to look to the future. Sadly, apart from the odd gem, his newer work is not up to his previous high standards—he is more often in New York these days and Brentford Road is usually shut. He still presses hundreds of his old records and there is always a selection of his music available at specialist reggae shops; and, in a business controlled by the latest and the newest, they continue to sell. There are the usual rumours of Dodd mistreating his artists and not paying proper royalties but he has yet to tell his side of the story, and, at any rate, many of his artists feel that their time was well spent at Coxsone's ‘musical college’. His position as the guiding light of Jamaican music is beyond question and the true extent of his influence has yet to be fully realised.