Soul Syndicate
Yet another of the crack session teams that determined the sound and feel of reggae music at any given time in its evolution, the Soul Syndicate were hugely influential in the early to mid-70s. Their work with Winston Niney Holness, Duke Reid, Keith Hudson and many others was brash and exciting and added a different dimension to the roots sound of the period. The hardcore members were the supremely talented Earl Chinna Smith on guitar, Carlton Santa Davis on drums, George Fully Fullwood on bass, Tony Chin on rhythm guitar and Bernard Touter Harvey, who later joined the Wailers, on keyboards. At one stage their featured vocalist was Freddie McGregor. This nucleus of talent, give or take a few members, also recorded for Bunny Lee as the Aggrovators as the decade wore on. Like so many of the musicians that have actually made reggae music over the years their names and work remain relatively unknown outside of the genre's cogniscenti, but perhaps, one day, their work (and that of so many others) will be given its proper recognition.