|
|
 |
Ska kings keep on soaring
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Austin American-Statesman, Ska kings keep on soaring >>
In the mid-1990s, bands such as No Doubt and Sublime made the off-beat chords and bouncy, frenetic rhytms that ditinguish ska sound new to the legion of alt-rock kids who bought their records. Of course at roughly the same time, the Skatalites, the band most often credited with creating said approach, were celebrating their 30th anniversary.
The Skatalites maintain that ska was simply the by-product of the members' mediocre attempts at American R&B. Such claims offer a humble explanation of the band's synthesis of bright hot horns and syncopated island rhythms, which drew from its members' backgrounds in jazz and big band swing as well as calypso.
Death, illness and homicidal breakdowns (founding trombonist Don Drummond died in Bellevue Sanitarium in 1969 after murdering his grilfriend five years earlier) have thinned the Skalities' ranks over the years; the current eight-man lineup features four members remaining from the band's 1964 origin. While the Skatalites remain a living history of Jamaican music - ska ultimately spawned rocksteady and reggae - their latest, "From Paris With Love," shows that they're more than just a nostalgia act. They play the Flamingo Cantina with The Singers ATX.
-Jeremy Egner 04/23/03
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
