Theo Beckford - Profile

Theophilus Beckford was born in 1935, in Trench Town Kingston, Jamaica. His musical talents can most probably be attributed to his father, who played in the Jamaican Military Band, and the fact that he had access to the family piano. His family noticed his talent but still forced him to learn music first at Kingston's Boys Town School and then with two private tutors. By the 1955 he purchased his own piano, and played on calypso songs, aimed primarily at tourists, for Count Lasher and Lord Flea, with Jewish-Jamaican entrepreneur and proprietor of a downtown photographic supply shop Stanley Motta producing.
The dominant music in Jamaica during the 50's was American rhythm and blues, and most local artists copied the sounds of New Orleans. Beckford has cited the Memphis jump-blues piano playing of Rosco Gordon as particularly influential on his style, with Fats Domino another major inspiration; he was also fond of singers Lloyd Price and Patti Page. In late 1956, Beckford started to develop a style that drew from R&B, but had a noticeably different rhythmic structure; instead of the fore-beat emphasis of boogie woogie, he used piano chords to emphasise the after-beat, the second and fourth beats of every measure rather than the first and third. 1956 also saw Beckford working with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd. They were often spending long hours in the studio rehearsing and experimenting with this new rhythm. Eventually they produced 'Easy Snapping', which was recorded with the help of Clue J and the Blues Blasters. Dodd initially retained the song on acetate as a dub-plate for his Downbeat sound system, and it proved to be highly popular among the lawn dance crowd. Despite Beckford's pleas to release the record to the public, Coxsone held onto the tune for the best part of 3 years, before finally releasing the single in 1959. The song became an instant hit, skyrocketing to number one and remaining on the charts for an unparalleled 18 months. Many argue that ska and consequently Jamaican music began with this song. While the more conservative would argue that it is somewhere between ska and American R&B, its influence however is indisputable.
As is always the way with these stories, Beckford saw little substantial evidence of "Easy Snappin's" success. He received no royalties for either the song's initial Jamaican release, or its re-release on the English Blue Beat label. Despite this he continued to release more tracks for Dodd, including "Georgia and the Old Shoes," "Jack and Jill Shuffle," and "Tell Them, Little Lady," but in the early '60s he severed his ties with Downbeat, as immortalized on the song, "Mr. Downpressor."Beckford then recorded vocal tracks for King Edwards, Duke Reid, and Prince Buster, and provided piano backing for many popular ska acts. He still did not see the financial reward he felt he deserved and in 1963 he formed his own King Pioneer label. Now in total control of his music he released some of his own Jamaican folk material, as well as records by Basil Gabbidon, Lloyd Clarke, and the Tennors. Although his adaptation of the folksong 'Boller Man A Come' was popular, most King Pioneer material failed to become hits.
As ska gave way to rocksteady, and then became reggae, Beckford continued to get regular work as a session musician. He recorded for Lee Perry, Bunny Lee, and for Leslie Kong as one of the Beverly's All Stars house band. He also backed such vocalists as Toots & the Maytals, Desmond Dekker, and Eric "Monty" Morris. Beckford also became a musical arranger for Duke Reid, Joe Gibbs, Bunny Lee, and Leslie Kong; and, in 1978, played himself in a cameo for the film Rockers.
By the mid-'80s though the digital revolution was taking hold. The need for session musicians in the studio was virtually nonexistent, and though he continued to perform live, Beckford was now finding it hard to make ends meet. By the end of his life he felt he was only surviving "by the grace of God and the assistance of a few friends."
In 1991 things looked like they might be on the turn as he participated in The Beat Goes On: 35 Years In The Business Shows by Studio One in Kingston's National Arena, though nothing in the end was forth coming. The following year must have been especially hard for him as his old hit "Easy Snappin'" was used in a 1992 European TV ads campaign, and yet once again he received no royalties.
In 2000, he was honoured in the King Omar's annual Tribute to the Great show, however again he could not revel in this appreciation for long. On February 19, 2001, Beckford went to the Callaloo Mews section of Kingston to settle a dispute, and after an altercation with an unidentified man he was killed by a hatchet wound to the head. He was 65.
This as with so many is a rather sad end to a man who gave so much to Jamaican music and was perhaps never really appreciated in the way he should have been, but whom without his experimentation with rhythm we may never of had the reggae sounds of today.