Lynn Taitt - Rocksteady to The Roots of Reggae

The reggae world mourns another loss to one of its true pioneers as it is reported that Lynn Taitt died in Montreal, Canada on January 20th, 2010 after a long battle with cancer. He was 75 years of age. His name to many, especially outside the reggae world may not be known but without him reggae as we know it may not have been.

A Trinidadian by birth Nerlynn Taitt started his musical journey playing in local steel drum bands, until at the age of 14 he picked up his first guitar. He moved to Jamaica in his twenties where he formed his own band amid the burgeoning ska scene. Their fame grew and in 1962 got their big break when Byron Lee asked them to perform at the 1962 Jamaican independence celebrations. His skill with the guitar in bands such as The Sheiks, The Cavaliers, and The Comets was becoming more and more noted and this led to opportunities to work with Baba Brooks, Tommy McCook, The Skatalites and the Supersonics.
The most successful of his own groups was The Jets, formed in 1966 and which included Hux Brown, Headley Bennett, Hopeton Lewis, Gladstone Anderson, and Winston Wright. It was during one of his sessions with Hopeton Lewis that he suggested the pace be slowed down on the appropriately titled song "Take It Easy." This was done and so it is said Rocksteady was born. It was also during this session that he decided to accentuate the bass line, thus forming the basis for what would eventually become recognized around the world as reggae. This recording proved to be a big hit and it reached number one in the Jamaican singles chart. Various other Jamaican recordings have been cited as the "first" Rocksteady release such as Alton Ellis & the Flames' "Girl I've Got a Date", and the Derrick Morgan's rude boy anthem "Tougher Than Tough" but what is for sure is that Lynn Taitt played guitar on all three!

Taitt's guitar style was inventive and unconventional, with a sharp percussive sound that accented the Rocksteady beat. Lynn Taitt and the Jets played on hundreds of recording sessions for Jamaican producers, forming the solid backbone riddim for the likes of Coxsone Dodd , Duke Reid, Bunny Lee, Joe Gibbs, and Sonia Pottinger, often performing up to five sessions a day. His contribution to Jamaican popular music is not just in his role as a performer but he also an arranged and led many of the session recordings that he appeared on.
In August, 1968, for whatever reason Taitt emigrated to Toronto, Canada, where he took up the position of arranger for the house band at the West Indian Federated Club. Although he left Jamaica just before the rise of reggae, his playing style had made a strong impression and was picked up on by musicians such as Hux Brown who adapted Taitt's approach to the newer reggae style.

In Canada Taitt remained active as a musician well into the 21st century and recorded with acts like The Kingpins ("Let's Go To Work" CD 1999). He was also still performing live with the Montreal Ska All Stars and at the Montreal International Jazz Festival with The Jets in 2002 and with the Fabulous LoLo sings Rocksteady in 2006. It was in this year as well that Taitt suffered from liver failure during the making of Stascha Bader’s film Rocksteady: The Roots Of Reggae and was unable to lead the band who supplied the film’s soundtrack. Also in this year he was the subject of another film the Generoso Fierro directed Lynn Taitt: Rocksteady.

Lynn Taitt may not have received the fame and recognition that he probably should have but I am and I'm sure a lot of you will be eternally grateful for all the hard work and brilliant music he has been a party to over the last 40plus years, his legacy will remain forever as a giant of Caribbean music