sixartist, sixtune, sixweekspecial #17

(Alton Ellis – Sun Of Man)

I was out last Saturday night celebrating what I sincerely hope is the start of something BIG for a valued friend who deserves all the success that comes his way. the cat is a constant source of inspiration and I would like to thank him for his support and for showing a way to navigate through these troubled times.

I mention this because it was much later on in the ‘wee wee hours’ of said night while kicking back at a pals house that I attempted to put on a Studio1 compilation, (The soul of Studio1, I think?), that was laying around…But there was one person, (not the man above I hasten to add), who objected with words to the effect of:

“not Reggae…anything but Reggae, I can’t deal with it…just not tuned in to it”

I was tempted to get all Socratic on the unit and challenge him on what he actually meant by those words…but in the spirit of the evening, I let it go..

don’t get me wrong…I’m certainly not suggesting that everyone has to like or listen to any and every form of music but to dismiss it purely because of what you think it might be is, for me, a mistake.

the point I suppose I’m making is that music belongs to us all no matter what our colour, class or creed and Alton Ellis is an emotive singer, full of pathos and musicology that deserves to be heard. a singer, songwriter and performer of the highest calibre who has been an important and valued teacher on themusicologists journey and no matter how many visits he gets this week continues to be a rock on which to tie my musical anchor apoun.

Mid seventies selection on the new york based ‘Clintones’ label.