As a record
label owner and producer, Clement “Coxsone”
Dodd is a major piece of the Jamaican music
puzzle. This puzzle is constructed of an entanglement
of musicians, producers, singers, and black
wax. As a man, Coxsone is often described as
royalty, as a university president, as a battling
sound system owner, or as the historical origin
of Jamaican music. Possibly the most basic explanation
of Coxsone’s magic is as Jamaican recording
engineer Andy Capp says: “Coxsone was
just cool. People were drawn to him cause he
had a cool way about him.”
In many ways
Coxsone created something in which all the people
of Jamaica could participate. With superb organizational
skills, Coxsone collected together the best
people and encouraged their talent. The product
of this work was then broadcast through sound
system vibes, stamped onto vinyl in early musical
recordings, and heard over the radio on his
weekly radio program “Sound of Young Jamaica”
in the 1960’s.
At the very
beginning it was Coxsone himself placing 78
speed Jazz discs onto a single record player
at his mother’s shop at Laws Street. With
friends like “Russian,” Coxsone
would sit outside the shop and listen to the
music playing from the little box by the top
of the door. As this vibe grew, Coxsone’s
“Downbeat” sound system was born.
The
following is an interview with Coxsone Dodd:
Q: Did you
actually select for Downbeat Sound?
A: Yes, because
I was quite active operating and giving ideas
around the sound, but it got big after I had
like five or six different sets. So you had
people like Count Machuki – the first
dj on the sound. Then we had others like King
Stitt came on the scene. King Stitt took the
scene by storm ‘cause he was real exciting.
Q: In what
way?
A: Before
playin’ a record he’d build up the
record. That’s when he’d put the
record
on the disc, you’d say: “Boy I got
to get with this, ‘cause it’s so
great.” He’d be shouting along with
the record: “Get with it! Get with it!.”
Q: You had
six different sets goin’ at the same time?
Who were the most
notable people that you selected to take authority
positions in the playing of the sets out?
A: I mentioned
Count Machuki. We had a series of fellas who
would lift the boxes,
load the trucks because we had our own trucks.
We had young fellows who would be willing to
help us because they would go into the dance
free and enjoy themselves. We’d take care
of them. It would be a weekly job for these
guys who load the set. Maybe about 15 to 16
guys who load the set. At each location you
may have three guys stay with the jock to set
up the boxes and troubleshoot.
Q: Is the
person who’s spinning the records and
choosing what’s to be played an
important person at the time?
A: Very important.
Count Machuki was the first one who start the
“talking” while
the music is playing. Relating to the people.
The next one who came with a dynamic was King
Stitt. We had King Sporty. Quite a few more,
but not too popular. Some of them are in England
now.
Q : Give me
one instance of confrontation in the dancehall.
Tell the people what
is a dance-crasher and give a story about a
Downbeat day where something similar happened.
A: A dance-crasher I think would be people who
go to a dance and make trouble.
Might drink up the booze, lose your cool, some
without drinkin’! There are people like
that. You have people again who just don’t
want to pay at the gate, they make trouble.
By the time you checkin’ them out, another
half dozen or two dozen person get into the
dancehall.
Confrontation
that I’ve gotten into when it come to
sound system is like Duke
Reid and I were the two leading the sound. I
had my followers, Duke Reid had his followers.
This particular night I can remember it’s
pure worry. It was like I was just arriving,
because Duke was the top sound before I came
on strong. On this night, we play hour per time.
Well, Duke hour was up and he refused to come
off, to sign off. We started playing. Crowd
started shouting, hollering for us. It was something
else.
Q: What happened?
Don’t leave me hanging!
A: Well he
eventually had to tune down because one of his
top man came over and
confronted my guy. Right. We knock it out. So
after he got knock out, everybody cool and the
music went up, those were the good days. You
and a guy could have a brawl. You could become
the winner, both of us have a fight, we shake
hands and we go to the bar. There was no drawn
out -- feelin’s and gun was even scarce.
Most time you saw a gun those days was in the
movie.
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Coxsone
Dodd:
