Jackie Mittoo Macka Fat Flac
You like funky hammond organ?I know I do, and while most will acknowledge the likes of Booker T, Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGrifffew know about their Jamaican counterpart Jackie Mitoo. This is another of those magical Soul Jazz reissues that I can’t get enough of, and since much of Mittoo’s early work is hard to come by and most has never been remastered, this album serves as a fitting tribute to a real musical giant.Mitto grew up in Kingston, Jamaica and was a gifted piano protege. By age 14 he was already playing sessions for the Studio One label.
Jackie Mittoo Macka Fat Flaco
The the late 60’s he formed The Skatalites, one of the most influential bands in Reggae history, and was leading the house band for Studio One as well as Treasure Isle and Top Deck. If you own any reggae from that era, most likely it’s got Jackie’s sound all over it. And what a sound it is.It’s not just Reggae or Ska, Mittoo’s compositions have a much warmer jazz feel to them while also incorporating a lot of soul influence as well. His recordings all have a smooth buttery feel to them that’s just awesome. If you want a soundtrack to your summer, this is it.Soul Jazz did an excellent job of picking out the brightest points of Mittoo’s career here, from the long and stirring ‘Oboe’ to the smooth covers of ‘Summer Breeze’ and ‘Norwegian Wood’ (titled Darker Than Black on the album.) And while this isn’t really one of his original albums ( find ‘Macka Fat’ if you can) it stands on it’s own in terms of.
Mitto grew up in Kingston, Jamaica and was a gifted piano protege. By age 14 he was already playing sessions for the Studio One label. The the late 60’s he formed The Skatalites, one of the most influential bands in Reggae history, and was leading the house band for Studio One as well as Treasure Isle and Top Deck.
Below, a little video for ‘Juice Box.’Now how can you beat that? I just wanted to let you know that I completely agree with your critique of the Keyboard King album. I stumbled on to it through “Stereo Freeze” and recently got hold of the entire album. It is an unknown (at least it seems that way) masterpiece.It seems that on many blog sites Mittoo is pigeonholed with a reggae tag. When you listen to this album, as you point out, it is so much more.As an interesting parallel to Jackie’s cover of Norwegian Wood, I’d highly recommend checking out Booker T’s “McLemore Avenue”It is Booker T’s 1969 tribute album to Abbey Road. If you haven’t heard it, the Amazon MP3 download site has samples.Anyway, all the best,Jason.
Keyboardist Jackie Mittoo is a truly seminal reggae figure. During the mid-'60s, as an original member of the Skatalites, Mittoo helped shape the language of the newly emerging ska. In subsequent years, as the premier composer/arranger of Clement Dodd's Studio One team, Mittoo created a wealth of rhythms that artists would return to during the dancehall and ragga eras decades later. His simmering organ lines added leagues of depth behind Dodd's greatest acts, including Ken Boothe, Delroy Wilson, and the Heptones. By the time Universal Sound released The Keyboard King at Studio One, there were far too few releases in print representing this reggae great. Though Heartbeat's Tribute to Jackie Mittoo may be the obvious primer, this disc is the perfect complement. Drawing heavily from the late '60s/early '70s when Mittoo was fronting a variety of Studio One session bands, Keyboard King selects cuts from Mittoo solo albums like Keep on Dancing (1969), Jackie Mittoo Now (1970), and Macka Fat (1971).
Jackie Mittoo Macka Fat Flaccid
Chronological concerns are dispensed with (at one point the collection jumps nearly two decades with one track), and yet Universal Sound manages to come up with a coherent portrait of the artist. 'Killer Diller,' the earliest cut, is a steaming ska platter from the mid-'60s, while 'Black Organ' finds Mittoo musing over a smoky, chugging reggae beat. Though Mittoo clearly had a handle on any reggae rhythm that crossed his path, cuts like 'Get Up and Get It' and 'Stereo Freeze' prove that he was fluent in funk as well. Even the songs from Showcase, his final outing from 1982, maintain the standards of the vintage material. The interwoven lines of Mittoo and keyboardist Pablove Black on the drifting 'Oboe' are a particularly pleasant surprise.
The Keyboard King at Studio One is an excellent introduction to a rhythm master and reggae legend. Nathan Bush.