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LAUREL AITKEN

Godfather of Ska

Monty Neysmith (tastierista e cantante dei Symarip): “Laurel Aitken did the producing of our recordings and in fact, he was the one who got us signed to EMI, when we where the Bees. He didn’t have a deal with them himself, but he got us on the label. It was really great of him” (intervista 18.01.03 per il sito della Trojan/Sanctuary Records);

Drew Stansall (sassofonista che ha suonato con lui negli ultimi 7 anni): “He really knew how to entertain a crowd. Music was his life and he worked hard” (commenti nel web del 19.07.05);

Amico e cantante Alison Mazzei: “Even in his old age, he was still so vibrant. He was the youngest old man you could ever meet” (come sopra);

Bunny Goodison, musicologo giamaicano: “He has paid his dues, and we owe him a lot” e, lamentando il fatto che il governo giamaicano ha attribuito onori nazionali a persone di minor fama ed importanza. “that’s a serious oversight, and Laurel was very bitter about that” (Jamaican Observer 22.luglio 2005);

Winston “Merritone” Blake (Sound system operator a Kingston): “Laurel always felt that Jamaica never recognised his work as a pioneer artiste. He belonged to that first wave of artistes that really built the whole foundation of Jamaican music, they have been really neglected a lot and Laurel is one of the forgotten, unsung heroes in Jamaican music” (Jamaican Observer 22.luglio 2005);

Ken Boothe (cantante di notevole impronta sul): “God knows, Laurel Aitken was one of my inspirations when I was younger, because he was among the first set of artistes who started recording, and even though many people don’t remember him, I know wherever he is gone to, music is there” (Jamaican Observer 22.luglio 2005);

Steve Barrow e Peter Dalton (critici musicali autori della famosa Rough Guide “Reggae” ed. J. Buckley): “Aitken made an incalculable contribution to the British reggae scene” e ancora: “…he returned sporadically to Kingston for recording sessions for Emil Shallit’s Blue Beat label, Graeme Goodall’s Rio and Rita & Benny King’s R&B. These popular discs, however, hardly prepared anyone for Aitken’s distinctive self-productions that emerged in the next fase of the music – reggae” (dal libro citato. Edizione 1997, pag. 327);

Alex “Judge Dread” Hughes (grande artista e primo cantante reggae bianco della storia) a proposito della raccolta “Rise And Fall” della Unicorn: “…early Jamaican music from one of the world’s greatest exponents of the art, Laurel Aitken”;

http://www.skabadip.it/rubriche/biografie/laurel_aitken-ita.htm