Canadian Reggae Documentary-Face Melt Within
cpeetz
2,112 Posts
My man Sipreano, in his never ending quest to keep the musical heritage of hisbeloved Canada alive, has unearthed original late 70's-early 80's footage ofthe inner workings of the Toronto reggae label Summer records.So in conjunction with Light In the Attics release of The Summer Records Anthology,they'll be releasing the following documentary:
Amazing stuff, to see the "Maestro" Jackie Mittoo at work, is the definition of
.Keep up the good work Sip!
Amazing stuff, to see the "Maestro" Jackie Mittoo at work, is the definition of
.Keep up the good work Sip!
Comments
so many people pitched in to make this thing a reality. stoked you like the footage.
it sat unedited since it was shot in the late 70s-early 80s.
for those who don't know. summer records was one of the first black-owned recording studios in canada, run by producer/owner jerry brown from the basement of his malton, ontario, home...
everybody from jackie mittoo to leroy sibbles, johnny osbourne to carl dawkins rolled through the studio...
here's a bit more info...
http://lightintheattic.net/releases/summerrecords/
props to jerry brown, earth roots & water, and summer records family...
I just call'em like I see'em K!
super stoked to share this...
LITA have done a killer job in continuing the jamaica-toronto series...
Comp looks good too Sip - Summer Records have come up on the boards a little in the past.
A few years back I copped a CDR of 12 inch cuts from 'K in Canada' & think a few others up here may have this too.
I got to dig it out.
Random related image on my hardrive ..
Yeah you/we are really lucky to have such killer footage.
That was the thing lacking in the Studio One DVD, I really
wanted to see old footage.
enjoy!
lol. thanks...
Dope! These are really good as well, spend hours on em!
http://www.infinitewheel.com/infinite_wheel.html
http://www.channel4.com/sport/microsites/S/summersessions/dubselectorloader.html
BTW - Is that the entire DVD that will come with the album or is there more?
- J
the tapes were quietly resting in a southern ontario attic along w/ the summer records masters. owner/producer jerry brown left most of his belongings here after returning to live in jamaica in the 90s. unfortunately the studio is no longer in existence...
there is more footage, but we salvaged what we could re condition and pertinence to the project. jerry was trying to document the toronto reggae scene and summer sound (including recreations of the label's story: starting a studio, the making and promotion of "rocking universally"...).
good friend garth jackson and i edited the footage as it was raw (quality also ranged from usable to trash re sound, overall quality, etc...). there were multiple takes/angles of certain things, but all in all we used the best of the best (w/o subtitles or much explanation, bar shaping it together into something that's hopefully watchable and paid tribute to brown and his accomplishments) we def wanted to maintain the integrity of OG footage...
i think it's absolutely killer that jerry wanted to capture a visual record of this time period in the medium of early video. he was a real maverick in this country. totally unsung on any sort of level outside of the underground reggae community.
here's an excerpt from the SRA's liner notes:
MAVERICK MOVES:
???There was a lot of rhythm and blues, calypso, and soul music, but we decided we wanted to make hardcore reggae,??? informs Brown. But the lack of black-owned recording studios and record labels in Toronto was daunting. ???When we arrived, there wasn???t much.??? The only operation of this nature was Tropical Records, whose owner, Mr. Walker, cut and released a slew of like-minded 45s as the seventies progressed. Still, after listening back to early attempts in Creary???s living room, it became obvious that their ramshackle setup wasn???t going to yield the desired results. It wasn???t until Brown relocated to Malton that the young producers were able to construct a more professional outfit.
Malton is located on the northwest outskirts of Toronto in the city Mississauga. Its strong connection to the aircraft industry reaches back to the first half of the 20th century, housing the province???s main airport, training facilities, as well as significant manufacturing operations. It was also a magnet for newly arrived immigrants enticed by sparkling new homes???nicknamed ???Boeings??? in reference to the local trade???that could be purchased right off the blueprints, replete with appropriate etchings for picket fences and lush green yards. After examining the costly Toronto real estate market, Brown wasn???t able to resist the affordable Malton price tags and subsequently purchased his first house for the manageable sum of $29,000.
???My friends them say I was crazy caw it was mostly white people live up there,??? says Brown looking back. ???Well after some time, it changed. We went there with good intention, yunno???? Even with a young family to consider, there was still more than enough space at 7081 Landen Court to set up a studio. Creary brought over his equipment and the pair built the foundation of Summer Sound in the unfinished basement. Colin ???Zuba??? Suban, a UK-raised, Malton drummer born of Jamaican parentage recalls how things came together: ???When Savettes [local department store] closed out, me and Jerry went there and bought up all this burlap. They were clearing it out for pennies a yard. This made up the walls, along with fiberglass insulation behind it. We had a live room where the drums were. Another room was like a vocal room or for other musicians, and then Jerry had a control booth. Everything was so primitive, but at the time that???s just how it was done.???
Word of its completion spread fast throughout the West Indian community and the studio became a creative focal point for young and veteran singers, musicians, and DJs. Brown and Creary also had their ears to the grapevine for news of recent musical arrivals. ???You see, when you coming to Toronto, everybody know that you just come,??? says Jerry. ???People phone people, ???Yunno who come???? Right away you know and we all get together. Johnny Osbourne was there early. He was living down the road from me and hear our studio was up there. If somebody come [from Jamaica], they wanna know where the studio at. Sugar Minott wanna know where the studio at. Ken Boothe wanna know. U Roy, them man come in. You have Stranger Cole, Leroy Sibbles, Heptones.???
Bongo Gene describes what it meant to have such facilities at their disposal: ???Before we used to rent studios from other people, but we wasn???t getting the same sound. You couldn???t tell the engineer to push up the volume needle. As soon as it start bucking he pull it back down. Reggae music is not like that. The music have fe go bucking and the needle have be like breaking off, you understand? You couldn???t smoke there either so you never get any vibes. When we got our own ting now, that was really what we needed.??? Drawing on their pool of musical friends, it wasn???t long before Brown and Creary decided to cut their first record on the Summer Records imprint, a name picked by Jerry???s wife to reflect the incomparable joy of warm weather after a long Canadian winter...
Is there any chance that a CD release will contain a CD with the footage on it?
there's some more info at http://lightintheattic.net/releases/summerrecords/ (including a full MP3 download of the lead-off track???summer records' first shot: johnny osbourne (and bunny brown's)-"love makes the world go round")...
Looking forward to this immensely....
have you guys ever hooked up with the UK's don of reggae documentation - Steve Barrow?
got a connex?
journalist and reggae historian david katz has been a vocal supporter of the series which is rad. very nice fellow...
super stoked folks are enjoying the footage...
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3383555a843ef7/
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3383542bbaeb2e/
I am there. Real-world product is weighing me down, man, and I just wanna be free.