Personnel: Earl "Chinna" Smith (guitar); Lennox Brown (alto saxophone); Tommy McCook (tenor saxophone); Bobby Ellis (trumpet); Vincent Gordon (trombone); Ossie Hibbert, Ansel Collins, Bernard "Touter" Harvey (piano, organ); Johnnie Clarke, Keith Sterling, Errol "Tarzan" Nelson (piano); Ian Winter, Winston Brubeck Wright, Augustus Pablo (organ); Lowell "Sly" Dunbar, Basil "Benbow" Creary, Carlton "Carly" Barrett, Carlton "Santa" Davis (drums); Barnabus, Noel "Scully" Simms (percussion).
Recording information: Channel One Recording Studio, Kingston, Jamaica; Dynamic Sounds Recording Company Ltd., Kingston, Jamaic; Federal Record Manufacturing Company Ltd., Kingston, Ja; Harry J Recording Studio, Kingston, Jamaica; Randy's Studio, Kingston, Jamaica.
The rapid-fire verbiage of Jamaican deejays in the late '70s wove together the tireless rhythms of dancehall and elements of funk, dub, and soul for a wordy hybrid. Deejays Meet Downtown 1975-1980 collects some of the hottest cuts from an especially fertile creative period in the evolution of the deejay sound, gathering together classic tracks such as Big Joe's "In the Ghetto," Jah Stitch's "Bury the Barber," and over a dozen more tracks from big names like Dr. Alimantado, Prince Jazzbo, I-Roy, and others. Listening to the hard beat and terse funkiness of Dillinger's smoking hot "Cocaine in My Brain," it's easy to see how the style of Jamaican deejays set the scene for early hip-hop. ~ Fred Thomas
