Page 54 - Reggae Festival Guide Magazine 2018

Alpha went on to play in Jamaica’s military and

marching bands, drum and fife corps, big band

orchestras of the ‘40s and ‘50s and as musicians in

hotels and on cruise lines, as well as populating
the clubs and studios of the island, before

spreading the music around the world.

The heart of the book is given over to career-

spanning interviews with musicians (and

sometimes musicians’ surviving family members)

who got their early training at Alpha and went on
to play jazz, ska, rocksteady and reggae at home

and abroad. Some of the interviews were done

by the authors, some are from newspaper files

of the Gleaner, Star and other Jamaican papers
going back to the ‘50s and ‘60s, and some are

drawn from original interviews by Steve Barrow,

Peter I and others. Other information is gleaned

from interviews published in jazz magazines,

album liner notes (a resource that may not be
available to a future generation of writers),

show advertisements and other increasingly

Alpha Boys’ School: ephemeral sources. The book is thus a treasure-
trove of information and material which has
either never seen the light of day or never before

Cradle of Jamaican Music been widely available.

By Heather Augustyn and Adam Reeves Along the way, this in-depth history solves many

(Half Pint Press, 2017) a mystery. Interviews with the likes of Bobby

The Alpha Boys’ School in Kingston, Jamaica, Gaynair, “Deadly” Headley Bennet, Bobby Ellis
founded in 1880, was established as a home for and many others make for some of the most

“wayward youth” and initially functioned as a informative reading ever published about the

kind of trade school with Catholic overtones. But people who actually helped create Jamaican
through the energy and dedication of a series music. Despite the long-term association with

of music teachers, and in particular the work the Alpha School and ska, many of the musicians like

of Sister Mary Ignatius Davies whose hands- “old boys” Tommy McCook, Glen Da Costa and
on approach guided many greats including others played jazz before helping to create

the legendary Don Drummond, it served as a ska. But the lives and careers of some of these

training ground for musicians and singers who players such as Joe Harriott, who emigrated to

went on to establish ska, rocksteady and reggae England and established U.K. free-form jazz as

in Jamaica and spread it worldwide. Schooled well as some of the earliest East/West crossover
in classical music initially, the graduates of music, are as fascinating as those of players

54 Reggae Festival guide 2018