Michael Baxter | Augustus Pablo - Tales Of Pablo / Tales Dub - Tropical Records - 1975 @mickeypenguin | Uploaded April 2021 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
Text by DAVE HENDLEY
Born Horace Swaby in Kingston, Jamaica in 1953, Augustus Pablo was and raised in the comfortable middle class suburb of Havendale. Although his family was not particularly musical, his mother played piano, and it was through the presence of this instrument in the house that the youngster first developed his interest in music.
This interest soon grew into an obsession with many hours spent sat practicing at the piano – Pablo remembered that as a boy he once even tried building himself a makeshift guitar using a reel of fishing line for the strings. At school his good friend was Tyrone Downie (later to become keyboard player with Bob Marley & The Wailers) and the pair would covertly practice Jackie Mittoo licks on the school organ earning the nicknames Jackie Mit-two and Jackie Mit-three from their fellow pupils.
Pablo operated the small Rockers Hi-Fi set with his brother Garth who had a keen interest in electronics. At the time most Jamaican sound systems included quite a bit of soul music in their repertoires, but the siblings decided that as their sound was called Rockers they would do away with the soul and play only home grown Jamaican sounds.
A particular favourite were the rock steady recordings of Studio One – and these classic tunes were probably the single most important musical influence on Pablo’s subsequent career. This later became evident in 1972 when he began producing records for his own Rockers and Hot Stuff labels with five of the first seven releases being versions of Studio One standards.
This passion for Coxson Dodd‘s music Inevitably led to Pablo auditioning at Brentford Road, but unfortunately it wasn’t a great success. Under the supervision of engineer Sylvan Morris and singer Larry Marshall, he recorded three organ instrumentals, one of which used the rhythm to the Ken Boothe hit ‘Moving Away’. Dodd, although not present at the actual session, eventually heard the tapes and was less than impressed – consequently these recordings have never seen the light of day and have in all probability been erased long ago.
It was in 1971 that the aspiring recording star wandered into Chin-Loy‘s Aquarius record store at Half Way Tree clutching a melodica borrowed from the daughter of one of his fathers friends. Herman was one of Jamaica’s more progressive producers and always had open ears for any new sounds he could incorporate into his records. The often told legend (and one that Pablo himself confirmed) is that he heard the teenager blowing the melodica in the shop and, instinctively realising the potential of both the player and instrument, immediately booked studio time at Randys on North Parade.
The first sessions yielded two singles, ‘Higgi Higgi’ – a melodica version of The Heptones‘ Studio One favourite ‘Why Did You Leave’ and the ground-breaking minor hit ‘East Of The River Nile’, an original composition that provided the model for what would become Pablo’s trademark rebel- rock Far East sound.
It was Herman who dubbed the teenager, Augustus Pablo – an exotic name he had found in a Mexican magazine and taken a shine to. Prior to its permanent adoption by the budding young melodica star, the producer had used it as a label pseudonym for some typically quirky instrumentals by keyboard players Lloyd Charmers and Glen Adams. Herman, a one time DJ at Kingston’s Spinning Wheel Discotheque still retained much of the showman and thought that the flamboyant name added a further element of mystery to the records.
Pablo continued to record several more equally inventive instrumentals for Herman, culminating with the haunting minor key masterpiece, ‘The Red Sea’ in 1973. After the success of his initial Aquarius releases, Pablo moved downtown to record ‘Java’ for Clive Chin‘s Impact! label. Another of Pablo’s school friends from Kingston College, Chin was the son of Vincent and Pat Chin, the proprietors of Kingston’s famous Randys record store and 4-track studio on North Parade.
The rhythm was originally intended for a vocal by yet another of Pablo’s school chums, Delroy Wright, but it was decided that it would be better suited to Pablo’s melodica treatment. This was a fortunate turn of events for Pablo as it provide him with his first major hit and spawned versions from Dennis Alcapone and Tommy McCook – even Prince Buster got in on the act with an obeah influenced vocal/melodica cut called ‘Science’.
In the wake of the hit, Pablo suddenly found himself as one of Jamaica’s most in demand players both as a solo artist and sessions musician. A remarkable achievement for an unassuming 19-year whose main instrument had been regarded as little more than a child’s toy.
For six years between 1971 and 77, Pablo, by now a committed and deeply spiritual Rastafarian, played the field of Kingston’s top producers while simultaneously funding production work for his own Rockers label to the point were he would be able to achieve the total artistic independence that he craved.
Text by DAVE HENDLEY
Born Horace Swaby in Kingston, Jamaica in 1953, Augustus Pablo was and raised in the comfortable middle class suburb of Havendale. Although his family was not particularly musical, his mother played piano, and it was through the presence of this instrument in the house that the youngster first developed his interest in music.
This interest soon grew into an obsession with many hours spent sat practicing at the piano – Pablo remembered that as a boy he once even tried building himself a makeshift guitar using a reel of fishing line for the strings. At school his good friend was Tyrone Downie (later to become keyboard player with Bob Marley & The Wailers) and the pair would covertly practice Jackie Mittoo licks on the school organ earning the nicknames Jackie Mit-two and Jackie Mit-three from their fellow pupils.
Pablo operated the small Rockers Hi-Fi set with his brother Garth who had a keen interest in electronics. At the time most Jamaican sound systems included quite a bit of soul music in their repertoires, but the siblings decided that as their sound was called Rockers they would do away with the soul and play only home grown Jamaican sounds.
A particular favourite were the rock steady recordings of Studio One – and these classic tunes were probably the single most important musical influence on Pablo’s subsequent career. This later became evident in 1972 when he began producing records for his own Rockers and Hot Stuff labels with five of the first seven releases being versions of Studio One standards.
This passion for Coxson Dodd‘s music Inevitably led to Pablo auditioning at Brentford Road, but unfortunately it wasn’t a great success. Under the supervision of engineer Sylvan Morris and singer Larry Marshall, he recorded three organ instrumentals, one of which used the rhythm to the Ken Boothe hit ‘Moving Away’. Dodd, although not present at the actual session, eventually heard the tapes and was less than impressed – consequently these recordings have never seen the light of day and have in all probability been erased long ago.
It was in 1971 that the aspiring recording star wandered into Chin-Loy‘s Aquarius record store at Half Way Tree clutching a melodica borrowed from the daughter of one of his fathers friends. Herman was one of Jamaica’s more progressive producers and always had open ears for any new sounds he could incorporate into his records. The often told legend (and one that Pablo himself confirmed) is that he heard the teenager blowing the melodica in the shop and, instinctively realising the potential of both the player and instrument, immediately booked studio time at Randys on North Parade.
The first sessions yielded two singles, ‘Higgi Higgi’ – a melodica version of The Heptones‘ Studio One favourite ‘Why Did You Leave’ and the ground-breaking minor hit ‘East Of The River Nile’, an original composition that provided the model for what would become Pablo’s trademark rebel- rock Far East sound.
It was Herman who dubbed the teenager, Augustus Pablo – an exotic name he had found in a Mexican magazine and taken a shine to. Prior to its permanent adoption by the budding young melodica star, the producer had used it as a label pseudonym for some typically quirky instrumentals by keyboard players Lloyd Charmers and Glen Adams. Herman, a one time DJ at Kingston’s Spinning Wheel Discotheque still retained much of the showman and thought that the flamboyant name added a further element of mystery to the records.
Pablo continued to record several more equally inventive instrumentals for Herman, culminating with the haunting minor key masterpiece, ‘The Red Sea’ in 1973. After the success of his initial Aquarius releases, Pablo moved downtown to record ‘Java’ for Clive Chin‘s Impact! label. Another of Pablo’s school friends from Kingston College, Chin was the son of Vincent and Pat Chin, the proprietors of Kingston’s famous Randys record store and 4-track studio on North Parade.
The rhythm was originally intended for a vocal by yet another of Pablo’s school chums, Delroy Wright, but it was decided that it would be better suited to Pablo’s melodica treatment. This was a fortunate turn of events for Pablo as it provide him with his first major hit and spawned versions from Dennis Alcapone and Tommy McCook – even Prince Buster got in on the act with an obeah influenced vocal/melodica cut called ‘Science’.
In the wake of the hit, Pablo suddenly found himself as one of Jamaica’s most in demand players both as a solo artist and sessions musician. A remarkable achievement for an unassuming 19-year whose main instrument had been regarded as little more than a child’s toy.
For six years between 1971 and 77, Pablo, by now a committed and deeply spiritual Rastafarian, played the field of Kingston’s top producers while simultaneously funding production work for his own Rockers label to the point were he would be able to achieve the total artistic independence that he craved.
