The musical career of Emmanuel Rodriguez, known to his many admirers as Rico, has lasted, so far, for over fifty years. As interest and regognition for Jamaican Instrumentalists grows - a case in point being the acclaim enjoyed by Rico's current group Jazz Jamaica - that career happily looks set to continue for a good while yet.

Rico was born 17th October 1934 in Kingston. During the early 'forties his Pueto Rican mother sent him to the reknowned Alpha Boys School on South Camp Road in Kingston, where by the age of ten he had learned trombone. The Alpha School looms large in the history of Jamaican music; as Rico told writer Richard Williams in the Melody Maker of April 2, 1977, many of Jamaica's best musicians learned from an Englishman who:

"... taught theory in the morning and gave us scales in the evenings. It was mostly the classics of course ... he was a dedicated musician and it was good for us. That's the reason we can all read and write music."

Rico soon developed into a skilful and indiviual musician; he began gigging on the vibrant jazz and danceband scene, and won numerous talent competitions, like those run by Vere Johns at various Kingston theaters. By 1953 he had also come into contact with Rastafarian philosophy; that year he began living in the Rasta community of master drummer Count Ossie, at Renock Lodge in Wareika hills just east of Kingston.

By the late 'fifties Rico had begun making his first records, playing on hits like Theo Beckford's "Easy Snappin'" and various instrumentals with bassist Cluett Johnson's Blues Blasters, including "Salt Lane Shuffle" and "Stew Peas & Cornflakes" for Coxsone Dodd. Under his own name he cut "Luke Lane Shuffle" and "Blues From The Hills" for Prince Buster, "Let George Do It" for Duke Reid, and "Rico's Special" for Vincent Chin, as well as tunes for Charlie Moo and soundman Count Boysie. By the end of 1961 Rico had enough of recording for a flat fee of £ 10 per side. When he and trumpeter Johnny 'Dizzy' Moore asked for bigger sesion fees they found that Coxsone and Duke Reid wouldn't employ them any more. In December of that year Rico left Jamaica for the first time; on reaching London he bacame a feature  on the R n B/Soul scene, playing with Georgie Fame's Blue Flames and expatriate US soul man J.J. Jackson. He also did session work for labels like Planetone and Blue Beat, playing on records for Laurel Aitken, Derrick Morgan and Prince Buster, as well as making his own instrumentals. From time to time, when the frustrations got  too much, he worked outside music - at a gas works, as a painter, and on the Ford production line - but by the late 'sixties he was cutting records for Pama, Blue Cat and Trojan. In the early 'seventies he played with Undivided, at that time the band for most visiting Jamaican artists.

After participating in sessions for Toots and The Maytals he signed a contract with Island Records, recording "Africa" and "Free Ganja" in May 1976 at Island Hammersmith Studios. Sessions at Randy's and Joe Gibbs studios in Kingston followed in September that year. The resultant album, Man From Wareika, still stands as a fully-realised synthesis of Jamaican music from both tradtional and modern sources, characterised not only by fine contributions from all the musicians, but also by the strength of Rico's compositions. Over the next couple of years Rico recorded a series of excellent singles for the label, including the versions of Chuck Mangione's "Children of Sanchez" and Paul Desmonds "Take 5" included on this current compilation, which also include seven tracks from the aforementioned Man From Wareika.

After playing with the Specials during 1980/81, the 2-Tone label released That Man Is Forward, followed in 1982 by Jama Rico. Rico then spent eight years back once more in Wareika Hills. Since his return he has played regularly with his own band, the Cosmics, and most important of all with the unique trans-generational band band founded by bassist Gary Crosby, Jazz Jamaica.

Jamaican music has become one of the world's great popular musics during the half-century of Rico's career; as one of its original craetors, he has used his trombone to sing the songs of King Alpha as convincingly as any vocalist. That man ist still forward; long may he continue.

- Steve Barrow, October 1994
Liner Notes to the 1995 Island CD Roots to The Bone

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