Rico Rodriguez

Ska Island Artist Profile

Rico Rodriguez, known to Jamaicans as "Godson," "El Rico," "the man from Warrieka hill," is one of the most loved, admired and respected musicians to have ever stepped out of the ska mecca of the world, Kingston, Jamaica. As a youth at the Alpha school for boys he received the finest musical education in the country alongside contemporary students who would also grow to be regarded the finest exponents of Jamaican music, rivaling the talents of top U.S. jazz musicians in the international hall of fame.

Personally taught by the greatest trombone player of all time, Don Drummond, Rico was, with Buster, amongst the first musicians in the world to play ska. Like Laurel, he moved to London in the early sixties, pioneering ska in England where today he still enjoys folk hero status in the eyes of the British public. Since Don Drummond's death, Rico has been unchallenged as the new Don of Jamaican trombone. Since the early days of ska and R&B he has always led his own group as well as embellishing artistes such as Prince Buster's and Dandy's finest records with prime session work always in demand as a guest celebrity for his pristine artistry. In the seventies his Island career was revived with the big seller Man From Warrieka album and in 1980 Jerry Dammers of the U.K. Two Tone Ska revival label produced a Rico album backed by his band, The Specials.

Rico was also featured on The Specials' number one U.K. hit "Rudy, a message to you" in 1981, which led to extensive world tours until they split up the following year, when he moved back to Jamaica. In 1990, back in London, he teamed up with The Trojans, recording, touring Japan and Europe where he is perennially ranked as the top brass in the business. On the Ska Island project in 1997 he acknowledges his roots with a ska version of Dave Brubeck's jazz classic "Take Five" in Jamaican soundsystem style, "Take Five."
 

Copyright 1997, Island Trading Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Last updated: 22. März 1998
compiled by Reinhard Braun