Aston Barrett

Aston Barrett (2010)

Aston Francis "Family Man" ( "Fams") Barrett (* 22. November 1946 in Kingston , Jamaica ) is a reggae - bassist of early reggae and roots reggae .

Life

Early career

Aston Barrett's father and grandfather were musicians. At a young age he tinkered his first bass (with only one string) and played with his four years younger brother Carlton , who had built a drum kit from old paint pots. From that point on until Carlton's death in 1987, the two brothers were to form an inseparable team as a rhythm section . Aston gets its first real bass from a member of the group The Gaylads . The brothers form their first band, the Hippy Boys with singer Max Romeo in the late sixties. The first recording they star in is Watch This Sound (1968) by the Uniques . Some of the musicians of the Hippy Boys, including the Barrett brothers, later form Lee Perry's studio band The Upsetters . This band came in at number 5 in the UK charts with Return of Django in 1969. Another top ten hit that the Barrett Brothers can be heard on is Harry J. & the All-Stars Liquidator from the same year. The Upsetters also accompanied the Wailers in 1970 and 1971 on a number of singles that were later released on the African Herbsman record, among others . These sessions can be seen as one of the highlights of early reggae . Bob Marley takes over the Barrett brothers (along with other musicians from the Upsetters) in his band The Wailers . In 1973 they released Catch a Fire , which could be considered the first roots reggae album.

Collaboration with Bob Marley

Barrett became the musical head of Bob Marley's backing band The Wailers , in which he played with his brother from 1970 until Marley's death in 1981. In addition to the role of bass player, he temporarily fulfilled the function of music producer , arranger , background singer , guitarist , keyboardist and co-songwriter .

Barrett usually uses a Fender Jazz Bass . The identification with this brand is so strong that on the album covers the instrument he plays is sometimes referred to as "Fender Bass" instead of "E-Bass". Family Man prefers the finger stop over the stop with a pick . His bass lines are often rhythmically intricate and yet always catchy, a good example is the bass figure from I Shot The Sheriff . It is noticeable that Barrett hardly ever varies or improvises. Due to their high recognition value, his bass parts form the ideal counterpoint to Marley's singing - improvisations . Barrett has influenced countless other bassists, including the next to him perhaps the most important reggae bassist Robbie Shakespeare , who was at times his student. Barrett's playing can be seen as exemplary for reggae bass in general.

Barrett's influence as an arranger and producer on the music of the coming years should not be underestimated. On each of the future albums Aston's name appears directly under the Marleys, presenting Family Man as the most important band member after Marley (this also applies to Catch a Fire and Burnin ' , where the original Wailers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer are still part of the group belong). Barrett's duties included recruiting and training additional musicians (for example wind instruments ), leading the band's rehearsals and supervising the stage and studio work. He is co-author of the songs Rebel Music (3 O'clock Roadblock) and Want More . He writes Who the Cap Fit (aka Man to Man ) with his brother. He has also produced and played on solo records by artists in Marley's circle, including Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Rita Marley , Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths . Marley herself entrusted Aston Barrett with the production of the Melody Makers , a group made up of some of Marley's children. The last Wailers single before Marley died is I Know . While still in bed in a hospital in Bavaria, Marley calls Family Man Barrett to mix the single and prepare it for publication.

After Marley's death

After Marley's death, the Barrett brothers collaborated with Justin Hinds on his album Travel with Love in 1984 . Barrett also plays on albums by Burning Spear and John Denver . During his career, Family Man also appears as a musical teacher who takes younger artists under the wing and trains them musically. His students include Brinsley Ford , the future leader of Aswad , Bob Marley's son Julian and bassist Robbie Shakespeare. Aston also built one of the first, if not the first, drum machines , which he named The Rhythm King - the title Family Man has held for over 30 years.

Web links

Commons : Aston Barrett  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Aston Barrett at discogs.com
• Short biography at billboard.com ( Memento from January 18, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )