Coxsone Dodd

Sir Coxsone Dodd (born January 26, 1932 in Kingston , Jamaica , † May 4, 2004 ibid), whose real name was Clement Seymour Dodd , was an important music producer who had a great influence on the development of Jamaican reggae .

Life

First appearance as a sound man

Dodd became interested in music very early on. He founded his sound system Sir Coxsone Downbeat and appeared for the first time in the mid- 1950s when he played the rare rhythm and blues records he had brought back from guest work as a harvest worker in the USA . In the late 1950s, for example, he played a record called Later For The Gator , which his worst competitor Duke Reid could not find even after visiting the USA several times. Sir Coxson's reputation continued to grow in this day-to-day business, which was dependent on the audience and was only based on the competition for the latest releases. Only after the title of the record was revealed by a “traitor” nine years later, Duke Reid was also able to play the record, which was already known as Coxsone Hop , in his sound system.

From sound man to producer

Due to the displacement of R'n'B in the USA, there was a shortage of new records in Jamaica, as people continued to dance to familiar rhythms. The mutual competition spurred the sound men , the operators of the sound systems, into producers and tried to recruit their own talents from the slums and to have records for the sound system that were as exclusive as possible. Later Coxsone changed the idea of ​​the works as a unique means of competition of the sound system under the influence of a friend to the marketing strategy of the music in Jamaica which is usual to this day. First a dubplate is created, which is made known with the help of the sound system and reactions to it are perceived, before only a small number of singles should be pressed in order to achieve a comparatively high price. Finally, the plate was then pressed en masse, and it was profitable to sell it at lower prices.
This quite primitive business practice still has its right to exist today and is an essential part of the culture as a whole, into which music is integrated.

This was an important step on the way to the development of reggae. In 1963 Sir Coxsone founded the legendary Studio One in West Kingston, in which Bob Marley, among others, made his first recordings with the Skatalites as a backing band in the same year , after Coxsone saw a potential created by their authenticity in the band The Wailing Wailers .

Nevertheless, Coxson's great influence on the development of music and his personal success can only be attributed to a limited extent to his genius, rather than to his sense of always "surrounding himself with the most creative minds he could get hold of" - for example Jackie Mittoo and Lee Perry . In addition, he was a shrewd businessman with a feeling for the value and timing of a publication, who also knew how to exploit his artists.

Significance and development of the sound system

Until the mid-1960s, Sir Coxsone Downbeat was Jamaica's most important sound system. During the formation of the rocksteady the eternal adversary Coxsones Duke Reid took over the musical supremacy again.
Both promoted the development of Jamaican folk music, but Studio One was to "take the more prominent place forever".

On May 4, 2004, Coxsone died of a heart attack while working at Studio One.

In October 2007, Dodd was posthumously awarded the Order of Distinction with the rank of Commander.

Web links

• Clement “Coxsone” Dodd on Allmusic by Steve Huey
• Biography Clement Dodds (en)
• Extensive treatise with discography (s)

swell

1. ^ René Wynands: Do The Reggae. Reggae from Pocomania to Ragga and the legend of Bob Marley . ISBN 3-492-18409-X (Piper), ISBN 3-7957-8409-3 (Schott). P. 53
2. ↑ I owe it all to my nation ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Jamaica Gleaner October 16, 2007. Retrieved July 12, 2011.