The Caribs Story (pdf)

THE CARIBS Background I was playing some pre-Ska Jamaican music on my radio show when I received a phone-call from man with a crackly-voice. He said he’d heard me playing ‘Lollipop Girl’ (by the Jiving Juniors), “I played drums on that for Mr. Dodd”, he stated simply. We were on a lot of those old Jamaican tunes.” It was Lowell Morris. I had been looking for Lowell and anyone else linked to The Caribs since I was first tipped to the story two years earlier by a ska collector in New York. The irony was that, the whole time I had been hunting Lowell, he had been living only 5 minutes from away in a neighbouring suburb. I rushed around to his house after the show to do the interview. The Caribs Story rolled out before me that afternoon was even more incredible than I had hoped … The Caribs in Australia The year is 1958. Lowell Morris (Albert Park, Victoria - drums), Peter Stoddart (Adelaide, South Australia - piano), Dennis Sindrey (Camberwell, Victoria - guitar), Max Wildman (Hamilton, Victoria - saxophone) and an Haitian voodoo drum priest Albert La Guerre (percussion) were the house band at the Paradise Hotel in Surfers Paradise, Queensland. They were called ‘The Caribs’ despite none other than La Gueree ever having been to the Caribbean. A cabaret band, their stock-in-trade was Latin-Jazz music. That same year, the band’s leader, Max Wildman, travelled to Haiti to help with the administration of a new restaurant there. He had previously owned a curry house in Burke Road, Camberwell. In Haiti, Wildman met a female representative of the Jamaica Tourist Board, who nominated him for a position as manager of the new Glass Bucket nightclub in Kingston. He agreed to take on the role, on condition that he could bring The Caribs with him to be the venue’s house-band. The Caribs accepted the invitation and travelled to the Jamaica, one-way tickets in hand - all except their La Guerre, who feared returning to the Caribbean having fled Haiti during the Duvalier government’s vicious crack-down on voodoo practices. The Glass Bucket and the Myrtle Bank The Caribs arrived at the Glass Bucket in December 1958 and duly became the resident band. Lowell had some wonderful photos of them performing at the club. I looked at them and immediately recognised their stand-up bass player, Lloyd Brevett! He went on to play bass in the greatest ska band of all time, the Skatalites. It turns out, Brevett’s first first professional engagement was with the Caribs! Around August 1959, the Caribs left the Glass Bucket to take up residency at the Myrtle Bank Hotel on Hope Road, Kingston. A Caribs performance centred around a floor-

show featuring established and emerging local singing and dancing talent. There were anywhere up to half-a-dozen guests every night, many of whom would go on to gain fame in the music industry. The Carib’s still played Latin-Jazz, but, had now added, Calypso, Mento and Rhythm and Blues. The expatriate Australians fell head-long into a thriving local music scene and became fast-friends with many of its movers and shakers including Chris Blackwell (Island Records), Ken Khouri (Federal), Stanley Motta (Motta Recording Service) and Coxsone Dodd (Studio One). Studio Days In 1959, The Caribs (without Wildman) were engaged as studio band for Khouri’s Federal recording studios under a 6 month contract. The deal was brokered by Coxsone Dodd, then a young sound system operator looking to start his own record production business. Dodd had a vested interest in the Federal operation because he was renting the studio and its band for his own recording sessions. As a consequence, The Caribs are featured on the some of the earliest Studio One material. Incredibly, the engineer on these recordings was another Melburnian, Graeme Goodall (Caulfied, Victoria) who had come to the island to build the island’s radio infrastructure and decided to hang around working for a local radio station. Goodall became central to Dodd’s operation and went on to engineer virtually all Studio One (and every other company’s) recordings until his departure for England in 1965. Despite having signed an exclusivity clause with Khoury, both during the currency of that agreement and after its expiry, The Caribs worked for other producers including Chris Blackwell, Prince Buster and Duke Reid (though he doesn’t remember Reid or Buster well, he recognises the songs and players). These sessions took place at the island’s two radio stations, JBC and RJR. Amongst the records Lowell says he and the Caribs played on between 1959-1962 are: 1. ‘Little Sheila’ by Laurel Aitken (R&B) 2. ‘Please Let Me Go’ by Owen Gray (Starlite) 3. ‘Worried Over You’ by Keith and Enid (Hi-Lite) 4. ‘Lollipop Girl’ by The Jiving Juniors (Coxsone) 5. ‘Hully Gully Rock’ by Roland Alphonso (Sensational) 6. ‘Tell Me Darling’ by Wilfred “Jackie” Edwards (R&B) 7. ‘Along The Waterfront’ LP by Don Drummond and Roland Alphonso (Port’o’Jam). Lowell had copies of many of the records in which they were involved. He noted that many were not originally released to the public but were for use as sound system ‘’exclusives” at outdoor dances. He has since misplaced the singles but has copies on cassette. I have only heard a few of the tunes before. Each one is remarkable, brilliant. They are quintessential pre-Ska Jamaican Shuffle. My favourite is a Shuffle version of ‘Waltzing Mathilda’ which Lowell insists was Chris Blackwell’s first commercial release, on one of his pre-Island ventures.

Without prompting, Lowell recalled working with Roland Alphonso (“lovely guy, Rollie”), Lester Stirling, Lloyd Brevett, “that mad trombonist” (Don Drummond), Owen Gray, Laurel Aitken, Little Millie, Ernest Ranglin, Wilfred Edwards, Aubrey Adams and Monty Alexander. Lowell claims to have discovered Alexander. He says a very young Alexander would wander into Federal between sessions and noodle on the piano. Stoddart would chase him away, but, Lowell recognised his talent and drew it to the attention of the others. This is backed up in private correspondence from Monty to Lowell. Owen Gray, one of the forefathers of Jamaican music, was the Caribs’ featured vocalist for much of this time. They also had a very close association with guitarist Ernest Ranglin collaborating with him on a full-length album for Island Records. The Caribs also played behind some of the touring American acts including The Impressions, Jerry Butler and Ben E. King. Jamaica Farewell The Caribs broke up around 1962. Dennis Sindrey and Peter Stoddart joined Byron Lee & the Dragonaires whilst Lowell formed a Soul-Jazz group. This quartet, of which the name has fogged-out over time, featured Morris on drums, Ernest Ranglin on guitar, Cluett “Clue J” Johnson on bass and Monty Alexander on piano. “We played a lot of Ramsey Lewis stuff. I introduced Monty to it” says Lowell. They played about ten gigs together before Lowell left to join one of the island’s leading showbands, Kes Chin and the Souvenirs. In 1962, Lowell and his Jamaican wife decided to head for New York. He has a wonderful employment reference written on Kes Chin and the Souvenirs’ letterhead. He has kept newspaper cuttings about the aggregation from the Jamaica Gleaner and the Melbourne Herald. In the mid-1960s guitarist Dennis Sindrey recorded a number of 45s and LPs as a solo artist, including the Mento ‘Take You Meat Out Me Rice’ (Federal). He was billed as “the Calypsonaire with the blonde hair”. Both he and Peter Stoddart played in a variety of local bands before re-forming The Caribs to become the house band at the Kingston Sheraton. Sindrey and Stoddart continued playing live and on record throughout the Ska and Rocksteady eras. Lowell Morris ended up back in Melbourne in the 1964 where he backed Little Millie (of “My Boy Lollipop” fame) at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. He also recalls accompanying Wilfred “Jackie” Edwards on his Australia tour, including a gig at a jam-packed Powerhouse on Albert Park Lake. Peter Stoddart still resides in Jamaica. Dennis Sindrey lives in Florida. Lowell Morris is back in Melbourne for good. Even at 70 years old he still plays Jazz. He plays more congas then drums these days but still hits hard. “They called me thunder-foot” he said with a smile. THE END