Patrice ADD
Patrice presents Rocksteady Christmas Album with Judy Mowatt, Half Pint & Nadine Sutherland
12/06/2021 by Press Release
What a nice Christmas surprise. Patrice announced the release of a Rocksteady Christmas album to be released on December 17, 2021.
The first two singles are out already: Santa Baby by ALA.NI and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Teddy Teclebrhan.
Patrice about the project: "Here is an album to make Christmas fun! I recently teamed up with some of the great Rocksteady legends for a recording that feels a lot like time travel to my favorite era. The Jamaica of the late 60s and early 70s. Recorded like back in the days, musicians gathered in a room around an RCA ribbon microphone like a campfire. Pulsating, warm sound, pure and immediate. Every note, of course, and with ultimate intention, because it is not just any one that is playing here, but the originators of the genre.
I feel privileged to be living while these legends are among us and a sense of duty to record them!
It was a very spontaneous album as Christmas was just around the corner. So why not record a different type of Christmas album? The holidays bring the family under one roof and form a ritual that remains steadfast, even in times that are not. I thought, what kind of an album would I want on a frosty Christmas Day….Voilà!"
ALBUM TRACKLIST
1. ALA.NI - Santa Baby
2. Lloyd Parks - Winter Wonderland
3. Patrice - Last Christmas
4. Half Pint - Drummer Boy
5. Nadine Sutherland - Silent Night
6. The Tamlins - Christmas Island
7. Judy Mowatt - Come All Ye Faithful
8. Teddy Teclebrhan - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
THE BAND
The all-star band comprises of Lloyd Parks on bass, who is featured on Winter Wonderland as a singer and with singles such as Have Mercy Mr. Percy and albums like Do the Rocksteady for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label. Musicians and singers from Jamaica's rocksteady era in 60’s & 70’s were indispensable. He topped the charts with hits like Officially and Mafia.
Desi Jones is an institution on drums. As one of the founding members of the Chalice group, he wrote history with his book The Art of Reggae Drumming and, when published in 1983, it became the world's first instructional book on reggae drumming.
Robbie Lyn is probably Jamaica's most famous and legendary keyboardist. He has played with everyone, from Peter Tosh and Lee Perry to Dennis Brown and is still playing with most of today’s greats. Many recordings on Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label during the Rocksteady era feature Robbie Lyn’s playing. Tyler the Creator recently sampled one of Robbie's sound creations for his number one album, Igor.
In 2014 Dwight Pinkney received the national order of Order of Distinction for his years of service and contribution to the development of Jamaican music. As a guitarist he played for Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label and behind bands like the Wailers on their 1965 hit Put It On. Since then he has toured and recorded with the island's greatest and most famous artists, and has a world renowned catalog of hits, too many to mention here.
THE SINGLES
SANTA BABY from the unbelievable ALA.NI was released on the first Advent and is the first of three singles that will come before the album is released in its entirety on December 17th. If you don't know her yet, you should definitely take a look at her appearance at Tiny Desk.
The second release of the Patrice presents Rocksteady Christmas album features none other than Teddy Teclebrhan. In a deep voice he goes over the Rocksteady instrumental recorded by Studio One legends and gives us a timeless, sunny version of the Christmas classic Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas with charm and flair that gives an unexpected twist. Let's make Christmas fun!
Patrice himself can be heard on the third single, of his Rocksteady Christmas album, Last Christmas. In a chic Rocksteady garb, he combines vintage sounds with the latest and in this connection reinterprets the familiar.
THE PERFORMERS
We know Judy Mowatt outside of Jamaica, especially as Bob Marley's background singer. As a front singer, she wrote her album Black Woman, which was praised by many critics as the greatest of all time and the first self-produced reggae album by a woman. In addition to her pioneering position as a musical powerhouse, she was also the first female artist to be nominated for a Grammy in the “Reggae Music” category and, like Dwight Pinkney, also holds the Order of Distinction.
Nadine Sutherland was the first artist to be signed by Bob Marley himself on his Tuff Gong label. She achieved international acclaim with her hit single Action which made it to number 43 on the US Billboard charts. For her campaign, US Vice President Kamala Harris contacted Ms. Sutherland for a dubplate special from Action that read “Action, not a bag a mouth. She clean, when she step inna the White House".
Half Pint is one of the most legendary singers in Jamaica. His number one song Winsome was covered by the Rolling Stones in 1986 and renamed Too Rude for their Dirty Work album.
The Tamlins are a Jamaican harmony vocal group best known for their hit Baltimore produced by Sly & Robbie. They collaborated for a long time with Peter Tosh as well as Rita and Julian Marley.
ALBUM CREDITS
Lloyd Parks - Bass
Robbie Lyn - Keyboards
Dwight Pinkney - Guitar
Desi Jones - Drums
Sherieta Lewis - Backing Vocals
All additional instruments - Patrice
Recording engineer - Snysh
Executive Producer - Clive Hunt
Recorded at Mixing Lab Studio, Jamaica
Produced and mixed by Patrice Bart-Williams
