In 1965 at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle, Alton Ellis recorded "Girl I've Got a Date" — and insisted he named the genre we now call rocksteady. But Lynn Taitt, Hopeton Lewis, Hugh Malcolm, and others all claim the credit. Part 4 maps the most disputed origin story in Jamaican music.
Britain banned this bread. Jamaica remade it with the byproduct of slavery — and the person who did it left no name behind. In...
In 1972 Alton Ellis moved to London and opened All-Tone Records in Brixton. Six years later, two teenagers rode his rhythm to UK number...
This episode examines the moment after celebration, when independence moved from promise to practice. Focusing on Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados between the nineteen fifties...