From the late 1940s onwards the Jamaican music scene has been built around sound systems, originally playing rhythm and blues but progressing into recording and playing home grown talent from the late 1950's onwards at open-air dance events at places such as Forresters Hall, Kings Lawn, Liberty Hall and Jubilee.
The young Coxson started off with guest spots selecting on The Trojan (Duke Reid’s) Sound, but in time became the Dukes biggest competitor with his own ‘Sir Coxsons Downbeat’ sound system.
Sir Coxson was renowned for having a superior selection of R&B and rare jazz discs and he built his reputation for musical superiority in the dancehalls and on the lawns of Kingston and beyond.
MANY foundational and important cats worked for Dodd in this early phase such as the ‘Voice of the People’ (Prince Buster), before striking out on his own in 1957, the Upsetter (Lee ‘Chicken Scratch’ Perry), who began working for Dodd in the early 1960’s and musicologists such as Leroy Sibbles and Jackie Mittoo who went on to become the main men during the golden age of Studio One.
In 1956 Dodd began recording Jamaican R&B with artists such as Bunny and Skully at Federal studio but it was with Theophilus Beckford's Easy Snappin', that Dodd truly begun his journey to establish Jamaica as a musical force as it pointed the way to the ska that Dodd would be a champion of by the end of the decade.
By the early 1960s, he was ruling Jamaica with ska hits by Toots and the Maytals, the Gaylads and the Skatalites, Jamaica's premier ska group.
In October 1963, on the site of a former nightclub, (The End), Dodd opened the Jamaica Recording and Publishing Studio - aka the legendary Studio One - close to the Carib Theatre at 13 Brentford Road. He signed a new up and coming trio the Wailers, scored several Jamaican number one hits and the race to become the undisputed King of Sounds and Blues was on.
When Rock-Steady exploded in 1966 and rudies ruled the dance it was the Trojan (Duke Reid) who was on top but when the new reggae style emerged in 1968, Sir Coxsone was back on top with BURIAL recordings by artists such as the Heptones, Abyssinians, Bob Andy, The Tempests, Viceroys and many, many others.
In the early 1970s, Sir Coxson established the careers of Legends such as Dennis ‘Crown Prince’ Brown, Winston ‘Burning Spear’ Rodney and Horace ‘Sleepy’ Andy who all went on to achieve global recognition.
Although recuts of Studio One rhythms recorded at other rival studios such as Channel One, found greater favour throughout the 1970’s he returned with a Studio One renaissance in 1979, voicing new material with dance hall singers such as Sugar Minott, Johnny Osbourne and Freddy McGregor as well as DJs Lone Ranger and Michigan and Smiley who introduced the new wave of Jamaican music that we know today as Dancehall.
When Jamaica got too hot and armed bandits attacked his BrentfordRoad headquarters Dodd transferred Studio One to New York, where he recorded during the 1980s and early 1990s but his reign as the kingwas over and it was left to his back catalogue to remind us all of his greatness.
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