Ernest Ranglin was born June 19, 1932 and grew up in the small town of Robin’s Hall in the Parish of Manchester, a rural community In the middle of Jamaica. Music has always claimed a special place In the Island’s culture, and Ranglin’s destiny was set from an early age when two of his uncles showed him the rudiments of playing the guitar. When they discovered just how good the young boy was, they bought him a ukulele.
Ranglin learned how to play by imitating his uncles, but he was soon to be influenced by the recordings of the great American jazz guitarist Charlie Christian. Living in rural Jamaica, however, inhibited the boy’s ambitions, which, even at the age of fourteen, were focused on music. He then moved to Kingston – the country’s capital – ostensibly to finish his studies at Bodmin College. Very high on Ranglin’s agenda was to seriously study the guitar, something not on the school’s priorities.
His lessons came from guitar books and late-night sessions watching the Jamaican dance bands of the time: he was particularly influenced by Cecil Houdini, an unrecorded local musician. By the time he was sixteen years old, Ranglin was acknowledged as the rising young talent in the city. In 1948 he joined his first group, the Val Bennett Orchestra, playing in the local hotels. Such was Ranglin’s burgeoning reputation that he soon came to the attention of rival dance bands and, by the early-Fifties, he was a member of Jamaica’s best-known group, the Eric Deans Orchestra, touring around the Caribbean and as far north as the Bahamas.
The big bands gave Ranglin the hugely beneficial experience of learning how to orchestrate and arrange. The typical repertoire of the day Included tunes by Les Brown, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington, together with Cuban music and the hot Broadway show songs. The constant tours also gave Ranglin a wider vision, meeting musicians from other traditions. Once, for instance, when he was working In Nassau his performance was heard by Les Paul, who gave Ranglin a guitar In admiration of his talents.
It was, however, back In Jamaica that his career was to be transformed by a chance meeting. In 1958 Ranglin was leading his own quintet, playing the leading hotels In Kingston and the resorts on the north of the Island. One engagement was at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, a show caught by a young would-be record producer called Chris Blackwell.
Immediately Impressed by Ranglin’s extraordinary talents, Blackwell offered him the chance to make a record. The album featured a pianist called Lance Heywood on one side with Ernest Ranglin on the other: It was the very first release by Island Records and the start of a long association between Ranglin and Blackwell.
By the following year, 1959, Ranglin had joined the bassist Cluett Johnson in a studio group called Clue J and His Blues Blasters. This was a very different kind of style to the big bands. Jamaican music was in a state of flux, the traditional mento superseded by a tough urban stance influenced by the pervading sounds of American R&B. Johnson and Ranglin recorded several instrumentals for producer Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd at Federal – the only real studio facility on the island. The first of these tunes, Shuffling Bug, is widely regarded as the first example of ska, the shuffle rhythm which exaggerated the ‘jump beat’ heard on New Orleans’ R&B records of the Fifties. Ska became the bedrock of Jamaican popular music, leading to rock steady, reggae, ragga and all the innovations the island has brought into the global mainstream.
Ranglin’s fluent and versatile guitar style, coupled with his arrangement skills, meant he was in constant demand right through the ska era. In addition to his work with Prince Buster and Baba Brooks, Ranglin was also remembered by Chris Blackwell who, in 1962, had launched Island Records in Britain. Blackwell had a song he thought could be a pop smash. He also had a young Jamaican singer called Millie, who’d previously recorded some sides for Coxsone Dodd. In 1964 Blackwell brought both Millie and Ranglin to London. They recorded My Boy Lollipop which, in the spring of that year, reached number two in the UK chart. It went on to become a worldwide hit, the first time ska had infiltrated into the vocabulary of pop music.
In recent years, Ernest Ranglin has gone back to his roots and has made various cross cultural collaborations and concept albums. On Below the Bassline he covers some of the greatest songs of the rock and roll era. Memories of Barber Mack is Ernest Ranglin’s tribute to the late Jamaican saxophonist Barber Mack. The Search of the Lost Riddim album took Ernest Ranglin to Senegal for his first visit since the mid 1970’s when he toured as part of the Jimmy Cliff band. These recording sessions represent the accomplishment of a dream he had cherished for over 20 years: returning to Africa to record with African musicians.
Discography:
Guitar in Ernest (Island, 1959)
Wranglin’ (Island, 1964)
Reflections (Island, 1964)
Guitar in Ernest (Federal, 1965)
The Exciting Ranglin (Federal, 1966)
Boss Reggae (Federal, 1969)
Softly With Ranglin (Federal, 1969)
Mr. Ranglin With Soul (Federal, 1969)
Today’s Best (Federal)
A Mod a Mod Ranglin (Federal, 1970)
Ranglin Roots (1972)
Ranglypso (MPS, 1976)
Be What You Want to Be/From Kingston JA to Miami USA (Konduko, 1983)
We Want to Party (Rooney, 1989)
True Blue (Rooney, 1990)
Play the Time Away (Grove, 1996)
Below the Bassline (Island, 1996)
Memories of Barber Mack (Island, 1997)
Tribute to a Legend (Kariang, 1997)
In Search of the Lost Riddim (Palm Pictures, 1998)
E.B.@Noon (Tropic, 2000)
Modern Answers to Old Problems (Telarc, 2000)
Grooving (Blue Moon, 2001)
Gotcha! (Telarc, 2001)
Alextown (Palm Pictures, 2005)
Surfin’ (Telarc, 2005)
Order of Distinction (AIX, 2006)
Ranglin & Friends (Dubtonic, 2010)
Avila (Avila Street, 2012)
Bless Up (Avila Street, 2014)
Ernest Ranglin at Side Door Records (Side Door, 2015)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
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