Clue J's Blues Blasters & Theophilus Beckford

Double bass player Cluett Johnson's most lasting contribution to the history of music happened by accident. From 1959, Jamaican-born Johnson led the first band to make records in Jamaica; the Blues Blasters' line-up included Ernest Ranglin, Rico Rodriguez, Roland Alphonso, Theophilus Beckford and drummer Arkland ‘Drumbago' Parks. Their early recordings, such as ‘Shuffling Jug' (1959), were in a calypso or R&B vein and were promoted on producer Coxsone Dodd's Downbeat sound system, which played in and around Kingston. Having thus created a demand, Dodd would release their recor...