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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Ernest Ranglin| image = Ernest Ranglin.jpg| caption = Ernest Ranglin, performing at WOMAD in the United Kingdom|UK , in 2008| image_size =| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name =| alias =| birth_date = Birth date and age|1932|6|19|df=y| death_date =| origin = Manchester, Jamaica | instrument = Guitar | genre = Ska , rocksteady , reggae , jazz | occupation =| years_active =| label = Federal Records|Federal , Island Records|Island , Studio One (record label)|Studio One , MPS Records|MPS , Palm Pictures , Telarc International Corporation|Telarc , AIX Records|AIX | associated_acts = Clue J & His Blues Blasters , Prince Buster , The Skatalites , Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club|Ronnie Scott's House Band , Soul Vendors, Sound Dimension, Monty Alexander , Jimmy Cliff , St. Germain (musician)|St. Germain | website =| current_members =| past_members =| notable_instruments = Ernest Ranglin Order of Distinction|O.D. (born 19 June 1932, Manchester, Jamaica ) is a Jamaican guitar ist and composer. Best known for his session work at the famed Studio One (record label)|Studio One , Ranglin helped give birth to the ska genre in the late 1950s. SomeWho|date=July 2011 credit Ranglin with the invention of the core style of guitar play (sometimes known as "scratching") found in nearly all ska music.
Ranglin played on many classic Jamaican recordings, performing with artists such as Theophilus Beckford , Jimmy Cliff , Monty Alexander , Prince Buster , The Skatalites , Bob Marley and Eric Dean's Orchestra. He has also explored other styles of music, notably blending jazz , mento and reggae .
Biography
As a child, Ranglin had two uncles who played guitar and ukulele . After watching them play, he practiced on their instruments, and stood in for one of them when they failed to turn up for a recording session, impressing his other uncle so much that he was given the instrument for his seventh birthday.Clarke, Ossie " http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20021108/ent/ent1.html Dr. Ernie Ranglin, I presume? ", Gleaner Company|Jamaica Gleaner He built his own guitar using a sardine can and wires, before progressing to a real one.Larkin, Colin (ed.) (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae , Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9, p.235 He moved with his family to Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston , where he was educated at Providence, Kingston Senior School, and Bodin College. While still in his teens, he began performing live, locally and in the Bahamas , often with the young Monty Alexander . Charlie Christian was an early influence. Aged 15, he joined the Val Bennett band, and went on to play with the Eric Deans band and Count Boysie. By the early 1950s, Ranglin had become a proficient jazz guitarist and toured overseas.
In the 1950s Ranglin recorded plenty mento (traditional Jamaican music style), including the fine 1958 album by Denzil Laing and the Wrigglers, At the Arawak Hotel on which his early, outstanding jazz guitar is featured. Some of these rare and significant 1950s mento records, his earliest recordings, were reissued in 2010 on the Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958 album.Read about the Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958 album on which some of Ernest Ranglin's earliest recordings can be heard: http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php? page=shop.product_details& category_id=128& flypage=shop.flypage& product_id=1176& option=com_virtuemart& Itemid=0. An English version of the CD booklet can be found here : http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php? option=com_virtuemart& page=shop.livrets& content_id=5362& product_id=1176& category_id=128
Chris Blackwell produced a Ranglin single, which was one of the first releases on Blackwell's R& B label in the late 1950s. A live album split between Ranglin and Bermudian pianist Lance Hayward was among the first recordings released by Blackwell. Around 1956, Ranglin had also joined Cluett Johnson 's studio band Clue J and the Blues Blasters, recording several tracks for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One (record label)|Studio One , including Theophilus Beckford 's hits "Easy Snapping" and "Jack and Jill Shuffle" as well as "Shuffling Jug," regarded as some of the first Jamaican rhythm and blues records. In 1962, the James Bond film Dr. No (film)|Dr. No was filmed in Jamaica. While Byron Lee & the Dragonaires appeared in the film, the soundtrack recordings were actually made by Ranglin.Thompson, Dave (2002) Reggae & Caribbean Music , Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-655-6, p.144 In 1964, Ranglin played guitar on singer Millie (singer)|Millie Small 's " My Boy Lollipop ", the first Jamaican song to achieve international success.
Ranglin recorded two jazz albums in the mid-1960s for the Merritone record label - Wranglin (1964) and Reflections (1965), also working for Duke Reid as a musical director at the Treasure Isle recording studio during this period.
He began attracting international notice in 1964 when he traveled to London, England to perform at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club . He became the venue's resident guitarist for nine months, backing numerous guest artists and appearing in a recording of a Sonny Stitt / Dick Morrissey jam session in 1966.Ankeny, Jason "Allmusic|class=artist|id=p116996/biography|pure_url=yes Ernest Ranglin Biography", Allmusic , Macrovision Corporation He made several solo records for Island Records, as well as collaborating with Prince Buster . He returned to session work, arranging songs such as the Melodians ' "Rivers of Babylon" and playing guitar leads in the The Wailers (1963-1974 band)|Wailers ' "It Hurts to Be Alone".
During the late 1960s and the 1970s, Ranglin was much in demand as a studio musician and arranger, working with top Jamaican producers such as Dodd, Lee "Scratch" Perry , and Clancy Eccles . He also toured with Jimmy Cliff in the 1970s. In the late 70s, he re-teamed with his friend Monty Alexander to record Latin-Caribbean infused jazz for Pablo Records .Pablo LP " Jamento ", 1978 - 2310 826.
In 1973 he was awarded the Order of Distinction from the Jamaican Government for his contributions to music. He moved to Florida in the late 1970s, where he performed at jazz festivals and continued to record occasionally.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn. , Rough Guides, ISBN 1-84353-329-4, p.50 He signed to Chris Blackwell's newly-formed Palm Pictures label to issue 1998's In Search of the Lost Riddim . The albums E.B. @ Noon and Modern Answers to Old Problems followed two years later. In 1998 Ranglin performed with Michael Franti|Spearhead for the Red Hot Organization 's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody . Grooving was released in early 2001. In 2002, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of the West Indies for his outstanding contribution to the development of music in Jamaica." http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20020426T200000-0500_24720_OBS_UWI_TO_CONFER_HONORARY_DEGREES_ON THIS_YEAR.asp UWI to confer honorary degrees on 11 this year", Jamaica Observer , 27 April 2002 In 2006, he was the subject of a documentary covering his career - Roots Of Reggae: The Ernest Ranglin Story , produced and written by Arthur Gorson." http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/onhold/20070218T180000-0500_119324_OBS_GUITAR_GREAT_ERNIE_RANGLIN_ON_FILM__.asp Guitar great Ernie Ranglin on film", Jamaica Observer , 19 February 2007Henry, Heather (2006) " http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20061205/ent/ent5.html FlashPoint Film Festival - Ernie Ranglin's musical genius immortalised", Gleaner Company|Jamaica Gleaner , 5 December 2006 In 2008, he was inducted into the Jamaican Music Hall of Fame by the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA).Walters, Basil (2008) " http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20080713T220000-0500_137841_OBS_JAVAA_S FIRST __INDUCTEES_IN_JAMAICA_MUSIC_HALL_OF_FAME_IMPRESSIVE_.asp JAVAA's first 12 inductees in Jamaica music hall of fame impressive", Jamaica Observer , 14 July 2008
Ranglin's fusion of jazz and reggae was continued by his nephew, Gary Crosby (bassist)|Gary Crosby , who formed the group Jazz Jamaica in 1991.
African Roots/The Legendary Skatalites (1975/1976) United Artists
Ball of Fire (1998) Island Records|Island
With Monty Alexander :
Rass! (1974) MPS Records|MPS
Love and Sunshine (1975) MPS Records|MPS
Unlimited Love (1976) MPS Records|MPS
Cobilimbo (1977) MPS Records|MPS
Estade (1979) MPS Records|MPS
Just Friends (1980) MPS Records|MPS
Monty Alexander — Ernest Ranglin (1981) MPS Records|MPS
Rocksteady (2004) Telarc International Corporation|Telarc
References
Reflist
External links
http://home.planet.nl/~vanbergh/index.htm Official website
http://www.jahsonic.com/ErnestRanglin.html Ranglin's Roots, by John Williams
Persondata | NAME = Ranglin, Ernest | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = Jamaican guitar ist and composer | DATE OF BIRTH = 19 June 1932 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Manchester, Jamaica | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Ranglin, Ernest Category:1932 births Category:Living people Category:Jamaican guitarists Category:People from Manchester Parish Category:Jamaican ska musicians Category:Trojan Records artists
