Overview

This is the first book devoted to the studio musicians who were central to Jamaica’s popular-music explosion. With colour portraits and interview excerpts, over 100 musical pioneers—such as Prince Buster, Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and many of Bob Marley’s early musical collaborators—provide new insights into the birth of Jamaican popular music in the recording studios of Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Includes a listening guide of selected songs. A wonderful read aloud for K-3rd grade, this uplifting story is recommended for nature and science centres, children’s museums, and school and public libraries to support science and social studies sections. Author lives in Massachusetts and Missouri.

Full Product Details

9780819575883

Table of Contents

Reviews

[A] lovingly rendered new book ... Word Of Our Mouth takes a non-standard look at reggae's broader evolution, delivered through brief textual passages and evocative colour portraits, drawn from interviews conducted with a range of music practitioners from across the island, both familiar and unknown. And much of the material collected here is priceless. --David Katz, Riddim Magazine [Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae. --Derek Walmsley, WIRE

[Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae. --Derek Walmsley, WIRE [Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae. --Derek Walmsley, WIRE [A] lovingly rendered new book Word Of Our Mouth takes a non-standard look at reggae's broader evolution, delivered through brief textual passages and evocative colour portraits, drawn from interviews conducted with a range of music practitioners from across the island, both familiar and unknown. And much of the material collected here is priceless. --David Katz, Riddim Magazine

[Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae. --Derek Walmsley, WIRE Bilby celebrates his roots in Jamaica in this magnificent book through beautiful photographs and interviews with musicians. Bilby unveils the backstory of Jamaican music, and his work will be cherished by all who love Jamaican music. --William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues An essential work of Jamaican musical scholarship. The interviews are engrossing on multiple levels. Our understanding of the black musics of the New World would have fewer gaps in it if there were more of the kind of thorough oral history that Bilby does here. He proves himself to be not merely a good collector but a good listener. --John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead Bilby doesn't just tell the story that's never been told--delivering an homage to the heroes who helped shape Jamaican music--he lets these heroes tell the story in their own words, writing their own chapter in history. --Baz Dreisinger, producer and writer of Black & Blue: Legends of the Hip-Hop Cop and Rhyme & Punishment [Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae. --Derek Walmsley, WIRE [A] lovingly rendered new book Word Of Our Mouth takes a non-standard look at reggae's broader evolution, delivered through brief textual passages and evocative colour portraits, drawn from interviews conducted with a range of music practitioners from across the island, both familiar and unknown. And much of the material collected here is priceless. --David Katz, Riddim Magazine

[Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae. --Derek Walmsley, WIRE [A] lovingly rendered new book ... Word Of Our Mouth takes a non-standard look at reggae's broader evolution, delivered through brief textual passages and evocative colour portraits, drawn from interviews conducted with a range of music practitioners from across the island, both familiar and unknown. And much of the material collected here is priceless. --David Katz, Riddim Magazine

[A] lovingly rendered new book ... Word Of Our Mouth takes a non-standard look at reggae's broader evolution, delivered through brief textual passages and evocative colour portraits, drawn from interviews conducted with a range of music practitioners from across the island, both familiar and unknown. And much of the material collected here is priceless. --David Katz Riddim Magazine (10/1/2016 12:00:00 AM) [Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae. --Derek Walmsley, WIRE [A] lovingly rendered new book ... Word Of Our Mouth takes a non-standard look at reggae's broader evolution, delivered through brief textual passages and evocative colour portraits, drawn from interviews conducted with a range of music practitioners from across the island, both familiar and unknown. And much of the material collected here is priceless. --David Katz, Riddim Magazine

Author Information

KENNETH BILBY is an ethnomusicologist, writer, and lifelong student of Jamaican music. He is the former director of research at the Center for Black Research at Columbia College Chicago and currently a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution. Author of True-Born Maroons and coauthor of Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae, his collection of field recordings of Jamaican traditional music is one of the largest in the world.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available