Rico Rodriguez R.I.P.

I just read that sadly Rico has died on the 4th September.

“Rico Rodriguez, who has died aged 80, was a pioneering Jamaican trombonist, best known for his membership of the Two Tone group the Specials. Rico played on many of the earliest ska records, and released the classic instrumental album Man From Wareika in 1977. He was also a longstanding member of Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.

He is featured on Theophilus Beckford’s proto-ska hit Easy Snappin’, and Clue J and His Blues Blasters’ influential Shufflin Jug for Clement Dodd, the Folkes Brothers’ landmark Oh Carolina for Prince Buster, Derrick Morgan’s Lover Boy for Duke Reid, and his own Rico’s Special for Randy’s. In 1958, he settled in the Rastafarian encampment established by Count Ossie in the Wareika Hills on the eastern edge of Kingston, and this yielded a number of impressive singles with Rastafari themes, issued by Harry Mudie. The wild jazz jams held regularly at the camp allowed Rico greater freedom of expression, and helped him take his playing to a higher level.

In December 1961, he left Jamaica for Britain, where he began recording for Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, and Jamaican expats including Laurel Aitken. He played on the hit Wash Wash, which Prince Buster recorded with Georgie Fame, and backed Buster on live appearances around Britain. He featured on numerous reggae hits recorded in Britain, including Dandy Livingstone’s 1967 epic Rudy a Message to You.

Two Rico albums surfaced in 1969: Reco in Reggae Land was a Don Drummond tribute, using pre-recorded rhythms produced by Bunny Lee in Jamaica; the artistically superior Blow Your Horn featured the Brixton-based Rudies band, its original material giving a better sense of Rico’s musical dexterity. Rico subsequently joined the Undivided, fronted by a Jamaican expat, Gene Rondo; the group’s debut album, Listen to the World, was issued by Decca in 1973. Rico continued an active career as a session musician thereafter, but had to do manual work to survive, including gruelling night shifts at Ford’s Dagenham car plant.

Things improved in 1975, when Island Records placed him on Jim Capaldi’s album Short Cut Draw Blood, and Toots and the Maytals’ Reggae Got Soul. A contract for an album of his own took him back to Jamaica for the acclaimed Man From Wareika. Backed by a stellar cast of musicians, including the Jamaican rhythm kings Sly and Robbie and the British flugelhorn player Dick Cuthell, the album was an unprecedented blending of reggae and jazz that showed just how expressive the trombone could be in Rico’s hands. It remains his most compelling work, and the dub companion LP is also fine listening. Rico was subsequently the support act on Bob Marley’s 1978 European tour, though the follow-up to Man From Wareika was inexplicably shelved.

In 1979, Jerry Dammers requested that Rico play on the Specials’ remake of Rudy a Message to You. He contributed to the first two Specials albums, The Specials (1979) and More Specials (1980), and the Selecter’s debut LP, Too Much Pressure (1980), as well as the exceptional Specials 45, Ghost Town. Two Tone Records subsequently issued the albums That Man Is Forward (1981) and Jama Rico (1982), both competent sets recorded in Jamaica, and Rico continued to perform sporadic session duties for a range of acts including Joan Armatrading and Ian Dury.

After spending much of the 80s in solitude in Jamaica, he travelled to Switzerland in 1987 to work with the Heartbeat Band. Back in London, he played on Jazz Jamaica’s debut album Skaravan (1993) and was a member of Jools Holland’s Orchestra from 1996 until 2012.

Rico was appointed MBE in 2007, for services to the British music industry. He is survived by his wife, Tracey”

Richard