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Ernest Ranglin
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.
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Ernest Ranglin: Surfin'
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by Michael A. Edwards
Nothing new can be said about the genius of Ernest Ranglin and the breadth of his influence on modern guitar. He's been around since the heyday of Kingston club life with combos like the Eric Deans Orchestra, through to the studio period and the countless hits he both played on and arranged (largely without credit), and on to American neo-ska outfits like Rancid that cite him as an influence. He's also joined in on reggae-jazz outings with longtime companion Monty ...
read moreMonty Alexander: Rocksteady
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by Franz A. Matzner
Monty Alexander’s totally idiosyncratic current release, Rocksteady , a conceptually confounding cross-breed of Jamaican ska, bluesy jazz, and the film scores of classic American Westerns, might have resulted in nothing more than a campy romp if Alexander and guest guitarist Ernest Ranglin weren’t the devilishly talented musicians they once again prove themselves to be. This complex album blends personal nostalgia with a historical revisiting of time, place, and style. Building on their ability to seamlessly weave subtly ...
read moreMonty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin: Rocksteady
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by C. Michael Bailey
...I wanna back to the islands Where the shrimp boats tie up to the pilin' Gimme oysters and beer For dinner every day of the year and I'll feel fine I'll feel fine... Rocksteady is officially Monty Alexander's recording. His deal with Telarc, now being realized, was that he record a straight jazz recording and then one of his own choosing. This is the latter. Mr. Alexander, along with his Jamaican brother Ernest Ranglin, ...
read moreErnest Ranglin: Gotcha!
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by AAJ Staff
All of a sudden, Ernest Ranglin is moving out front to receive the recognition he has long deservedand which he has long received from knowing fellow musiciansas a result of his signing with Telarc Records at the urging of his fellow native Jamaican and long-time friend, Monty Alexander. Long respected by the likes of Randy Weston, Melba Liston, Bob Marley and Sonny Rollins, even as Marley eclipsed Ranglin in public recognition, Ranglin suddenly is being appreciated for the master guitarist ...
read moreErnest Ranglin: Modern Answers To Old Problems
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by Ed Kopp
Few musicians blend pop and jazz as gracefully as 68-year-old Ernest Ranglin. His smash 1996 release Below the Bass line and follow-up Memories of Barber Mack effectively mixed jazz with reggae. On his last release In Search of the Lost Riddim (1998), the Jamaican guitar virtuoso extended his jazz-reggae recipe to include pop music from Senegal and vocals by Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal.Modern Answers to Old Problems is similar to its immediate predecessor, but this time the focus ...
read moreBackgrounder: Ernest Ranglin's Wranglin'
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Ernest Ranglin is one of Jamaica's finest jazz, ska, mento and rock-steady guitarists. Best of all, he has always mixed them up while playing—a technique that is astonishing and has always left me speechless. In 1962, when the James Bond film Dr. No was being shot in Jamaica, Ranglin was hired to compose music for some of the Jamaican scenes. The following year Ranglin played guitar on and arranged My Boy Lollipop, sung by Millie Small. The song reached No. ...
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Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae Music
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
You're in for a pre-Thanksgiving treat. Yesterday, I posted on a 1964 Jamaican mini documentary on ska, the island's dominant dance music of the early 1960s. Today. I found a high-resolution print of Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae Music (2009). It followed ska by slowing ska down and adding a soulful groove in the mid-1960s, setting the stage for reggae's political-themed emergence in the early 1970s. I love rocksteady. It's soft, gentle and hypnotic. And I love rocksteady covers of ...
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Ernest "Ernie" Ranglin in Demand at 78
![Ernest "Ernie" Ranglin in Demand at 78](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/ca8678d73bd6563bf24e22143ff41822.jpg)
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JamaicaMusic Offbeat
Ernest 'Ernie" Ranglin O.D, Jamaica's legendary guitarist who pioneered Jamaica's fertile reggae and ska scene of the late 1950s and early '60s and who's celebrated for his fluent and versatile guitar style, coupled with his arrangement skills is in constant demand at 78 (June 19. In recent years, Ernest Ranglin has gone back to his roots and has made various cross cultural collaborations and concept albums including Below the Bassline on which he covers some of the greatest ...
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Toronto's Harbourfront Centre Presents Ernest Ranglin and the Bad Plus for Free on Sunday August 5, Friday August 10 and Sunday August 12!
![Toronto's Harbourfront Centre Presents Ernest Ranglin and the Bad Plus for Free on Sunday August 5, Friday August 10 and Sunday August 12!](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/logo/bd38a72ed12128b10ddc05c6087dacb8.jpg)
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All About Jazz
Toronto's Harbourfront Centre presents internationally known Jazz artists like Ernest Ranglin and The Bad Plus for free on Sunday August 5, Friday August 10 and Sunday August 12! Pioneering Jamaican Jazz-Ska guitarist Ernest Ranglin (August 5 at 3 p.m. ) and effervescent Jamaican pianist Kathy Brown (August 5 at 2 p.m.) perform as part of the Island Soul festival. On August 10, as part of the Hot and Spicy Food festival, innovative U.S. trio The Bad Plus perform one of ...
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CIUT FM Live Remote Broadcast of Ernest Ranglin and Kathy Brown August 5
![CIUT FM Live Remote Broadcast of Ernest Ranglin and Kathy Brown August 5](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/76f14a5ca567000df6081c1c1414e83f.jpg)
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All About Jazz
We love summer because it means we get to do more live remote broadcasts! We're getting in the van and heading to these amazing events, and we'll be bringing them directly to you! Ernest Ranglin and Kathy Brown Sunday August 5, 1:00pm - 6:00pm CIUT is thrilled to broadcast performances by two of Jamaica's most celebrated artists live from the Harbourfront Centre Stage, performing as part of Island Soul, a Caribbean-inspired extravaganza featuring Calypso and Reggae legends. A ...
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Master Craftsman The Voice, July 27, 1998 Forty years ago the acclaimed jazz guitarist Ernest Ranglin became Island Record's first signing and helped make a mint for its then owner, Chris Blackwell. Now Blackwell is hoping that Ranglin's distinctive...
Ernest Ranglin, Mike Atherton talks to 'the King of the Ska Guitar' Record Collector, December, 1997 He's enjoyed many accolades over the years. He was responsible for the first LP ever to appear on the Island imprint in Jamaica, long before the label reached the U.K. He is "probably the most outstanding...