Day 323 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Soul Vendors - Swing Easy
What the hell, let's do Studio One this week! We're gonna start the 47th week of the 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge with a little something by the Soul Vendors! The Soul Vendors were the reincarnation of Studio One's house band The Soul Brothers during the rocksteady era and featured a line-up that reads like the veritable who's who of Jamaican music; Jackie Mittoo, Hux Brown, Denzil Laing, Joe Isaacs, and Brian Atkinson with sit-ins like Roland Alphonso, Bobby Ellis, Headley Bennett, Vin Gordon, Dizzy Moore, Lenox Brown, Lester Sterling and David Madden! Obviously an impressive array of musicians and an even more impressive sound that makes their recording absolutely timeless. According to what I've read, the Soul Vendors recorded a minimum of twelve songs a day for five days a week from 1966 to 1968 - that's some serious studio time! Take for instance today's track "Swing Easy," in my opinion it is one of the smoothest tunes to ever come out of Brentford Road. "Swing Easy" originally appeared in 1967 on the flip of The Bassies "River Jordan" on the Coxsone label and while I enjoy the vocal tune well enough the Soul Vendors track is an absolute scorcher! And, you wanna hear something wild? Dizzy Moore's trumpeting throughout "Swing Easy" was borrowed from the violin melody in the song "Tradition" from... wait for it... the soundtrack of the 1964 Broadway musical Fiddle On The Roof! How's that for obscure?
