Toppa Top 10: Reggae’s Greatest Bassists

Words by Natalie Weiner and Martei Korley, Photo by Martei Korley—

“I decided to play the bass…because the drum, it is the heartbeat, and the bass, it is the backbone,” the Wailers’ Aston “Family Man” Barrett said recently. “If the drummer is not right, the music is gonna have a bad heart. And if the bass is not right, the music is gonna have a bad back.” Quite simply, without the bass, there is no reggae. On that note—literally—we’re closing our our trilogy of lists spotlighting reggae’s most important musicians—check out the toppa top guitarists here, and count down the don dadas of reggae drums here—with the genre’s baddest bassists.

Click here to start the list.

10. Tony Gad

Tony Gad is the longtime bassist for the UK’s greatest reggae band, Aswad, starting out on keyboard duties and moving to bass following the departure of co-founder George Oban. Gad’s playing is extremely forward and recognizable, as Aswad’s production was often unique in underscoring the bass line with keyboards instead of pick guitar. Together with the fantastic Drummie Zeb, Gad helped Aswad become one of reggae’s most versatile bands, equally adept at lovers rock, roots, dub and raggamuffin. While their 1982 set New Chapter was a big underground hit in the UK, A New Chapter of Dub was even bigger. And ’83’s Live and Direct is one of the best live reggae sets ever recorded, not least because of Gad’s playing.

The Swad, as the non-vocal part of the group was called, also produced records for Maxi Priest and Burning Spear, and collaborated with great producers like Gussie Clarke (Keyboard Bass? Not a problem!) and Jah Shaka. Here’s the whole band, live at Glastonbury in ’82:

9. Donald “Danny Bassie” Dennis

Donald “Danny Bassie” Dennis is Kingston’s premier session bassist, laying down studio work for a massive number of artists in any given year. A founding member of the Firehouse Crew, he is at once the fresh kid on the block and the youngest veteran. His playing is unmistakeable: he creates exquisite natural compression and is equally adept at roots, dub, dancehall and funkier styles. His basslines have graced most of Sizzla’s premium catalog (Think “Taking Over”), plus Capleton’s “Ton Load” and Pressure Buss Pipe’s “Love and Affection,” to name a few standouts. Whatever riddim he touches, Bassie just rounds out the sharp corners with his sustain.

Recently, he’s been touring with Protoje, whose “Hail Rastafari” showcases his talent very prominently. We expect to see lots more great things from this master of his trade.

8. Derrick Barnett

Known for his showmanship, Derrick Barnett is widely regarded as dancehall’s greatest live bassist, setting a new standard with his lively performances. Barnett got his start as a member of the 1982 Reggae Sunsplash house band, backing artists including Yellowman and Sister Nancy. That performance was so successful that the musicians continued to perform together as the Sagittarius Band, playing and recording with basically every major dancehall artist of the era.

The introduction of “Dancehall Night” at Reggae Sunsplash beginning in 1987 highlighted Barnett’s pull with artists, as they would dialog with him and integrate him into their performances, dance moves and all. Typically backing dozens of artists during sets that could keep them on stage for eight hours without break, The Sagittarius Band were essentially the first entity to perform live in a fashion that reflected the way selectors would back artistes. (A singer as well, Barnett released his own tunes under the pseudonym Rikki Barnett with enough success that the Sagittarius Band began performing independently around Jamaica.) 

 Watch how Barnett turns it up with Ninjaman back in ’89 in the first video, then check a 1985 live performance featuring Saggitarius backing Barrington Levy, Tenor Saw, Echo Minott and others for a glimpse at the band at its peak::

7. Lloyd Brevett

For Lloyd Brevett, often referred to as the father of Jamaican bass, music was always a family affair: Brevett learned the instrument from his father David, a bassist who lead a jazz big band in the ’40s and ’50s. Known for his emotive, walking bass style, which appears laid-back and punchy all at once, the younger Brevett developed a new Afrocentric Jamaican sound by fusing elements of Cuban music forms with Jazz.

The Skatalites were only together for a year and a half after forming in 1964 (though they’ve continued to re-emerge in some form periodically up until the current day, albeit without late trombonist Don Drummond) but, during that time, Brevett defined the ska bass sound, playing on an upright acoustic bass, as the band backed a young Wailers and Lee Perry, among others, while releasing their own classic instrumentals.

Embracing Rastafari at a pivotal point following Jamaica’s independence in 1962, the Skatalites were in a unique position to create popular music with a foundation in a spiritual realm. As such, their music represents the first instance in which the bass effectively replaced a drum sound, as Burru and Nyabinghi riddims were being reworked into a popular format.

Though Brevett never learned to read music, he continued to play in the years after the band dissolved, taking on session gigs at Studio One. His first production effort, 1975’s African Roots, brought the Skatalites together with the Sons of Negus and guitarist Ernest Ranglin at Black Ark studios for a more classically reggae sound. Watch Brevett live with the Skatalites below, and listen to one of his and Drummond’s most distinctive basslines on “Man In The Street.”

6. Jackie Jackson

Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle studio was the epicenter of the rocksteady sound, and the majority of the records cut there share a very important asset: bassist Jackie Jackson. The Kingston native began his musical career as a pianist; after hearing Lloyd Brevett rehearsing one day, however, he decided to try upright bass—in his words, “the piano has 88 keys and I only have 10 fingers.”

He quickly put those four strings to work, joining Tommy McCook’s Supersonics, the house band at Treasure Isle. The band’s first recording, Alton Ellis’ “Girl I’ve Got a Date” is often cited as the first rocksteady recording—certainly, its success around Jamaica helped put the genre on the map. The Paragons, The Techniques, The Melodians—Jackson backed just about all of rocksteady’s key vocal groups, laying down the melodic, but rocksteady lines that would set the tone for reggae. As far as reggae proper, that too is a sound he would actively define as a member of Toots and the Maytals (with whom he continues to record and tour to this day), playing on records including 1969’s “Pressure Drop.”

5. Boris Gardiner

Boris Gardiner achieved his greatest fame as a crooner, even scoring a number one in the UK with “I Want To Wake Up With You” in the ’80s, but he’s been most prolific as a bass player. Gardiner was a go-to session musician in Jamaica throughout the late 1960s and 70s, playing for various bands including the Upsetters and the Now Generation, backing up Marcia Griffiths (“Feel Like Jumping“) Larry & Alvin (“Nanny Goat,”) and the Heptones at Studio One.

Gardiner began his music career as a vocalist: bass is something he picked up while on tour with Carlos Malcolm’s ska band, filling in at the last-minute—even then, there were never enough bassists. A longtime associate of Lee “Scratch” Perry, the ever-experimental Gardiner dabbled in soul and funk with his Boris Gardner Happening band during the ’70s: his bass playing has always had a bouncy quality that works within multiple genres. Perhaps most notably, the title track from the film score for the 1973 film Every N***** Is A Star became a cult classic that’s been reinterpreted by everyone from Big Youth, to Super Cat. Listen to his first full solo album, 1970’s Reggae Happening:

4. George “Fully” Fullwood

Creating the bassline for Stalag 17, the ubiquitous riddim track behind Tenor Saw’s “Ring the Alarm,” Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” and countless other dancehall classics, might have been enough to get Fully Fullwood on this list but his influence goes far deeper. As the co-founder of session band Soul Syndicate, Fullwood backed most of the era’s major artists, including Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Together with Earl “Chinna” Smith and Carlton “Santa” Davis, Soul Syndicate became one of reggae’s most prominent bands, touring with Tosh and Big Youth.

Currently, Fully lives in Southern California, where he continues to record and perform, holding down a weekly gig named for him at Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach. Check out a 1979 performance with Soul Syndicate below, as well as the documentary Word, Sound & Power from that year, featuring Soul Syndicate at their peak.

3. Errol “Flabba” Holt

Errol “Flabba” Holt may have never been particularly flabby, his bass playing has always been fat. With his round, low, rock-solid sound (like Robbie Shakespeare, he’s often played hollow-body Hohner bass guitars in addition to solid-body basses), Holt helped propel the rub-a-dub movement to the forefront of roots reggae with the Roots Radics.

He began playing as a session bassist for artists like Don Carlos and Prince Far I in the early 1970s, releasing his own soundsystem hits “A You Lick Me First” and “Danger Zone” (the latter later re-released in a brilliant Sly & Robbie production.) The Radics formed in 1978, quickly becoming one of Jamaica’s most prolific studio and stage bands as they backed artists like Gregory Isaacs, Bunny Wailer, Freddie McGregor and Israel Vibration. Their forward-thinking work with Barrington Levy, including early hits like “Collie Weed” set the stage for the emergence of dancehall. Holt also produced as well, with credits on “Night Nurse” by Gregory Isaacs and a number of Beres Hammond tracks.

Holt continues to tour and record on his own, and with the Radics—check out an early performance with Gregory Isaacs below, followed by a recent interview.

2. Aston “Family Man” Barrett

What Bob Marley is to reggae, Family Man is to reggae bass—the backbone of the Wailers, prolific session bassist, and producer (oh, and father…with 41 kids to his credit, Family Man has certainly lived up to his name).

Along with his late brother, the drummer Carlton (“Carly”) Barrett, he began playing before he even had an instrument, making his own bass out of whatever he could find. The siblings first formed their band, The Hippy Boys, in the late 1960s, playing Kingston nightclubs and on recording sessions for Lee Perry (though they had some of their own hits as well). The Barretts started recording with The Wailers in 1969, and the rest is pretty much history.

Family Man’s contributions to the Wailers went beyond just creating some of reggae’s most memorable basslines—he at times acted as band leader, co-writing 11 songs with Marley and keeping a close eye on every aspect of production. Barrett’s playing developed stylistically over the span of his career: tracks like “Ambush in the Night” practically feature the bass guitar a lead instrument. He has also played lots of sessions for other artists, including some of the finest work by Burning Spear and Israel Vibration. But it is his imaginative grooves that have cemented his place in the history of the instrument, not just for reggae but for bassists around the world—try imagining any Wailers tune without its bassline. For a taste of Barrett’s live prowess, watch this performance at London’s Rainbow Theatre in London from 1977’s Exodus tour (also the basis for that year’s Bob Marley and the Wailers Live! album). Though he’s hardly visible, Family Man’s bass is front and center, dominating the mix.

1. Robbie Shakespeare

Fifty thousand records—that’s among the most conservative estimates regarding the output of Sly & Robbie, the drum-and-bass duo whose inimitable musical connection has made them one of the world’s most highly regarded—and busy—rhythm sections and production units. Shakespeare learned the instrument from Family Man, later replacing him in several bands he’d left while moving on to the next thing, but would go on to develop a vastly different, more straight ahead and minimalist, playing style from his mentor once he found his groove.

Following a time with Bunny Lee’s house band The Aggrovators, Robbie met Sly Dunbar in 1975, when both joined producer JoJo Hookim’s band, The Revolutionaires at Channel One Studio. (Though his first classic recordings came playing opposite Leroy “Horsemouth ” Wallace, the ultimate rockers-style drummer, on Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey.) The duo’s first official production as Sly & Robbie would not be until 1980, on Gregory Isaacs’ Showcase LP, however. Taking on Black Uhuru as their own band and project at this time, they released a string of classic LPs with the vocal trio, gaining reggae music’s first ever Grammy, for 1983’s Anthem. The Riddim Twins, as they became known, went on to play a major role in reggae’s transition from roots into dancehall, putting their production spin on groups and artists from Culture to Sugar Minott and Half Pint, consistently foretelling innovations like the rockers vibe and rub-a-dub riddims, and bringing Indian rhythms into dancehall a decade later via their Bam Bam riddim.

Some of their greatest success was found beyond reggae—working with Chris Blackwell at Island Records, as part of the Compass Point All-Stars in the ’80s, they made their presence felt in dance and pop music, working with the likes of Grace Jones and Robert Palmer. In any context, Robbie’s extremely forceful, almost robot-like playing is unique, as his deceptively sloppy lines belie some of the most technical basslines in the genre (see Black Uhuru’s “Botanical Roots.” for an example).

Get the full “Robbie Basspeare” effect in this wild, dual solo with Sly from a 1981 Black Uhuru show, and some insight into their collective in a more recent interview at France’s Garance Reggae fest.

Honorebel Mention
+1: Leroy Sibbles

Best known as the lead singer of The Heptones and for his lengthy solo career, Leroy Sibbles was perhaps equally influential as a session bassist and producer, making him a true honorebel mention. During the Heptones time at Studio One, he took on bass duties for the label’s studio band Sound Dimension (also known as the Soul Vendors), eventually taking on the role of de facto band leader. There, he designed classic lines for artists including The Abyssinians, Ken Boothe, and Burning Spear, using almost exclusively his thumb, instead of his index and third fingers—a technique that became standard as rocksteady evolved into reggae, as it gave an edgier, deeper sound.

Sibbles’ bass lines have become an integral part of reggae’s vocabulary, brought into new songs with each successive generation. Sibbles continues to perform and maintain a very active social media presence—check out him laying down the Full Up riddim live below, and listen to what is perhaps its most famous manifestation, “Pass The Dutchie,” by Musical Youth.

Honorebel Mention
+2: Ian Lewis

Inner Circle has been making reggae music for almost 40 years—and founding member/bassist Ian Lewis has been the glue the whole way, laying down the groove on ubiquitous hits like “Bad Boys” and “Sweat (A La La La La Long),” and Jacob Miller’s classic “Tenement Yard.” Known as the Fatman Riddim Section, Ian and his guitarist brother Roger have led Inner Circle through many incarnations, from playing Jamaica’s tourist circuit to the backing band for the rebellious Miller to creators of international pop hits.

Based in Florida since the early ’80s, the group has continued to record and perform, and in 1998 opened Circle House Studios in Miami, one of the United States’ most top flight recording facilities. Check out an early incarnation of Third World working out “Forward Ever” with Jacob Miller in the documentary Roots Rock Reggae, followed by an interview with Lewis alongside our next reggae bassist…

Honorebel Mention
+3: Richard “Richie” Daley

You almost can’t mention Inner Circle without talking about Third World (In fact, we interviewed both in a joint 2012 feature) and the same rule applies for their respective bassists—Richie Daley has been holding down the low end for Third World since (almost) their first gig, and continues to find innovative ways to fuse pop and reggae bass. He can drive the riddim as hard as the next guy, but is also a key factor in the funk/R&B bass stylings that made Third World such a crossover success.

The group, which just celebrated their 40th anniversary last year, continues to work despite the recent passing of lead singer William “Bunny Rugs” Clarke: their latest LP, Under the Magic Sun, just dropped yesterday. Watch a 1978 performance of “Now That We Found Love” below, and a recent interview in which Daley discusses the group’s path to success, and moving on without Clarke.