Specials- More Specials

DSCN2237Having just learned of the passing of trombonist Rico Rodriguez just 30 mins ago, I went to the archives to pull this out.  I bought this is Canada sometime in the 90’s.  I did the math and with the exchange rate at the time, it came out to under $5.  Overall, I have been doing a lousy job of keeping up with my musical obits.rico-rodriguez

Rico Rodriquez passed away Sept 4th at the age of 80.  He was born in Cuba in 1935 but raised in Jamaica. He was influenced by The Man on The Street himself, Don Drummond. In 1961, he would leave for the UK as did many Jamaica expats.  What strikes me is that he had quite an illustrate career outside his work with the Specials, working with such luminaries as Clement Dodd, Prince Buster, Duke Reid, Chris Blackwell, Theophilus Beckford, Toots and the Maytals, Sly and Robbie etc. In between, he would make a handful of solo albums, most notably, Man from Wareika. Furthermore,  he would play with Jools Holland’s orchestra from 1996 to 2012.  Despite this and probably because most people of my age link him with his 2 Tone work, this stuff gets overshadowed.DSCN2238

Rico’s Obit

The Special’s remake of “A Message to You Rudy” is the song most of the media is linking him with mainly because he played on both this and the original version.  For a sample, I used two tracks of this 1980 album, “Man from C&A” and “Holiday Fortnight” which have him sharing horn duties with Brittish born Dick Cuthell.

RIP Rico