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Lynn TaittText by Harry Hawks

The beautiful rock steady music created by Lynn Taitt & The Jets between 1966 and 1968 provided the basis for all that was to follow...

Lynn Taitt

Real Name	Nearlin Taitt
Born	Jun 22, 1934
Died	Jan 20, 2010
Place of Birth	San Fernando Trinidad Tobago
Related Artist(s)	Gladstone Anderson Jets

Many cultures and races have combined in Jamaica to make a unified whole: 'Out Of Many One People'. Many forms of music and many musicians, whose origins lay outside the island, have wielded varying degrees of influence on Jamaica's rich musical history. Trinidadian Lynn Taitt is one of the most significant ever.

"The first set of tunes I did was with Lynn Taitt... the greatest man that came to Jamaica and changed the whole beat from ska to rock steady was from Trinidad... but Byron Lee did bring him come to Jamaica as an organist. But he started playing guitar and the rest is history!" Bunny Striker Lee

"Rock steady was a great change from the ska... Lynn Taitt... he's the man who changed Jamaican music right round from ska to rock steady." Derrick Morgan

Born in San Fernando, Trinidad 22nd June 1934 Nearlin 'Lynn' Taitt began his musical career when he was "eight or nine years old" as a steel pan player. At the age of fifteen he acquired a guitar which he played in a group called The Dutchy Brothers but, after two years, Lyn left to form his own group. In 1962 the group were given a contract by Byron Lee to travel to Jamaica to play at the Independence celebrations. Lynn decided to stay in Kingston and joined The Sheiks then The Cavaliers before forming Lynn Taitt & The Comets who played live dates and also began to make records. Lynn's first hit recording was 'Shank I Sheck' for King Edwards where he played with Baba Brooks and his band.

After signing to Federal Records in 1966 he formed Lynn Taitt & The Jets and created what is reckoned to be the first ever rock steady record: 'Take It Easy' by Hopeton Lewis.

"Hopeton Lewis came to the Federal Recording Studio with a song called 'Take It Easy' and I find the ska was too fast. Very, very fast. So I told them let's do this one slow. Very slow. And as the music got slower it had spaces. The slower the music it have more spaces to do something with so I put a bass line and I play in unison with the bass and I get a bass line. And the piano, sometimes I strum, sometimes I play a bass line with the bass. That was the first slow song... nothing else was slow at that time. Everything had been ska." Lynn Taitt

Despite the fact that rock steady lasted only two years the extent to which Lynn Taitt's playing, arrangements and rock steady rhythms have influenced the sound of Jamaican music is incalculable. Not many records were solely credited to Lynn Taitt & The Jets but, as the most in demand session player in Kingston between 1966 and 1968, the records that Lyn and his band played on are numbered in their thousands.

"They may call me for a session at nine in the morning till twelve noon and another session would start at one and finish at four with another one at five till eight at night... so maybe four sessions a day, five sessions a day for different promoters." Lynn Taitt

In rock steady the bass no longer gave equal emphasis to every beat but instead played a repeated pattern that syncopated the rhythm. The rhythmic focus shifted to the drums and bass where it has remained ever since. The horns that had dominated ska were no longer prevalent and vocalists, influenced by American soul singers, now began to come into their own. Credit has to be given to piano player, Gladstone 'Gladdy' Anderson(Gladstone Anderson), who was also a musical arranger for The Jets. Gladdy gave this new music a name on finishing the final take of 'Take It Easy' when he remarked on the 'rock steady' nature of the rhythm. Another of his not so well known roles was as translator for Lynn:

"I had a really strong Trinidadian accent...the Jamaicans didn't really understand it fully so Gladdy used to look after all of that. Talk to the singers and get everything clear." Lynn Taitt

The inherent beauty and understated elegance of rock steady are truly beyond compare and have held Jamaican music in a vice like grip for over forty years. Its enduring appeal proved pivotal to all that followed as each successive chapter in reggae's development relied on its rhythms, bass lines, musical motifs, lyrical pre-occupations, melodies and songs. The lyrics became increasingly important as the slower pace and open nature of the music allowed vocalists the room to voice not only their traditional avowals of love and affection but also their discontent and disaffection.

There were other rock steady bands including Bobby Aitken & The Carib Beats, Duke Reid's Treasure Isle house band Tommy McCook & The Supersonics (who often featured Lynn Taitt) and The Soul Brothers and The Soul Vendors (who would also feature an uncredited Lynn Taitt) at Coxsone Dodd(CS Dodd)'s Studio One but the achievements of Lynn Taitt & The Jets remain unmatched in the history of Jamaican music. However, Lynn was always a modest, self-deprecating figure.

"It was a pleasure to get up and get an idea and put your idea on to a record and to have the public like what you do is a great gift. At the time we were not thinking of it from a business aspect. We were just interested in creating beautiful music... (I'm) just an ordinary guitar player trying to continue the heritage of black music from the West Indies." Lynn Taitt

In August 1968, after two years of unprecedented and unparalleled musical creativity, Lynn was offered a contract to work as musical arranger for the house band at The West Indian Federated Club in Toronto, Canada. He "jumped at the chance" and left Jamaica never to return.

"Give me some soul Bassie (Bryan Atkinson)
A skinful of drums (Joe Isaacs)
A tickle of ivory Gladdy (Gladstone Anderson)
A dash of ska Hux (Hux Brown)
A few strings of Lyn Taitt ..."
Soul Food – Lynn Taitt & The Jets

Lynn Taitt died in Toronto, Canada 20th January 2010

Sources:
Robert Schoenfeld: Interview with Lyn Taitt
Dub Catcher Volume 1 Issue 4 June 1992

Date Added: Nov 22, 2016