Toppa Top 10: Addis Pablo Selects 10 Classic Rockers

Words by Addis Pablo—

Augustus Pablo, who would have turned 70 this Saturday, was a pivotal figure for reggae, both as a producer known for his distinctive and often minor-key-dominated sounds, and as music’s first true melodica specialist. The late Pablo’s distinctive sound also carried over to his record label, Rockers International, which released numerous recordings from the ’70s through the ’90s. (Classic reissues from the label, back in press after years out of print, are available in the LargeUp store). Here, his son Addis Pablo, who is taking his father’s instrument of choise into the 21st century with his collective Suns of Dub, has collected some of his favorite tunes from the Rockers catalog, most featuring his father’s inimitable melodica playing.

Click here to start the list.

For more on Pablo’s playing, and his legacy on the melodica, read our Ten Classic Songs with a Melodica feature.

10. Lloyd Hemmings/Augustus Pablo – Ethiopia

When it comes to the people playing the melodica, at least in terms of reggae and dub, 90 percent if not 100 percent got influenced by Augustus Pablo. Of course people like Peter Tosh played it too, but my dad was the one who took it serious, to the full extent. People used to tease him, and make fun of it — a lot of those people are biting their words now.

9. Augustus Pablo – Blowing with the Wind

“Blowing with the Wind” is a classic instrumental in a more modern style, tranquil and vibrant, from Pablo’s 1990 album of the same name.

8. Earl Sixteen – One in a Million

“One in a Million Girl” is a modern version that my dad did featuring some new stuff—the original Cassava Piece riddim with keyboard laid over it. This was one of his later works but the original riddim, Cassava Piece, that it’s played over, is coming from the 70s— [Jacob Miller’s] “Baby I Love You So” and King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown.My dad was very innovative in the sense that he was doing stuff that I would be doing now and taking tapes and adding sounds to it. He was doing that in the 70s, 80s, 90s. He had tapes that he had created from his early teenage days and just kept on working at them throughout the years so its a very interesting journey, musically.

7. Blacka T – A Java

“A Java” is a modern version of “Java” in a deejay style. Blacka T is an artist coming out of Youthman Promotions, Sugar Minott’s camp. He was around them for years, and he did a lot of recordings with Rockers. Hes’ still around in Jamaica right now so we’re actually planning on doing more work with him. But this is a classic, but more modern Rockers. We call it Digital Rockers. My dad is one link in the family of musicians and he

As early as the album East of the River Nile, my dad did versions. He would lay over the track with the musician that he chose and add different lines and different phrases and slightly alter the original melody but it always had the same sound. It never really changed, but he would maybe change the key or the speed or tempo. This was one of the most modern versions [of “Java”] he recorded.

6. Hugh Mundell – My Mind

Hugh Mundell was unfortunately murdered at the age of 21. [Pablo] was working with him from the age of 12 or 13, and they were just close partners from then. This one is a very emotional track. He’s speaking about his mom and his dad and the simple life that everybody can relate to. I think that’s the thing about rockers and my dad’s music and Hugh Mundell — it’s music that you can feel, even if you dont know the culture. It has something that you just gravitate to. It always makes me feel the same way.

5. Augustus Pablo – Hot & Cold

This is coming out of the very legendary Black Ark Records with Lee “Scratch” Perry. One of the good things about my dad and the time that he was coming up [is] he was working with Scratch Perry, King Tubby’s, Bob Marley— everybody—so there’s no way that it couldn’t have worked out. The tracks he did with Scratch were very ethereal. You know Scratch is sort of into the spacey sound so the tracks from melodica are the types of tracks Scratch would choose and they were perfect for melodica and just fit, like it was meant to be. A pressing was done on Rockers but this is one of Scratch’s riddims. The relationship that my dad developed with producers, he was able to play for them, maybe like 10 keyboard sessions, and he would get the riddim. That’s [part of] what helped to build the catalogue of Rockers.

4. Jacob Miller – Too Much Commercialization of Rastafari

It’s s hard not to say anything about Jacob Miller, you have to say everything about him. Jacob Miller is one of the most recognized personalities of that era from the ’70s going into the ’80s outside of Bob Marley and Dennis Brown, so just to know that he was a bredrin of my dad… the kind of music they created together is always a joy to hear.

He was a direct kind of person and that’s important because, as the title suggests, there’s definitely Too Much Commercialization of Rastafari. A lack of management and certain things on our part has allowed a lot of people to take advantage of what we created. At that point, it was still new but people were hearing about it and coming to Jamaica as early as the 1950s [to find out about it]. Columbia University had written to the Rastas. Maybe the public hadn’t heard too much about it but intellectual people and society had realized that something was coming up out of Jamaica, that was Rastafari. I think at that point they realized Rastafari was something to be capitalized upon because it’s just like any other culture, music or resources that somebody can take from you and find a way to market when you’re not able to do the same for yourself.

3. Augustus Pablo – Jah Dread

An interesting story is that one of my dad’s neighbors that went to the Immaculate Conception High School in Jamaica, and she was learning piano, and the melodica was what teachers were using to teach students. It was like a flute—the things you played before you started playing the piano. As they say, it was love at first sight. He never put it down. He just got it from his friend and she never really had much use for it so she just told him to take it and here we are. Its been a long journey but that the story of how it initially got started.

2. Augustus Pablo – Jah Light

I was in Downtown Kingston one day in Randy’s record shop and the guy who runs Randy’s said that this version outsold [Ken Boothe’s original track] “When I Fall in Love” when it was released. So the instrumental version was bigger in a sense but they sold more when it was pressed [as an instrumental]. That was interesting for me, that the instrumental can outsell the vocal.

1. Augustus Pablo – Java

You could say the story all started here. It wasn’t my dad’s first song but it was one of his first hit songs in terms of a song to be recognized both inside and outside of Jamaica. It came out of Randy’s production. Clive Chin all of them were schoolmates along with Tyrone Downey. They all went to KC, Kingston College, so they all grew up together. This is one of Clive’s first productions. He was 19. My dad made this song when he was still in high school—so it was kind of a big deal to have a hit song in high school. From there, “Java” pretty much initiated all the instrumentals and the attention to the melodica as a lead instrument. It made people pay attention to it.