Reggae Soul: The Fusion of R&B and Jamaican Music

20th century Jamaican music owes African-American music an enormous debt. Ska, rocksteady, reggae, ragga, dancehall, and reggae fusion have all fused the various musical traditions of black Americans and Jamaica in such a way that it is sometimes difficult to tell who influenced who. For example, Jamaican and West Indian immigrants played a large role in hip-hop music in New York and other East Coast cities because they brought the dj and mc traditions of Jamaican sound systems (a tradition that started in the 1950s with the ghetto residents of Kingston) to the United States. However, ska music and its derivatives all owe some something to American doo wop, soul, and jazz. In this post, I endeavor to provide multiple examples of American and Jamaican songs which I believe represent the best of this longstanding tradition of musical exchanges between the Caribbean and the United States. The songs themselves will be mostly post-1950s music with artists such as Lauryn Hill, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Alton Ellis, Shaggy, Alton Ellis, and Jazmine Sullivan represented. Indeed, some of my favorite "soul" music is actually by Jamaican musicians interpreting American soul or by African-Americans incorporating reggae and other Jamaican music forms into their work.

It all began in the 1950s when the radio became more affordable for working class Jamaicans. Audiences were tuning into radio from New Orleans and DJs who ran the sound systems began to import more records from the United States. New Orleans R&B was incredibly influential on Jamaican musicians as it became a preferred dance music. Jamaican musicians themselves began to play in the often bluesy 1950s R&B style, eventually adding elements of calypso to the forula. This fusion of calypso and American music in its early stages often retained elements of the African-American boogie woogie and other blues forms whilst adding a unique Caribbean rhythm. The following youtube links are several examples of Jamaican or American music which successfully combine elements of soul, R&B, blues, ska, calypso, rocksteady, and reggae.

Fats Domino, My Blue Heaven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjRN-74qPuc
Fats Domino Be My Guest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFX8ujF55bE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciTbj4SX4AM Reggae Merenge, sample in Lily Allen's LDN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTmgVyznNic Fats Domino, Jambalaya on The Bayou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxhkE6Qj7NA Oh Carolina, early ska (notice the great drumming)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-6i1sXrsx0 Laurel Aitken, Boogie in My Bones (Jamaican ska, very early)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWufkk1iAgs Don Drummond, Man in the Street (1965 ska instrumental)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4bselRH23Q Delroy Wilson, Dancing Mood (rocksteady song, influenced by 1960s soul)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM-ANjhOzV4 Derrick Morgan, Forward March
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIqxnSo-gQ Desmond Dekker, 007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFQSut_eG-k Dawn Penn, You Don't Love Me (cover of a blues classic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nty-4vUmh-s Bob Marley and The Wailers, It Hurts to Be Alone (based on the Impressions, Chicago soul group)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR8XrBKLc1E Alton Ellis, I'm Still In Love With You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IOSp_26BIA The Impressions, I'm So Proud
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn6yd95fG10&feature=related The Wailers, Cry To Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3F1iWkHhLI Alton Ellis, Cry Tough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=PaWQb1Aw8tM The Wailers, I Need You So (cover of early Temptations song?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr92BdWiiRM Jazmine Sullivan, I Need You Bad (recent R&B hit with reggae rhythm)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF0TzvImsl0 Erykah Badu, In Love with You ft. Stephen Marley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ6jPPyLto4 Colombian song from the 1950s that was ultimately sampled by Lily Allen for LDN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR7yhWT-XLA&feature=related The Wailers, I'm Still Waiting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTQL42onK08 Lauryn Hill, Forgive Them Father (sampled Bob Marley's Concrete Jungle)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA8UEWLUkd0 The Fugees, No Woman No Cry (cover of Bob Marley classic with hip-hop drums)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCAjfcQGdQk&NR=1 The Wailers, Oh, My Darling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfZPilsfIL4 Wyclef Jean, Gunpowder (sorta Jamaican-influenced)
K'Naan, In Jamaica http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp564QsEgPA
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPfR24E0mRw Damian Marley, Welcome to Jamrock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pslgz9o8meM Shaggy, It Wasn't Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MmB20Tizik Bilal, Is This Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6NNGVHrqho Bob Marley, Waiting in Vain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejUjEpyGeLY Bilal, Home (reggae song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFm5fx80o44 Bad Brains, I Luv I Jah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx3sQzn7loY Alton Ellis, Rocksteady
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5UL7LqkuA Amy Winehouse's Cupid (a cover of Sam Cooke's Cupid with a reggae beat)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rylbj33b8qA&feature=related Amy Winehouse, Money Man (old ska song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2k-xdPCyI0&feature=fvst Amy Winehouse, Valerie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58w2RM4vFDw The Techniques, Queen Majesty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roMuj6qSinE The Wailers, One Love (early version with ska/rocksteady beat)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65p3oons98 Alton Ellis, Why Birds Follow Spring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZ5gVQFG8U The Wailers, Teenager in Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecw5iArVPqg&feature=related Alton Ellis If I Could Rule This World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvzthjJI9Xg&feature=related Alton Ellis, Girl I've Got a Date
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVn_Wcu-BKQ The Paragons, The Tide Is High
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNS6D4hSQdA&feature=player_embedded Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Tracks of My Tears was influenced by Harry Belafonte's recording of Jamaican music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez2wYCRjYyY Santigold, Shove It