In The Era of The Early Sixties to Present. Which Steelbands Man had the Biggest Impact with the Success of the Steelband That They Represented. ???
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In The Era of The Early Sixties to Present. Which Steelbands Man had the Biggest Impact with the Success of the Steelband That They Represented. ???
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It is very strange that no one has mentioned Neville Jules who was the Captain,the Arranger and the Tuner of Trinidad All Stars since the Late Forties.His name must be added to this group.
I didn't mention everyone , since I just gave examples , but of course Neville Jules should be added to any such list , as should Milton "Wire" Austin , and maybe even Bertie Marshall, since Bertie's Hylanders , though short lived, could be considered a successful and innovative band, and Bertie was definitely the band's architect.
Short sight on my part definitely Bertie Marshall Hylanders, with the amplified pan way ahead of it time.
I know we Trinis like to pick out one and proclaim him as the best,but the question is impossible to answer , since there have been a number of successful steelbands , and key individuals associated with that success.
Remove these individuals from the bands histories , and there will be little if any band history left, and most likely not the success.
I'll mention some names , and I won't even bother to mention the bands, because we all know them.
Ellie Mannette
Anthony Williams
Lennox"Bobby" Mohamed
Rudolf Charles
Junior Pouchet
Len Boogsie Sharpe
Now , remove any of these individuals from the band's history , and see what remains.
In some cases , the band disappears or most likely would have been far less successful.
Of course , common sense tells us that a band's success depends on more than one individual , and the band's internal structure and management also has a lot to do with it's success.
Glenroy, total agreement but also add Robert Greenidge my reasoning pan at a live performance with Grover Washington and Bill Withers something musicians world wide was not aware off.
With All Due Respect to Whoever You Make Like. In terms of Success, in Which the Discussion is All about. It would be Very Hard to Separate Tony Williams and Rudolph Charles. In this Category they are way above who ever is Behind Them. Just The Instrument alone Can Take them to the top. Rudolph went Seeking out the Best Arrangers - The Best Players - The Best Tuners to Make His Band Great. Tony Williams Tuned His Band Pans - Arranged Their Music that Took Pan Am to the Very Top. These Guys Are also Pioneers because of their Creations. Despers is the Top Band in the World all Because of the Dedication and Vision off One Man. The Rocket Pan - The Quadrophonic - Nine and Twelve Bass has Rudolph Charles Imprint, also the Chroming of the Pans which every Band uses Today. Tony Williams 4ths and Fifths are The Pans We Used Today. Its a No Contest with Tony and Rudolph. With the Relevance of this Discussion. They were way above their Peers.
I am referring to the the biggest impact in the New York area to be clear. I am not a Trinidadian, only my parents were. i spent over fifty years playing with different steel bands in the Brooklyn NY area and in my opinion those two (2) gentlemen that I mention before are the front runners along with many others.
n the early days , many steelbands had what my mother would call a "chief cook and bottle washer" but in some cases ,it would be almost impossible to tell who made the biggest impact on their steelbands at any given time without inside information.
There were many individuals who were captain / arranger / tuner like for example Anthony Williams of North Stars ,Milton "Squeezer" Lyons in Marabella , captain /arrangers like Lennox "Bobby " Mohamed and Junior Pouchet for example , who were the central figures in their bands.
You also had tuner/ captains like Bertie Marshall (Hylanders) and Rudolf Charles ( Desperadoes), who were also the chief architects of the bands successes in their eras.
A modern example would be Len "Boogsie" Sharpe.
Though of course change is inevitable, one almost cannot imagine the Phase , without him.
The late Rudolf King and the present Caldera Caraballo. That is a hard question to answer because so many contributed behind the scenes. I could name dozens more but not at this time. aka: Tahzann, aka: Curly