Taitt, left, ushered in the rock-steady era by arranging and playing on two of its earliest recordings
The Trinidadian guitarist "Lyn" Taitt, who has died of cancer aged 75, was one of the most important contributors to the rock-steady style that ruled Jamaica in the mid-1960s. Taitt's intricate picking defined many a rock-steady standard, while his skill as an arranger brought numerous hits in the ska style that preceded rock steady, as well as the early reggae style that followed.
The second of four sons fathered by a shipwright in San Fernando, Trinidad, Taitt displayed musical ability from an early age, and would tap rhythms on the edge of a barrel. Teddy Clarke, the leader of a local steel band called Bataan, gave Taitt and his brother, Cedric, some old pans to practise on, much to the chagrin of their mother. With Cedric and a trio of brothers from the neighbourhood, Taitt formed a steel band called Seabees, performing at school fairs and other social functions. He was so accomplished as a soloist by the end of his teens that he won first prize at an island-wide music competition in 1956.
Taitt had taught himself to play the cuatro (a small stringed instrument, similar to the ukulele), which he would use to perform traditional parang songs at Christmas, and soon mastered the guitar – he acquired one that a drunken sailor had abandoned while on shore leave. In the late 1950s, he played guitar in a Latin jazz group called the Dutchy Brothers, formed by the five sons of a Surinamese immigrant (three of whom also played in Seabees), before ultimately fronting his own group, the Nearlin Taitt Orchestra.
In August 1962, Taitt's orchestra travelled to Jamaica with the calypsonians Lord Melody and Lord Blakie for a two-week tour that coincided with the island's independence celebrations. He remained in Jamaica with the help of a local bandleader and promoter, Byron Lee. Taitt swiftly joined the Sheikhs, a noted ska act, as a rhythm guitarist, and later became prominent in a rival band, the Cavaliers, as a guitarist and arranger.
Taitt's debut recording session yielded Shank I Sheck, one of the biggest-selling ska instrumentals. He then became a mainstay of Duke Reid's production stable and was featured on Justin Hinds's Carry Go Bring Come, but began moonlighting for Studio One on Sundays, replacing Jah Jerry on Skatalites recordings. Taitt subsequently formed the Comets, a live club act that became so highly regarded that Prince Buster took them to Europe in 1967 for his first continental tour.
Taitt ushered in the rock-steady era by arranging and playing on two of its earliest recordings, Hopeton Lewis's Take It Easy and Roy Shirley's emotional Hold Them, both hugely popular. After backing every rock-steady hit-maker, supporting Alton Ellis's Girl I've Got a Date, Desmond Dekker's 007 and Derrick Morgan's Tougher Than Tough, Taitt played with his new group, the Jets, on influential early reggae hits including the Melodians' Little Nut Tree, Keith and Tex's Stop That Train and Johnny Nash's Hold Me Tight.
In August 1968, Taitt travelled to Toronto to lead a band at the West Indies Federated Club. He decided to remain in Canada and settled in Montreal a few years later. In addition to working again with artists he knew in Jamaica, such as Phyllis Dillon, the Paragons and Prince Buster, Taitt also collaborated with Canadian acts such as Mossman and Jason Wilson, and was a member of the versatile fusion group, La Gioventu. He was also featured at the Montreal jazz festival in 2002 and 2006.
He is survived by his wife, Francine, their son, Anthony, and a son from a previous relationship in Jamaica.
Nearlin “Lyn” Taitt, musician, bandleader and arranger, born 22 June 1934; died 20 January 2010
Replies