In the late fifties and early sixties, Southern Marines Steel Orchestra was considered by many to be the sweetest sounding steelband in San Fernando.
A big part of the reason was because their captain, Milton "Squeezer" Lyons, one of the band's founding members , was also one of the best pan tuners in the land at that time.
So Marines were famous for having the sweetest pans around, even in later years when Squeezer was assisted by youngsters like Burch Kellman and Karloff Alleyne.
One of the reasons for this sweet sound, was the five note bass, also referred to by it's fans as the "singing bass".
This single pan, five note bass pan was easily maneuverable on the road and gave the arranger flexibility with bass arrangements that was as yet still uncommon, since the trend towards wheeled carriages was still in its infancy.
I remember how the players, and I must make special note of a Bajan panman called Surgeon, would make those pans 'sing"; and they helped to create that sweet sound on the road that had Sando people shouting as we came down Pointe a Pierre Road towards High Street,
"Look de Marabella Band!"
I've never heard anyone speak about this pan , or seen it mentioned in any discussion, so this leads me to wonder, was this pan unique to Southern Marines?
Did any other band feature this pan?
This pan disappeared as the bass became a three pan, and then a five pan bass, but we Southern Marines fans loved that pan, and we all tried to "take a knock" on it whenever we could.
Does anyone know the history of this pan? I've always been curious about that.
Replies
The 5 note tune boom was widely used by traditional bands long ago and up to today. The notes used today are basically the same, Low G; Low A, C; D; E, but the odd band may differ. I saw a video from the mid 1950's with a band moving and playing with the notes mentioned marked on it. I phoned my pal who has it, to get the name of the band, but he was on the road, so when I get it I'll give the info. Some arrangers have requested of tuners to make more room on the drum to accommodate an F, carrying some of them to a 6 note tune boom.
Hey gerard greetings, i can remember around 1961 or 1962, Casablanca had a three bass, each containing five notes. This three bass was used until the band progressed to four base. These were tenor bass pans. If you want further information on this ,ask "One Man", Augustus Mark, still leader of Casablanca.
This is the kind of info I was wondering about, Gerald.
You're right about the notes on the pan.
I felt that this pan played a significant part of a top San Fernando steelband way into the mid sixties, long after the "cuff boom "era, and I wondered why there was no mention of it anywhere, and I was curious if the pan was commonly used in that era by other bands besides Southern Marines.
So the pans Glenroy is referring to is the same as the tune boom?
I remember 5-note bass pan instruments being around up to the mid/late 60s, but can anyone confirm when the 6-note bass was introduced or became the standard?
Thanks, Peter
Like I said, we were sort of in transition to the modern carriages in the early sixties, so although bands had five and six pan basses, they were not yet on the road.
The 55 gallon five note single pan bass played such an important role in the sound of Southern Marines back then that I wondered is other bands favored it, since I wasn't aware of any.
And this was the time when southern marines was playing bomb tunes like Handel's Largo on the road, and in 63 won the first south panorama competition.
As a matter of fact, back then the band was so sweet, that out of jealousy we were attacked on the Coffee on Carnival Tuesday night by "Gons" and his badjohn "Market Boys" friends from Guinness Gondoliers:) .
And you're right, Cecil, the five note bass pan could be considered a high bass, along with the two and three note low basses.
And BTW, I must also mention that sometimes the two note bass is called the "du-doop" , but its not.
The two note bass, like the three note and five note basses were all fifty five gallon drums on wheels in the era I'm referencing ( again in Sando, ah doh know what Allyuh was doing in town), whereas the du-doop was a smaller drum, sometimes carried by a strap over the shoulder.
And please remember , guys, I'm speaking about personal observations of a specific era in pan history.
You right bout the du-dup, Glenroy ... it was a single (somewhat smaller) drum played and carried by one person, with one deeper note and one higher note. It was the central piece of the engine room in early pan sides and small pan-roun-de-neck sides, and still in use today. The name derives from the alliteration of the sound the drum made [dup, du dup dup dup, etc. ...]
Peter
Glenroy: back in the 60s, the 5-bote bass instrument functioned as the bass voice in the orchestra.
Peter
Funny enough, When Tripoli went on tour, We had a four pans called the High Bass and the Five pans together called the Low Bass. Three pans together cut three-quarter length called the Cellos.
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