Byron Lee's 1960's hit " Riverbank Jump-up" was also a big hit in Trinidad for The Dutchy Brothers Band of San Fernando , so of course there is a story to go along with it :)In the sixties , a popular feature at dances was the so called "non-stop" dance , featuring at least two dance bands taking turns playing their sets.The Byron Lee orchestra was a very popular dance band in the Caribbean in those days, and would regularly be featured at carnival dances , sometimes in "non stop" dances paired with local Trinidadbands.That year , there was a non stop carnival dance in St Anns that featured the Byron Lee orchestra, paired with the Dutchy Brothers Orchestra of Trinidad.Music was jamming and people were having a blast when the Dutchys started playing their hit, "Riverbank jump-up" to the acclaim of the audience, maybe forgetting that that tune belonged to Byron Lee.Suddenly , as the Dutchys played the tune, the Byron Lee rhythm section started , followed by the entire band.Now remember , the Byron Lee band was a big band , better equipped and more powerful than the Dutchys.The two bands started jamming at each other until the Dutchys gave up , as pianist Ottmar De Vlugt stood up from his keyboards , his face contorted in anger and disgust.And then bottles started flying , and as they say in Trini, " fete done".No one knows who started pelting bottles, but many thought that it was the Dutchy Brothers themselves, who were notorious for their tempers back then, and it was even rumored that they were "strapped" on occasion.Not that I blame the Dutchy boys too much for the incident , as far as I'm concerned they were insulted by Byron Lee's group , and were entitled to be angry.( This story was told to me by one of my best friends who happened to be there)(L-R) Orville, Rudolph, Scanterbury, Ali Ramesar (standing), Nerlin Tate (seated), Peter, Jeffery Camps, Eugene and Ottmar.
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I Like addressing you as Mr. Joseph for the marvelous job that you are doing with when steel talk. Indeed, it is a very cool story and I am very glad that you spoke of it. Correction, referring to false witness was not directed to you my friend, it was directed toward the gentleman that told the story incorrectly to you, but it was meant to be funny as a phrase used frequently related by a second or third party to someone else. Let's forget about all of that. I knew al the while that I know this person and the name keep ringing a bell, Oh' my God, yes I know you and I do remember when my amplifier blew out and we borrowed your amp for the gig, I do remember the I was the personnel manager at Harvey Alumina Plant contracted by "CITRA" Compagnie Industrielle De Travux, French for CITRA, It was a French contractor for Harvey. You have an unclouded memory, I remember your group Silhouettes Combo, you are a friend ofall of the Dutchy Brothers Band and I recall that you and Leo were good friends. You must remember my brother in law Jesse Marshall, electrician, Tall Tom, Sterling Prady who play bongos with Choy Aming Band, and an electrician in St. Croix, you must remember Julian Cumber batch a fellow electrician in St. Croix. You have brought back so many memories, I remember Cosmos Joseph and many of that clique from that era. You remember Earl Lezamar a fantastic guitarist from La Romain, he had his own combo also, later on he played with Ron Berridge fro a while. There is so much to tell which I do want to, but in another chapter. I must tell the storiesof Dutchy Brothers Non Stops with great Steel Bands of the past. According to the great Birdie, the Mightt Sparrow, Yuh now geh me hot. Till next time, send mea personal E-Mail. Much Love God Bless.
Thank you for correcting the story , Orville deVlugt.
One of the purposes of this forum is accurately recording the history of out arts , especially since many of the participants are still around to give an accurate report.
I do not believe I could be considered a false witness , since I made a point of mentioning that the story was told to me by a friend who was there , and sometimes memories get a little clouded as we get older.
However , I think that its a cool story of that era in our culture , and I wanted to tell about the incident.
Btw , we met personally on several occasions , though you may not remember.
Once , when you guys borrowed an amp from a group that I was a member of called Silhouettes combo, and I spent the night with you guys at your gig
And of course , you were in personnel when I hired on at Harvey Alumina as an electrician in St Croix in 1968.
And there is really no need for me to tell you how much I respected and admired you and your band , back in those days , since that was indeed the case..
I agree with Mr. Glenroy R. Joseph, if you are not an eye witness, you are a false witness, I am referring to the person who said that the dance was in St. Anns. Perserverance Hall is in Maraval, Obviously You were there Mr. Hutchinson, the only difference that we have is that I did not hit anyone with a chair, I would not have need a chair, and when we ended River Bank Jump Up and it was Byron Lee's turn, we allowed him to play on, we didn't interrupt by starting to play again, that would have been un-musicianship misconduct, South was the angry guy that came up on the stage yelling at us not to stop playing, he wanted us to over power Byron Lee's performance by shouting out keep playing several times and that when he stumbled on our gear and Earl Rodney crowned him with a beer bottle that did it. Before my dear late friend passed on, he specifically requested of the promoters at Hollywood Park that he must have Dutchys Caribbean Tropicanas play for the opening of his show each time he came to LA. Each time the late Byron Lee met with me, he would always ask me, Dutchy' what really happened that night in Perseverance Hall when we played together that carnival Monday night, I have always explained truthfully to him. The late great Byron Lee was a very good friend of the Dutchy Brothers, when we toured the Caribbean form Tobago to Jamaica we would have the opportunity to perform with Byron Lee at certain events. He was a personal friend of mine, when he come's to LA He would endorse every new CD that he made and give it to my wife and I. Mr. Lee even endorsed his fiftieth anniversary video and gave it to us. All the best and listen to when steel talks. Next time around I will express our experience performing with the different steel bands from our times.
I too was in that fete at Perseverance Hall back then. As I recall, it was now Byron Lee's turn to play and they started playing "Riverbank Jump Up" at their usual slow tempo, when Dutchy Bros., having just completed their set, began playing the same tune but at a much faster tempo. Then this guy came over to Dutchy Bros. swearing at them and demanding that they stop playing, this angered the guitarist, who hit that man with a chair and that is what caused the fight. It is the most amount of bottles I have ever seen pelt in a fete in my life !!!
Comments
Hello Glenroy,
I Like addressing you as Mr. Joseph for the marvelous job that you are doing with when steel talk. Indeed, it is a very cool story and I am very glad that you spoke of it. Correction, referring to false witness was not directed to you my friend, it was directed toward the gentleman that told the story incorrectly to you, but it was meant to be funny as a phrase used frequently related by a second or third party to someone else. Let's forget about all of that. I knew al the while that I know this person and the name keep ringing a bell, Oh' my God, yes I know you and I do remember when my amplifier blew out and we borrowed your amp for the gig, I do remember the I was the personnel manager at Harvey Alumina Plant contracted by "CITRA" Compagnie Industrielle De Travux, French for CITRA, It was a French contractor for Harvey. You have an unclouded memory, I remember your group Silhouettes Combo, you are a friend ofall of the Dutchy Brothers Band and I recall that you and Leo were good friends. You must remember my brother in law Jesse Marshall, electrician, Tall Tom, Sterling Prady who play bongos with Choy Aming Band, and an electrician in St. Croix, you must remember Julian Cumber batch a fellow electrician in St. Croix. You have brought back so many memories, I remember Cosmos Joseph and many of that clique from that era. You remember Earl Lezamar a fantastic guitarist from La Romain, he had his own combo also, later on he played with Ron Berridge fro a while. There is so much to tell which I do want to, but in another chapter. I must tell the storiesof Dutchy Brothers Non Stops with great Steel Bands of the past. According to the great Birdie, the Mightt Sparrow, Yuh now geh me hot. Till next time, send mea personal E-Mail. Much Love God Bless.
Orville DeVlugt "Dutchy"
Thank you for correcting the story , Orville deVlugt.
One of the purposes of this forum is accurately recording the history of out arts , especially since many of the participants are still around to give an accurate report.
I do not believe I could be considered a false witness , since I made a point of mentioning that the story was told to me by a friend who was there , and sometimes memories get a little clouded as we get older.
However , I think that its a cool story of that era in our culture , and I wanted to tell about the incident.
Btw , we met personally on several occasions , though you may not remember.
Once , when you guys borrowed an amp from a group that I was a member of called Silhouettes combo, and I spent the night with you guys at your gig
And of course , you were in personnel when I hired on at Harvey Alumina as an electrician in St Croix in 1968.
And there is really no need for me to tell you how much I respected and admired you and your band , back in those days , since that was indeed the case..
Mr. Hutchinson,
I agree with Mr. Glenroy R. Joseph, if you are not an eye witness, you are a false witness, I am referring to the person who said that the dance was in St. Anns. Perserverance Hall is in Maraval, Obviously You were there Mr. Hutchinson, the only difference that we have is that I did not hit anyone with a chair, I would not have need a chair, and when we ended River Bank Jump Up and it was Byron Lee's turn, we allowed him to play on, we didn't interrupt by starting to play again, that would have been un-musicianship misconduct, South was the angry guy that came up on the stage yelling at us not to stop playing, he wanted us to over power Byron Lee's performance by shouting out keep playing several times and that when he stumbled on our gear and Earl Rodney crowned him with a beer bottle that did it. Before my dear late friend passed on, he specifically requested of the promoters at Hollywood Park that he must have Dutchys Caribbean Tropicanas play for the opening of his show each time he came to LA. Each time the late Byron Lee met with me, he would always ask me, Dutchy' what really happened that night in Perseverance Hall when we played together that carnival Monday night, I have always explained truthfully to him. The late great Byron Lee was a very good friend of the Dutchy Brothers, when we toured the Caribbean form Tobago to Jamaica we would have the opportunity to perform with Byron Lee at certain events. He was a personal friend of mine, when he come's to LA He would endorse every new CD that he made and give it to my wife and I. Mr. Lee even endorsed his fiftieth anniversary video and gave it to us. All the best and listen to when steel talks. Next time around I will express our experience performing with the different steel bands from our times.
Orville Dutchy DeVlugt "The Guitarist"
Thank you for your input , which is obviously a different take on the incident , Ivan Hutchinson.
Which is why I'm very careful when reporting on incidents that I did not personally experience :) .
Sometimes we are present at the same incident , yet see and report it differently.
Which is why experts are beginning to question the reliability of eyewitness testimony in court cases.
I too was in that fete at Perseverance Hall back then. As I recall, it was now Byron Lee's turn to play and they started playing "Riverbank Jump Up" at their usual slow tempo, when Dutchy Bros., having just completed their set, began playing the same tune but at a much faster tempo. Then this guy came over to Dutchy Bros. swearing at them and demanding that they stop playing, this angered the guitarist, who hit that man with a chair and that is what caused the fight. It is the most amount of bottles I have ever seen pelt in a fete in my life !!!