Jackie Mittoo: Stepping Tiger [SOLID ROOTS]

Why you'll love it

Solid Roots brings back Stepping Tiger, a 1979 set that puts Jackie Mittoo at the keys over deep, echo-laden dub, across eight instrumentals. It's a rare chance to hear the man who shaped the Studio One sound stretch out in full dub mode.

About the album

Some musicians shape a whole genre without ever making the front of the poster. Jackie Mittoo started piano at three under his grandmother's watch in Brown's Town, Jamaica, played in the Skatalites as a teenager and became musical director at Studio One, where his riddims turned up under hit after hit. In 1968 he moved to Toronto, ran a record store, launched the Stine-Jac label and spent the 70s helping the city's reggae scene find its feet.

Stepping Tiger comes from that Toronto decade, and it's a keyboard player's dub record. Mittoo's organ and piano ride on top of heavy bass and drums while the echo and reverb do somersaults around them. "Russian Satelite" bleeps off into orbit, the title track prowls, "Mystic World" gets suitably spacey, and "Sugar Jar" closes things on a sweet, rolling groove. No vocals, no fuss, just the man who taught a generation of Jamaican players where the hook lives.

Mittoo's songs have travelled further than most people realize: Peanie Wallie became the Wailers' Duppy Conqueror, and he co-wrote Armagideon Time, later picked up by the Clash. The first pressing of this album turned up in a plain sleeve with no jacket at all, so this one is, in strictly cardboard terms, a considerable upgrade.

Also at Kops: more Jackie Mittoo on vinyl · browse Reggae & Caribbean

Tracklist

Listen

On Solid Roots (cat# SOR 002), a reissue of the 1979 album.