Rico Rodriguez (musician)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Emmanuel "Rico" Rodriguez MBE (17 October 1934 – 4 September 2015), also known as simply Rico, Reco or El Reco, was a Cuban-born Jamaican ska and reggae trombonist. He recorded with many producers, including Karl Pitterson, Prince Buster, and Lloyd "Matador" Daley. He was known as one of the first and most distinguished ska artists, and from the early 1960s performed and recorded in Britain, with The Specials, Jools Holland, and others.
Career
Rodriguez was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved with his family to Jamaica at an early age. He grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, and was taught to play the trombone by his slightly older schoolmate Don Drummond at the Alpha Boys School. In the 1950s, Rodriguez became a Rastafarian and was closely musically to the rasta drummer Count Ossie. In 1961, Rodriguez moved to the UK and started to play in reggae bands. In 1976, he recorded the album, Man from Wareika under a contract with Island Records. In the late 1970s, with the arrival of the 2 Tone genre, he played with ska revival bands such as The Specials including their single "A Message to You, Rudy".
Rodriguez formed the group Rico and the Rudies to create the albums Blow Your Horn and Brixton Cat. In 1995, Island Records released the album Roots to the Bone, an updated version of Rodriguez's earlier work, Man from Wareika. From 1996, among other engagements he played with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and also performed at various ska festivals throughout Europe with his own band. He retired from performing with Jools Holland in 2012.
He was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) at Buckingham Palace on 12 July 2007, for services to music. In October 2012 he was awarded the Silver Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of his contribution to Jamaican music.
Death
On 4 September 2015, following a short illness in a hospital, Rodriguez died aged 80.
