nambo

Ronald “Nambo” RobinsonA veteran musician/vocalist and recording artist, Roland “Nambo” Robinson has been singing and playing trombone for almost forty years. Today Nambo’s trombone is a featured instrument with The Wailers Band and Sly & Robbie’s Taxi Gang. He says, “Sly & Robbie does not tour as often.” So he coordinates his schedule with The Wailers, who are more active as a live performing group.When Nambo is not on tour, he is constantly in demand for studio sessions. He has also been working on his solo projects and has now completed recording 4 albums ( some of these works have been recorded from years ago) that will all be released in October, 2007. And if it seems that he is playing catch-up as a solo recording artist, then he’ll soon be ahead of himself because he has started working on 4 other albums. The task is ably assisted by producers of the likes of Dean Fraser, Sly & Robbie, Eugene Grey, Willie Lindo and Nambo himself. Moreover, the caliber of artists he has recorded with include Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Beres Hammond, Freddie McGregor, Dennis Brown, Lauryn Hill, Buju Banton, Toots Hibbert and many more; it is safe to say he is on a guided course destined to arrived at the highest standard.The four completed albums in random order are: 1. “Nambone Ska Standard” - As the title suggests, it is an album of American standards interpreted in Ska, with vocals and instrumentals. He sings the melody, and then plays it, followed by a solo. On some tracks Nambo is joined by Eugene Grey with some guitar solos. 2. “Sing And Play” - Features strictly vocal tracks and strictly instrumental that clearly display the dexterity of a talented artist. 3. “Raw Roots Rock Reggae” - This has a live feel, more like an unplugged effect, with tracks as they are recorded in the studio, no additives or deductions, just a good recording balance and go straight to master, hence the RAW. 4. “Reggae in My Bones” - A collection of mainly original rhythms and trombone lead melodies, augmented by Dean Fraser on Sax and Chico Chin and David Madden on trumpet, hardcore reggae instrumentals.Each album has original compositions mixed with covers. All titles are distributed by Heavy Beat Records.Nambo’s debut album was mainly a vocal set titled “Sanity” recorded at Aquarius studio and distributed by Dynamic Sounds a long time ago. After many years he has now returned in a quartet force. When asked why he has not been consistent with album releases, he explains, “I have been termed a late comer in the business because I started playing the trombone when I was almost 18 years old. And I had to barrow an old trombone from a friend, Calvin “Bubbles Cameron who used to play in the Army band. Prior to that I had always loved singing and while growing up, I was encouraged by my peers to do more vocal work because they say I have a sound. Even though I was first exposed to music from the early age of 5 years old, I used to watch my neighbor, Babe O’Bryan practice his Sax and I was thrilled by it. However being a late comer, as they say, I started working so hard at the trombone trying to get a technique together to make myself ready for the workplace. So by the time I reach to that point, I was so happy that I never think of being an artist or a star. I was just satisfied to know that I could go and jam with a band.”“My first studio recording was with Babe O’Bryan, the maestro who was my music teacher. He wrote the trombone part for a recording session he was employed to do and said to me, ‘Go and practice this part because you are reading well and I am taking you to the studio’. That piece was for a mento song. After the session, he was well pleased with how I did it, because I did practice and swat the part that I knew it by heart.”After leaving Babe O’Bryan’s school I was invited by Cedrick Brooks to play with Count Ossie and The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari. And the first album I played on was their “Groundation”. Then Melba Liston (the great American trombonist) came to Jamaica. We heard that they were opening up the African American Music Studies at the University of the West Indies - around 1974 - and we went and checked her and she said ‘Yes! Come to class’, that’s where we studied Jazz chords, progressions and scales. At that time Dean Fraser and I would hang out at Joe Gibbs’ studio trying to get recording sessions so that we could earn some bread. And that’s where we started doing regular sessions.”“I later became a member of The Light Of Saba band, sticking close to my mentor Cedrick Brooks. The band used to do regular afternoon jams called ‘From Mento, to Rocksteady, to Reggae’ at the Institute of Jamaica and Cedrick used to do these narrations that tell the people how the music is connected. The band was mainly a cultural act. We would have a Sunday evening session, at the Creative Arts Center at the university and on Monday nights a jam session at the Turn Table Club with Winston Blake”.Nambo continues “After that foundation of Jazz and African music, I got the urge to venture out into more commercial stuff, to play more dance music and popular numbers. So I started doing jams with groups like Lloyd Parks & We The People, Tony Dacosta Affairs and The Boris Gardner Happening. Then I started to get busy playing pop music while learning to appreciate the different genres of music. So over the years, I man listen to everything, from classic to…everything. There have been times I get a chance to play light classic, nothing heavy, and I find that there is enjoyment in every music form. Even when you are doing recording sometimes, depending on the vibes of the song, the melody of the song, you draw from different genres certain phrases that would fit and make a difference to the song. For instance when we were recording the song ‘Honey’ for Bob Andy - myself, David Madden and Dean Fraser, is Jazz we draw on for the horns arrangement because of the bounce of the song and the blues feel. You see reggae has all kind of different feels, depending on the tempo and the melody, from funk to country, from swing to classic, to Jazz and African. “Now it was time to travel outside of Jamaica and impresario Chester McColack got a series of engagements in the U.S. and formed a band by the name of Creation with Eugene Grey as the band leader and Nambo on Trombone. They did a few rehearsals and were off to New York for a couple of weeks, where they were discovered by a club owner who gave them a resident band engagement in Atlanta, Georgia, working every night. After a one year stint, Nambo decided to return home.Returning to Jamaica, Nambo regrouped with We The People Band with whom he started doing extensive foreign tours with Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, The Mighty Diamonds and Sugar Minott. Subsequently he became a founding member of The 809 Band, which went on to be the foremost backing band in the industry, comprising a set of leading musicians. They toured the world - Japan, Europe, North and South America, The Caribbean and Africa - supporting artists from Shaggy to Beres Hammond. Eventually 809 disbanded and Nambo became a free lancer on stage and remained a constant studio session player, sometimes touring with Max Romeo and other artists. He has also performed with Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and The Four Tops.In addition to working with Sly and Robbie’s Taxi Gang and The Wailers band, Nambo is now putting together his own series of shows featuring himself and other musicians. These events will be called Nambo Robinson Presents… The concept will be, Nambo said. “I am going to present myself playing all genres, but mainly the Jamaican experience, from mento to dancehall. Because I find that a lot of our Jamaican musicians don’t play some of this music any more. So my program will consist of mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae and dancehall. And of course there will be some Latin stuff and Jazz, whatever appeals to me. It will be under the caption of ‘A Presentation Of Fine Music’, whatever genre it comes from, once it is nice music and people can be entertained by it. I have to give thanks to Cedrick Brooks for certain influences he has left with me. He would always play mento even when we went on a jazz session. He was criticized by those who claimed they were jazz purists, but Cedrick, along with Lennie Hebert, would arrange it (mento) and swing it and show them that it can be played in jazz too. Cedrick said Africa gave the world dance music, whichever genre you want to claim, the rhythm speaks for itself”.Born and raised in East Kingston, the area where two of Jamaica’s most favorite and famous trombonists came from - Don Drummond and Rico Rodriques. Nambo, aims to continue in the tradition of these powerful musical contributors who have inspired people all over the world.