When American Bop Met Jamaican Mento, Something Special Was Born
As Jamaica was being released from British rule after World War II, American music was swinging away from the Big Band jazz sound and turning to smaller combos playing bop. Local bands in Jamaica were playing mento and more traditional calypso, but began to incorporate the horns and beats from bop and jazz into what they were already doing. Such cross-fertilization continued for decades, leading to a fusion of several musical styles and the development ofska music.
Rosco Gordon often gets credit for "creating" ska, but he drew upon the prevailing music trends, including the signature afterbeat sound that distinguishes ska from most popular music. The sound grew and became a part of the Rude Boy movement fostered by poverty and race issues growing in Jamaica in the early 1960s. (For an excellent discussion of this, check Raj Records' History of Ska page.) As these pressures peaked in the mid-sixties, ska evolved into Rocksteady and then into reggae. The ska musical movement was far from over, however.
Some names of note: Prince Buster (of course), Duke Reid, The Heptones, Owen Grey, The Skatalites, The Overtakers, early Derrick Morgan, and the Matador Allstars.
