Moss Raxlen and Stascha Bader, producers of 'Get Ready To Rocksteady'. - contributed

HE MAY have played some of the 'baddest' bass lines in Jamaican popular music a but Jackie Jackson is far from a household name. In fact, most persons know him as the husband of singer Karen Smith.

Get Ready To Rocksteady, a film on the beat that preceded reggae, gives musicians like Jackson his due. One month of filming for the project, here is almost complete and it is expected to be released in Europe and North America this year.

"As far as I am concerned, rocksteady was the greatest period in Jamaican music history because the artistes were writing," Jackson, 61, told The Gleaner. "Once the artistes start writing, the music falls into place."

Harmony groups

The rocksteady period produced a flood of harmony groups including the Heptones, the Melodians and the Techniques. Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths and Bob Andy are some of the genre's best-known solo acts.

Jackson was a member of the Supersonics, the house band at producer Arthur 'Duke' Reid's Treasure Isle studio. According to the lanky bassman, they were involved in a 'Cold War' for two years with their rivals at Studio One, which was owned by producer Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd.

Jackson appears along with rocksteady contemporaries like guitarist Lynford 'Hux' Brown, keyboardists Gladstone 'Gladdy' Anderson and Robbie Lyn, in Get Ready To Rocksteady which is a joint venture between filmmakers Canadian Moss Raxlen and Stascha Bader of Switzerland.

Raxlen says he has always loved rocksteady, a slower, heavier bass beat that emerged in the wake of ska.

Starting point for reggae

"It was the starting point for reggae. some of the classic rhythms of Jamaican music were made during 1967-68. A lot of people don't know that," Roxlen said.

Jackson and his colleagues gathered at the Tuff Gong studio in St Andrew to put a fresh spin on 16 popular songs from the rocksteady era. The singers included John Holt, Marcia Griffiths, Leroy Sibbles and Dawn Penn.

Roxlen, who is from Montreal, said Get Ready has been in the works for five years. It was produced on a small budget and will initially be released on DVD and in small theatres throughout Canada.

The film, which received financial backing from the Jamaican government, will be distributed by Peace Arch Entertainment.

Hey, Mr Bassie: The best of Jackie Jackson

(1) You've Caught Me Baby - The Melodians

(2) Take It Easy - Hopeton Lewis

(3) Girl I've Got a Date - Alton Ellis

(4) On The Beach - The Paragons

(5) Small Axe - The Wailers

(6) Baba Boom - The Jamaicans

(7) Queen Majesty - The Techniques

(8) Ride Yuh Donkey - The Hightones

(9) Lady With the Starlight - Ken Boothe

Jackie Jackson's favourite rocksteady bass lines

(1) Puppet On a String - Ken Boothe (played by Leroy Sibbles)

(2) I Shall be Released - The Heptones (played by Leroy Sibbles)

(3) I'm In a Dancing Mood - Delroy Wilson (played by Brian Atkinson)

(4) Full Up - instrumental (played by Leroy Sibbles)

(5) You Don't Care For Me - The Techniques (played by Boris Gardiner)

(6) Satisfaction - Carl Dawkins (played by Ronald White)

(7) Home Home Home - Ken Boothe (played by Brian Atkinson)