Contributed photos
From left, Fela Kuti, Nina Simone and Randall Grass

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

People like Randall Grass are a dying breed in the music business. The type who are likely to talk first about developing an artiste before their bank accounts.

The performers Grass has been associated with in over 30 years as a musician and record company executive are also in danger of extinction.

In his book, Great Spirits: Portraits of Life - Changing World Music Artistes, Grass, manager of the independent Shanachie Records, revisits his personal contact with some of the 20th century's most influential acts. They include American jazz singer/civil-rights activist Nina Simone, jazz visionary Sun Ra, reggae greats Bob Marley and Augustus Pablo, Nigerian Fela Kuti and the Neville Brothers.

10 years in the works

Great Spirits was released in July by the University Press of Mississippi. Grass, 59, said it has been 10 years in the works.

"I feel that in this time when so much music is disposable, it was worth looking at artistes who have had deep impact on people's hearts and minds and on changing society," he told The Gleaner recently.

"All the artistes in the book were ones whose goal was to take their listeners to a higher reality. I believe all of them had 'life-changing' impact on their listeners," he added.

Shanachie promotes the non-commercial music California-born Grass listened to during the 1960s and 1970s. Its catalogue includes albums by Gaelic, world beat and jazz performers.

The company's first reggae title was Pablo's classic East Of The River Nile.

"Augustus Pablo did some of the most unique and original music ever created and was completely devoted to the purest expression of his artistic vision, guided by divine inspiration," Grass said.

Over the years, Shanachie has distributed some of reggae's most revered albums, such as Culture's 1977 epic, Two Sevens Clash. Recently, it released new albums from Third World and Inner Circle.

With the music business becoming increasingly commercial, Grass says it is unlikely serious artistes like Simone, Marley or Fela would impress the contemporary music executive.

"It is an open question whether there are these kinds of 'great spirits' emerging these days. Is Bono one? What about Youssou N'Dour? Wyclef Jean?" he asked. "These are impressive artistes and people but I'm not sure they are on the same level."