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No one, but no one in Jamaica could out-smooth Wilfred ‘Jackie’ Edwards. His honeyed tones graced innumerable Soul, Reggae, Pop, R&B and Gospel records during his lengthy career. Coupled with his flair for extracting the best from a song without apparent effort was his gift as a songwriter; he penned many of his own songs, as well as supplying hits for artists as diverse as Higgs & Wilson and Spencer Davis. He was no stranger to the record producer’s chair, being responsible for much of the output of Trojan’s Bread subsidiary from 1970 to ‘72. He’s even a known name on the Northern Soul scene thanks to a series of stomping UK-recorded Soul singles. The multi-talented Mr. Edwards was without doubt a major figure in the story of West Indian music.
Born Wilfred Edwards in 1938, like most Kingston youths he developed a love of music in his teens, and like quite a few of them he wanted to sing. The mid-fifties saw numerous talent contests taking place around the town, some in theatres, others on the radio. The most prestigious was run by Vere Johns Jr., as singer Brent Dowe recalled in Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton's Rough Guide To Reggae: "Vere Johns was a man dedicated to music. He used to take the youth off the streets of the ghetto. Everyone was in the same category and could win through the crowd reaction."
The rewards were not always great, but competition was keen, with the contestants probably valuing the respect that they gained from their performances as much as any financial benefits. Future stars of Ska and Reggae vied with each other, youngsters like Derrick Morgan, Owen Gray, the Downbeats (including future top London man-about-Reggae, Count Prince Miller) and the lad who was still known as Wilfred Edwards. Whereas Derrick in his formative years tried to rock it like Little Richard, and the Downbeats essayed the harmonies of U.S. doowop groups, Edwards modeled his style on smooth balladeers such as Jesse Belvin, Johnny Ace and Nat 'King' Cole. It must have worked, for the Rough Guide reports that youths in the audience fought for the privilege of carrying his stage suit to the dressing room.
These youthful talents did not escape the notice of Chris Blackwell, a white Jamaican and Old Harrovian who in 1958, at the age of 21, became one of the first record label owners on the island when he set up R&B Records. His initial success came with the established Cuban-born singer/pianist Laurel Aitken, but by 1959 he was taking the cream of Kingston's youth talent into the studio, releasing singles by Owen Gray, the Downbeats, the explosive Lord Lebby, and Wilfred Edwards - which is where our first disc begins.
Our first selection, 'Your Eyes Are Dreaming', shows that Edwards, then in his early twenties, entered the studio as a fully-fledged artist and songwriter. His effortless control of falsetto and of his natural tenor on this lilting romantic ballad would be a template for many more of his waxings in the years to come. 'We're Gonna Love', issued back-to-back with 'Dreaming' has the shuffling R&B beat which was carrying the swing at sound system dances, and has a controlled vocal performance. It's not Jackie's strongest-ever song, and the two choruses of clean, shimmering guitar are its main attraction.
Born Wilfred Edwards in 1938, like most Kingston youths he developed a love of music in his teens, and like quite a few of them he wanted to sing. The mid-fifties saw numerous talent contests taking place around the town, some in theatres, others on the radio. The most prestigious was run by Vere Johns Jr., as singer Brent Dowe recalled in Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton's Rough Guide To Reggae: "Vere Johns was a man dedicated to music. He used to take the youth off the streets of the ghetto. Everyone was in the same category and could win through the crowd reaction."
The rewards were not always great, but competition was keen, with the contestants probably valuing the respect that they gained from their performances as much as any financial benefits. Future stars of Ska and Reggae vied with each other, youngsters like Derrick Morgan, Owen Gray, the Downbeats (including future top London man-about-Reggae, Count Prince Miller) and the lad who was still known as Wilfred Edwards. Whereas Derrick in his formative years tried to rock it like Little Richard, and the Downbeats essayed the harmonies of U.S. doowop groups, Edwards modeled his style on smooth balladeers such as Jesse Belvin, Johnny Ace and Nat 'King' Cole. It must have worked, for the Rough Guide reports that youths in the audience fought for the privilege of carrying his stage suit to the dressing room.
These youthful talents did not escape the notice of Chris Blackwell, a white Jamaican and Old Harrovian who in 1958, at the age of 21, became one of the first record label owners on the island when he set up R&B Records. His initial success came with the established Cuban-born singer/pianist Laurel Aitken, but by 1959 he was taking the cream of Kingston's youth talent into the studio, releasing singles by Owen Gray, the Downbeats, the explosive Lord Lebby, and Wilfred Edwards - which is where our first disc begins.
Our first selection, 'Your Eyes Are Dreaming', shows that Edwards, then in his early twenties, entered the studio as a fully-fledged artist and songwriter. His effortless control of falsetto and of his natural tenor on this lilting romantic ballad would be a template for many more of his waxings in the years to come. 'We're Gonna Love', issued back-to-back with 'Dreaming' has the shuffling R&B beat which was carrying the swing at sound system dances, and has a controlled vocal performance. It's not Jackie's strongest-ever song, and the two choruses of clean, shimmering guitar are its main attraction.
But the next track is vintage Edwards. 'Tell Me Darling' is a classic song, melodic, warm and romantic, and the backing, with its ringing guitar, fits it just perfectly. The backing group are the Caribs, led by Australian guitarist Denis Sindrey, but two guitars can be heard: one playing lead, the other supplying a catchy pizzicato riff, and it's probable that the basic band was augmented by the polished Jamaican guitarist, Ernest Ranglin on this session. Whoever they were, they created an enduring record that sold by the cartload at the time. Many couples must have danced ascloseasthis to it and then, as Jackie husked "Squeeze me, darling, ever so tight", well, they got a bit closer still.
In 1962, with the coming of independence to Jamaica, Chris Blackwell moved to London where he set up what would become the mighty Island Records During its first months of life, it was far from mighty: operating from his London home, Chris would hurtle round the capital in his Mini-Cooper flogging his latest releases, his newly-recruited assistant Dave Betteridge would trundle round other shops doing the same thing from the back of his van, and the sales force was completed by... Wilfred 'Jackie' Edwards delivering 45s to the outlying suburbs on the bus. As these discs must often have included some of his own, such as 'All My Days' which is included here, this scenario would be akin to a present-day record shop owner ordering the latest Robbie Williams CD, then stepping back in amazement as the cheeky chappie from Stoke trots through the shop doorway carrying a 50-count box of them.
More to come
" He goes on to sing, "Every night, I go to sleep, I see you in my dreams..."
Apparently the guy with the hat who looks wasted in all of these tapes is Scientist...can't remember where I read that. 
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