Headley Bennett dead aged 85

R.I.P. Saxophonist Headley Bennett

He was a session musician at producer Leslie Kong's Beverley's Records in 1962

when Bob Marley, then aged 16, recorded Judge Not - a ska song.

Bennett also played on Hurricane Hattie, the first hit song by 14-year-old James Chambers

who later became famous as Jimmy Cliff.

He played on numerous hit reggae songs by artists including Bunny Wailer

and Gregory Isaacs.

Here they are 

Bennett was a graduate of the Alpha Boys School in Jamaica's capital of Kingston

which was also attended by saxophonist Tommy McCook

and trombonist Don Drummond

both of whom also became reggae pioneers.

His daughter, Carol Bennett, confirmed the musician died on Sunday.

She did not give an official cause of death, but said her father had suffered from

high blood pressure and was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer.

He was awarded the order of distinction, Jamaica's sixth highest honour,

by the government in 2005.

Rip

dillinger already made travel arrangements ??  :-\

Sad news indeed 

A fine musician and stand up guy. When Marley was accused of selling out and going soft after the release of Kaya in 1978, he brought Headley back into the fold to provide the militant backbone to the horn-driven masterpiece that was Survival.



Headley told many a story through the years about those sessions at Bob's newly built Tuff Gong Studio. Bob locked them in the studio 24/7 recording until he got the sound exactly the way he wanted.

Wow, R.I.P that guy, my father used to listen to some o fthose tracks back in his stoner days, it's a shame that the best musicians are leaving this world nowadays and the ones that should leave are still messing around.

Sea Breeze is one of my favourite instrumentals. What a beauty. They don't record them like that any more. David Madden was another that recorded on Marley's Survival album and subsequently toured the US with the band.

So many incredible musicians passed through the Alpha Boys School - Headley Bennett, the Skatalites, David Maden, Cedric Brooks, Israel Vibration, Vin Gordon and Rico Rodriguez to name but a few.