Rico, a message to you...

1979 Dame Thatcher is in power, I was in the 5^th form (Year 11)  and months away from taking my O level exams. But that didn't stop me venturing to my local youth club and strutting my funky stuff to the chart sounds of Chic or the Jam. One song from this time that stands out was a cover by The Specials, ‘A message to You Rudy.’ That was my first memory of trombonist “Rico” Rodriguez who sadly died last month. 

Emmanuel ‘Rico’ Rodriguz MBE, 17 October 1934 - 4 September 2015 was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Cuban father and Jamaican mother. Aged 6 he attended the famous Alpha Boys School, a Catholic charitable institution whose main aim was to house and educate ‘wayward’ boys mostly from extremely poor backgrounds. He followed in the musical footsteps of many Alpha Alumni (Don Drummond; trombone, Tommy McCook; tenor sax, Lester Sterling; alto, Jonny ‘Dizzy’ Moore; trumpet) the founders of the Skatelites.

His influences during the 50's were jazz and RnB, his conversion to Rastafarianism, and his work with fellow Rasta drummer Count Osie. These times were the inspiration for his 1970’s solo album ‘Man from Wareika’ which is the only roots reggae album released on Blue Note Records.

With Ska music (a mix of carribean mento, calypso, American jazz and rhythm n' blues) on the rise, Rico soon became the go-to trombonist, recording for every Jamaican record producer of note; Theophilus Beckford, Clement Dodd and Prince Buster for example. He recorded on the Folkes Brothers’ landmark ‘Oh Carolina’ later covered by Shaggy 1993, ‘Shufflin jug’ for Clemment Dodd, anyone familiar with trombonist Glenn Miller will recognise this. Both songs are available on YouTube.

In 1961 Rico settled in Britain, recording ‘Wash Wash’ which interestingly featured Georgie Fame on keyboards and in 1967 recorded on Dandy Livingstone’s original ‘Rudy a message to you.’

For me, Rico brought a piece of Jamaican musical history to Britain. He said ‘people who don’t suffer like us can’t play this sound. It’s a real ghetto suffering sound.’ Jerry Dammers, founder of the Specials said ‘his sound is an incredible mixture of joy and sadness at the same time, which gives it its power.’ He was never afraid to use space whilst soloing. In his short solo on Message to you Rudy - after the first blues riff there’s a huge gap, followed by a 3 note motif. He finishes with a laid back rendition of the main theme with trade mark trombone scoops.

It was a real pleasure to have met and worked with Rico. A fond memory I have was recording a BBC Jools Holland Hootenany show. Rico, Ian Wood (trumpet) and I got into a deep discussion in the heavily stocked dressing room and didn’t hear repeated calls to come to the set for filming. When we eventually arrived there was absolute silence from the whole studio. The tension was immense. Jools stared at Rico, Rico puckered his lips and shot an ‘innocent’ look back that said ‘what?’ They both immediately bursed out laughing, as thankfully the producer et al did too.

Rico, you shall be sorely missed.

Featured artist - the Specials, Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra 1996-2012
MBE 2007 for Services to the British Music Industry and Musgrave Silver Medal 2012 - Institute of Jamaica, Services to Music. He is survived by his wife Tracey.

Richard Henry