File under: Pilgrimage
Upon landing in Kingston, Jamaica, find a reliable means of transportation; taxi, rental car, whatever is easy. From Kingston Airport make your way to Norman Manley Highway. Stay on it for a bit, till you get off at Sir Florizel Glasspole Hwy, then continue past the roundabout onto S Camp Road. (You will pass by Sumptuous Desserts on the right side). Keep going until you are on Oxford Road, but only for about 1 kilometer. You are not in the parish of St. Andrew. Shortly coming up on your left you will turn onto Half Way Tree Road. Find a place to park. (You will be see Emancipation Park on the right side.) As you walk down Half Way Tree, you will see some garages and various shops. Just pass the FedEx store, you will come to small shopping plaza. Take a moment and look around. Try if you can to turn the clock back in your imagination. As if you were rewinding a video of the years you will see everything in reverse. Keep going. Stop when you get to 1934. It will slowly appear in its splendor. The Glass Bucket Club. Packed with upscale patrons, drinking and dancing to orchestras playing calypso, rhumba, and jazz standards. Speed ahead to the mid 1950’s and you will see Sarah Vaughn serenading audiences. Music floats through the air. Men are in dressed in black tie, while the lades sport the latest Paris fashions. Simply put, it is the place to be of the time.
Fast forward ahead 10 years. It’s June 27, 1965. Outside the walls of The Glass Bucket Club, the mindset of Jamaican's were ever so slowly beginning to shift. More rights, more changes within the government. By 8pm patrons were filling up the club to capacity. It was the club’s anniversary celebration, and it's owner Joe Abner personally selected the line up for the night. Its headliner was Tommy McCook, a Jamaican saxophonist, and founding member of The Skatalites. A pioneer of Ska, a pure Jamaican sound quickly gaining popularity around the world. It was a fierce lineup of talent featuring Toots and the Maytals, Joe Whte, several Rhumba dancers from neighboring Cuba, as well as local Ska singers. Also, on bill was an up and coming local group, The Wailers, featuring Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Bunny Wailer, and 20 year old, Robert Nesta Marley. Back then the Wailers looked quite different. Dressed in matching sharkskin shirts, and short hair the band took to the stage demonstrating a very proficient command of their instruments and ska sound. More importantly, they showed promise. Especially their lead singer.
This period at The Glass Bucket would be the formative years for Marley. Over the next several years, their sound would evolve into Reggae. In 1973, Bob Marley and Wailers released two albums, Catch A Fire, and Burnin’. The later was a massive commercial and critical success, catapulting Marley into the rarefied air, becoming the first “third world” superstar.
The Glass Bucket Club was one of those very special places, where raw talent, chemistry, and timing, would all coalesce to create an exceptional sound that would travel well beyond Jamaica's borders, and change the world forever.
Layover Goods