Skatalites influence awe

In 1963, a band was formed that changed the face of modern music. Just 14 months later, they broke up. Last Sunday, they came to the Middle East in a House of Blues sponsored show.

The Skatalites have influenced so many musicians, it is hard to know where to begin. They started as a conglomerate of some of the best musicians in Jamaica more than 30 years ago. Most notable among these was probably the unstable trombonist, Don Drummond. The band split when he murdered his wife and died in a mental hospital a couple years later.

The Skatalites practically invented ska music. Ska took shape in Jamaica in the late `50s and early `60s, a fusion of many traditional musical styles of the region and outside musical influences. African folk music, calypso, rock and roll, Caribbean Afro-Cuban sounds, R’B, jazz, reggae and countless other styles began to mingle, creating what would be ska and all the styles now associated with it. Like anything mixed perfectly, ska quickly became a thing of its own, and is now known for its unique characteristics rather than its birth.

The Skatalites were in the right place at the right time. In 1963, ska had swept the tiny island nation and set the stage for an international invasion. The 13 talented, original members single-handedly helped bring ska to the rest of the world. This wasn’t through widespread touring or heavy radio rotation, it was by creating something so unique, and playing it so well, they created a following among people all over the world that had never even seen them play.

Ska hit England in the late `60s and early `70s, deeply influencing the British punk scene. Bands like the Clash and Police owe much of their sound to ska. The style later hit the United States in the early `80s, mostly in metropolitan areas and southern California. Bands like Sublime came from that scene, no doubt influenced by the Skatalites. Even Boston natives, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, owe some of their sound to ska.

There are now ska bands all over the world. Ska has replicated and mutated into so many different hybrids, it seems more like an ingredient than the meal itself. It is this flexibility that made ska such a wide-reaching hit in the first place. You can now hear ska in dub, rock, punk, dancehall, reggae, rap, R’B and pop. It is everywhere — and the Skatalites, these ska missionaries, made it happen.

The show reflected the scope of the Skatalites’ influence. People were packed elbow to swinging elbow, skanking all the way in the back of the Middle East Downstairs, packed into the bathrooms and back door. People danced away. There were hippie kids, rockabilly kids, punk kids, rasta kids, old jazz guys and what looked like Harvard professors.

The various band members, constantly rotating, were obviously having a blast. They were onstage dancing, clapping and laughing while others jammed. They took turns playing solos, trying to one-up each other, which the crowd loved. It was an inviting atmosphere, probably because the bassist asked how everyone was doing after every song and frequently yelled, “Skatalites love you all!” He even went out of his way to send everyone home safely after an exceptionally intense jam that seemed to last for hours. The Skatalites also had time to crank out classics “Simmer Down” and “Guns of Navarone,” just for good measure.

The House of Blues in Cambridge sponsored the February “Reggae Greats” series, to which the Skatalites’ show was the grand finale. The Skatalites have been around for more than 30 years and have changed the course of music evolution which is why the House of Blues sponsored them and continues to sponsor shows by world class musicians.