Activity in

JANUARY 2012

Eric Clarke

JANUARY 2012

Eric Clarke – a walking encyclopaedia of Jamaican music
An injustice partially righted .... memories of a former age

Eric Clarke, the veteran bandleader, called by to tell me about his latest d.v.ds ....”Trumpeter Eric Clarke and his career as a musician” and “Our First Remembrance Memorial Service by the Star of Lambeth No15”. Mr Clarke, who is involved actively in fraternal associations, has been the outstanding Jamaican musician in the United Kingdom for over four decades. He would be better-known nationally and internationally if he had not concentrated in playing mainly for his own community and if his forays into recording had not been so restricted.
Eric was already well-known as a trumpeter back in Jamaica in the 1950s and early-1960s. He owed much to his mentor, Major J.B. Williams of the Jamaica Military Band, and attributes his decision to become a bandleader on his arrival in London to the encouragement of Laurel Aitken. His band, Eric Clarke and the Debonairs, and their South London colleagues and rivals, the Jamaica Jubilee Stompers, dominated a golden age of Jamaican big-band music into the early-1970s. Subsequent financial restraints compelled the Debonairs to cut down the number of musicians to become firstly the E.G. Embarkers and then the Cool Savanna. Now that so many of his associates have passed on Eric is less involved actively but remains a walking encyclopaedia of Jamaican music.

The New African monthly magazine published my feature on the achievements of Jamaican sprinters in the Olympic Games. The report focussed primarily on the world record-breaking achievement of the 4 x 400 metres men’s relay team – Leslie Laing, George Rhoden, ArthurWint, Herb McKenley – at Helsinki in 1952 after the disappointment in London four years earlier.

The sentencing of Gary Dobson and David Norris for their part in the murder of teenage student Stephen Lawrence in April 1993 brought s welcome start to the year. Now we hope that the rest of the gang can follow them speedily behind bars. The shattering of their smug appearance that the law could not touch them was not the least satisfactory aspect of the case.

In the closing days of December I met up with Celia Jones over here on a visit from her home in Kansas City. We had not met since my wedding day in 1967. Back then over forty years ago was secretary to Aubrey Baynes, who has every right to be regarded as the father of the UK Caribbean/African press, on the publications Magnet News and Cinnamon.