UMA MISTURA DE jAZZ,SOUL E REGGAE
Eric Gale - guitar (1938 - 1994)
Gale, whose parents were from Barbados, was an established jazz and rhythm and blues musician who worked with Grover Washington Jr, Roberta Flack and Aretha Franklin. In the late 1960s, he was one of several top-notch American musicians brought to Jamaica by singer Johnny Nash to record with Nash, The Wailers and Byron Lee.
For Negril, Gale used some of Jamaica's best session men, including saxophonist Cedric Brooks, Wailers bass player Aston 'Family Man' Barrett, pianist Keith Sterling, organist Leslie Butler and percussionist Uzziah 'Sticky' Thompson.Richard Tee, the respected American pianist, worked on one track, while Peter Tosh played rhythm guitar on I Shot the Sheriff.
Johnston remembers Gale making frequent trips to Negril to soak up the town's rustic vibe.
"It was the days of candlelight, battery radios and thatch roof houses," said laughing. "Musicians loved going there."
Gale cut eight songs for Negril. The title track, East Side West Side, Rasta andNegril Sea Sunset gained respectable airplay from Radio Jamaica and the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation.