Jackie Jackson, the bass player who anchored Toots and the Maytals for more than 50 years and helped define reggae and rock steady music in Jamaica, has died aged 79.
Jackson's melodic bass lines underpinned some of the biggest reggae hits of the 1960s and 70s. He played on tracks including The Israelites by Desmond Dekker, The Liquidator by Harry J Allstars and Return of Django by the Upsetters, all of which reached the UK Top 10 in 1969.
His playing drew inspiration from two contrasting sources: the pumping acoustic upright bass approach used by Lloyd Brevett with the Skatalites, and the electric hooks of James Jamerson at Motown.
Jackson was a mainstay of the Supersonics, the house band at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle studio in Jamaica. His first recording session there came in 1966 for Alton Ellis's track I Have Got a Date, later re-released as Girl I've Got a Date. Jackson's buoyant bass drove the song, which became one of the defining releases of the rock steady era that swept Jamaica in the mid-1960s.