"The Rhythmic Innovation of Lloyd Knibb"

The Jamaica Gleaner has published a wonderful appraisal of Lloyd Knibb's musical gifts and his contribution to Jamaican music written by Herbie Miller, a director at the Jamaica Music Museum in Kingston. Here's the introduction to the piece:

Virtuoso Skatalites drummer Lloyd Knibb died on May 12 at his home in Harbour View, St Andrew. Knibb was simply the most important and influential modern drummer this country has produced. A master percussionist, he contributed to every style of this nation's popular and not so popular musical forms, including jazz, mento, burru, nyabinghi, rock steady and, by extension, reggae.

As a drummer, he established rhythmic syntax through bold innovative advances; a synthesis of styles that set the rules for rhythmic structure that later informed every drummer (interested in Jamaican beats) in terms of the logic and structure of popular dance-floor rhythms.

Because of that, he was known as the world's greatest ska drummer.

Read the rest of the article here.