Solomon
Jabby - Einsamer Außenposten des Dub
Ein
wenig traurig klingt es schon, wenn man liest, dass Solomon
Jabby in Atlanta, Georgia, in seinem Studio "Altar of Sound"
ganz alleine vor sich hin arbeitet und im Alleingang die verschiedenen
Spuren der Tracks einspielt und einsingt. Doch das scheint sein
Schicksal zu sein, denn im Laufe seiner Musikerkarriere, die
ihn mit vielen verschiednen Stilrichtungen in Berührung
brachte (u.a. Jazz, Latin und Blues), hat er in seiner Heimat
keinen gefunden, der seine Begeisterung für Reggae und
hier insbesondere dem Dub der 70er-Jahre teilt. Auch wenn es
durchaus rühmlich klingen mag, für Alles bei dem Album
verantwortlich zu sein, es hat auch seine negativen Seiten.
Als Nachteile nennt er selbst, dass es besser sei, ein zweites
Paar Ohren bei der Arbeit an einem Titel zu haben, da man selbst
irgendwann im Arbeitsprozess nachdem man ihn 20 bis 30 Mal gehört
hat die Objektivität verliert. Nichtsdestotrotz bleibt
er seiner Liebe treu und werkelt in seinem Studio umgeben von
altem Equipment aus den 70er Jahren vor sich hin, um möglichst
nahe an den Sound seiner Vorbilder King Tubby, Lee Perry, Augustus
Pablo und Co. zu kommen. Diese Einflüsse hört man
den 15 Stücken des Albums "Rootical Revelations"
(2001) sehr wohl an. Solomon Jabby schafft es, einen eigenen
Entwurf des "alten" Dub zu kreieren. Unterstützung
erhielt er dabei beim finalen Mix durch Jim Fox, wohl eine der
ersten Adressen in den Vereinigten Staaten, wenn es darum geht,
Reggaeproduktionen zu veredeln. "Rootical Revelations"
versammelt so ziemlich alle Merkmale des Seventies-Style-Dub,
die man sich vorstellen kann: Melodica, erdigen Sound, nette
Grooves, dezent gesetzte Vokals und einen vorsichtigen und zugleich
prägnanten Einsatz von Effekten. Kurzum: es ist ein nettes
Album geworden, dass weitgehend überzeugen kann. Allen
Titeln voran ist hier "Pray The Predator Dead" zu
nennen, ein Rootsreggaetitel, der mit einem schönen Gesang
und einer Melodie aufwartet, die fast einem Kinderlied entsprungen
zu sein scheint. Schade ist, dass es in Europa recht schwer
wenn nicht gar unmöglich sein dürfte, an das Album
auf herkömmlichem Weg heranzukommen. Vielleicht gelingt
es Solomon Jabby ja, das Nachfolgewerk "Dub From The Gates
Of Zion" in die Läden in Übersee zu bringen.
Zu wünschen wäre es ihm!
Solomon Jabby beantwortete für Irie Ites ein paar Fragen
am 30.01.2003 zu seiner Musik, der (fehlenden) Reggaeszene
in Atlanta und und und.
The Album "Rockers Meets King Tubby Inna Firehouse"
was the starting point for you to "fall in love" with
seventies-style-dub. What makes dub, especially the "old-type"
more interesting for you than classical reggae?
Well I like classic style reggae as well.
But dub adds a third dimension, it is the ultimate example of
musical creativity. It is almost like reggae speaks to the heart,
but dub speaks to the soul. One of the things I think makes
dub so appealing to listen to is, your brain is always anticipating
the next sound, the next echo, and the next instrument that
will come into the mix to destroy your preconceived idea of
what the song was "supposed" to do.
Your studio "altar of sound" is packed with old equipment
like real to reals, tube powered preamps ant other stuff. Why
do you pick this old fashioned studio gear to create your music
instead of a computer?
I don't know, I just love the old sound
and not many people seemed to be doing it this way. I like the
old style of dub because it was created with limited equipment
and resources. It is my opinion that the less equipment you
have the more creative you have to be. The producer had to use
his skill and ingenuity to get around the equipments' limitations,
which made the music very mysterious and totally unique. That
makes it almost most impossible to recreate their exact sound,
because the producer didn't use a digital plug-in to do it,
you can't buy a software program to recreate it. That is why
no one has, or will be able to match Tubby's style. The only
ones who ever came close (Scientist and Prince Jammy) worked
with Tubby's and saw first hand how he modified his equipment.
But this is not to say digital dub is not creative, there is
a lot of good digital stuff coming out. But I like the fact
that you can tangibly see and have instant access to all of
your equipment at any given time, without having to scroll around
in some digital menu to choose an effect or EQ. There is a reason
that designers of digital equipment are always trying to "recapture"
the sound of analog on digital devices. It sounds thicker, warmer,
and more real. I don't like dub that sounds too clean...
You are working on the music completely alone. How do you explain
that there is nobody around in Atlanta, Georgia, that is also
addicted to dub?
Atlanta has become the new "hip-hop"
capital of the world in my opinion. We have Outkast, Killer
Mike, The Goody Mob, Cee-Lo (The Dungeon Family), Usher, TLC,
and host of others on the So So Def Recordings label, so hip-hop/rap
reigns supreme here for the most part. There are a number of
"dub" fans here as evident to the crowds I witnessed
when Lee Perry and Mad Professor came to town, but I haven't
found the right person (or people) to work with yet locally.
Most of the reggae here is dancehall.
Did you ever think about sending your music around by mail in
order to have other people play their parts to it? Or is it
important for you, to have direct contact with them?
I don't have to have direct contact, but
I like it that way much better. Collaborating is a little more
difficult for me since I use a reel to reel unit as my multitrack
device, it is very hard to get the other persons' track synchronized
if their music is given to me on a cd. But I think collaborations
are a really positive thing.
Your next album will be called "Dub From The Gates Of Zion".
When will it be available and what is to be expected by the
listeners?
I
hope to release the album in late February or March. This album
will be a little heavier than "Rootical." It will
probably feature somewhere between 15-20 tracks. About 4 or
5 melodica based dubs, a lot of spring reverb, heavy basslines,
and a large dose of cognitive restructuring echo to kill a few
brain cells...
If you could decide on who to work with in the future, who would
it be and why would you pick him or her?
I would love to work with Scientist. I
have contacted him about producing my next album for me. He
is living in Los Angeles now which is where I will be recording
the album in July. It will be my first professionally recorded
album outside of my Altarsound studio. Nothing is setup yet
but I hope to finalize everything soon. Other than that, I would
love to work with an established roots band, where my role would
by strictly doing dub remixes of their music.
Is
there any chance for the european dub-audience to get your albums
in a store in Paris, Berlin or London one day?
I hope so. I will be starting to look
for a European distribution deal in the next few weeks. I would
love to be able to have my CD available in stores there so people
wouldn't have to pay the high shipping costs. Also, Europe as
a whole, probably has the largest "dub" fan base in
the world, so it only makes sense. I would also like to put
out a limited number of vinyl pressings in the near future .
Text und Interview: Karsten Frehe (01/03)
