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DEAN FRASER & BLACK SOIL BAND - LIVE @ SUMMERJAM, COLOGNE, GERMANY. JULY 1, 2011.
Setlist: A Song

DUANE STEPHENSON - LIVE @ SUMMERJAM, COLOGNE, GERMANY. JULY 1, 2011.
Setlist: Nah Play | Ghetto Pain

JIMMY CLIFF - LIVE @ SUMMERJAM, COLOGNE, GERMANY. JULY 2, 2011.
Setlist: The Harder They Come | You Can Get It If You Really Want | Rebel Rebel Rebel

DEAN FRASER.

Musician, producer and label boss Dean Fraser (sometimes appearing as Dean Frazer) has contributed to hundreds of reggae recordings since the mid-1970s. He started to play the clarinet at the age of 12. Around this time he met Ronald 'Nambo' Robinson and Junior 'Chico' Chinn at a youthclub in Jonestown and the three boys would eventually form a brass section. Fraser took up saxophone at the age of 15. The trio became the foremost horn section in Jamaica in the 1980s. In 1977 he joined Lloyd Parks' We The People Band, backing Dennis Brown on several of his recordings for Joe Gibbs. Fraser's debut album, 1978's "Black Horn Man" was produced by Gibbs. This was followed in 1979 by "Pure Horns" and "Double Dynamite", and in 1980 by "Revolutionary Sounds" for producer Donovan Germain. Fraser provided horns for Sly & Robbie in the 1980s, both on record and on tour.

The digital era of reggae, which is defined by the use of computers and drum machines to create the backing track, did not affect his output since acoustic instruments such as the saxophone were still in demand. Fraser has released several more albums since and he is recognized as one of Jamaica's top musicians. He toured extensively with Luciano from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, as well as performing on and adding production to several of the singer's albums, including "A New Day", "Serious Times" and "Jah Is My Navigator". More recently, Fraser has been recording, producing and touring with singers Tarrus Riley and Duane Stephenson.

DUANE STEPHENSON.

Singer/songwriter Duane Stephenson greatly impacted upon Jamaica's musical landscape with the release of his introductory album "From August Town" on Cannon/VP Records in early 2008, demonstrating that the heartfelt lyrics, sincere vocals, insightful commentaries and deeply rooted spirituality that made roots reggae a global force lives on in the 21st century. "From August Town" was cited by Billboard Magazine as one of six albums "collectively galvanizing a roots reggae revival" with "lyrics that convey romantic longings and the anguish of ghetto realities with equal conviction."

Following the release of "From August Town" Duane performed on several major stage shows across Jamaica, including Reggae Sumfest and the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival and toured throughout North America, Europe and the Caribbean with Dean Fraser, the celebrated saxophonist and leader of the Blak Soil Band that supports Tarrus Riley, as well as the producer of "From August Town".

The value of adhering to what is seemingly an ordained musical mission prompted Duane to embark on a solo career after nearly 10 years as lead vocalist with the band To Isis. Although his preference for roots reggae sometimes clashed with his band members' inclination towards a contemporary dancehall sound, he nonetheless approached Dean Fraser about producing a To Isis album. Then one evening it became clear to him the time had come to commence a new chapter in his career: he sang "August Town" for a gathering at the Judgement Yard compound in August Town.

Securing Dean’s expertise for his debut project (Dean Fraser's extensive resume includes contributions to more than 1,000 albums, an extended stint as Luciano's musical director and production on several of contemporary reggae's finest releases including Tarrus Riley's Cannon/VP Records release "Parables") brought Duane Stephenson invaluable lessons in refining his artistic expression. Dean Fraser also helms the majority of the production on Duane Stephenson's sophomore album entitled "Black Gold".

JIMMY CLIFF.

Jimmy Cliff was reggae's first international star and remains its greatest living ambassador, having taken the music of Jamaica to all corners of the world. He had hits outside of Jamaica as far back as 1969, when "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" reached #6 in Britain and #25 in the U.S. Yet his career breakthrough came in the 1970s, with the release of the soundtrack to "The Harder They Come". That album served as a primer on reggae music for the uninitiated, and half of its tracks were by Jimmy Cliff. They included three songs that have become reggae standards: the ebullient "You Can Get It If You Really Want," the anthemic "The Harder They Come" and the hymn-like "Many Rivers to Cross."

In addition to writing and singing those songs, Jimmy Cliff starred in the film. The Harder They Come was the first feature film written and directed by a Jamaican and shot on location using an all-native cast. Jimmy Cliff played a budding singer from the Jamaican countryside who gets caught up in the renegade world of drugs and violence in the slums of Kingston. The movie became a huge success in Jamaica and a cult classic elsewhere. The soundtrack, released in America on Chris Blackwell's Mango label (a subsidiary of his Island Records) in 1973, proved to be a steady seller, though it didn't enter Billboard's album chart until March 1975 – still a full two months before Bob Marley and the Wailers first cracked the U.S. charts with "Natty Dread".

Jimmy Cliff was born James Chambers in St. James, Jamaica, in 1948. He adopted the stage name 'Cliff' to acknowledge the heights he intended to climb. His first recordings date back to 1962, and two of his songs ("Ska All Over the World," "Trust No Man") were included on a 1964 anthology, "The Real Jamaican Ska", released in the U.S. on Epic Records. Hooking up with legendary Jamaican producer Leslie Kong, Jimmy Cliff unleashed a string of hit singles in his homeland throughout the 1960s, including "Hurricane Hattie," "Miss Jamaica" and "King Of Kings." He was among those chosen to represent Jamaica at the 1964 World's Fair in New York.

"Hard Road To Travel", his first British album, was released in 1968, and the Top 10 success of "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" followed the next year. His controversial 1970 single "Vietnam" was a minor British hit. That same year, his version of Cat Stevens' "Wild World" – with Stevens producing and playing piano – went to #8 in the U.K. His 1972 single "Trapped" was also produced by Cat Stevens. Subsequently covered by Bruce Springsteen, it received great exposure from its inclusion on the "We Are The World" charity album from 1985.

His last album for Island Records was 1973's "Struggling Man", at which point he signed with Reprise and embarked on a period of stylistic experimentation that included such albums as "Another Cycle" (a soul/pop album cut at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios), "Unlimited" and "Brave Warrior". One of the standouts in his catalog, "Give Thankx" (1978), included the militant anthem "Stand Up And Fight Back."

In the early 1980s, he returned to rootsy reggae on "Give The People What They Want" (1981) and "Special" (1982). The latter album, his first for Columbia Records, was recorded at Channel One Studios in Kingston with some of Jamaica’s best producers and engineers. Cliff dubbed his touring band Oneness, and they performed all over the world, including Africa. In 1993, Jimmy Cliff's recording of Johnny Nash's early 1970s hit "I Can See Clearly Now" – included on the soundtrack of "Cool Runnings", a film about the Jamaican bobsledding team – became a Top 20 hit. Jimmy Cliff’s role as a reggae pioneer was celebrated in 2003 with a Deluxe Edition reissue of The Harder They Come and a two-disc Jimmy Cliff Anthology.