Johnny Clarke Cooks Musical Feast in L.A.

Recently, legendary roots reggae singer Johnny Clarke flew to Los Angeles from Jamaica—luckily, right before Hurricane Hilary—and, on August 19, in the calm but unsettled and highly charged atmosphere before the storm, he cooked and served a musical feast at the Dub Club.

Clarke’s assistant chefs for the night, helping him whip up a rich, righteous bounty of Rastafari-inspired tunes—with a helping of lovers’ rock—were legendary Soul Syndicate band members: bassist Fully Fullwood, drummer Santa Davis, and guitarist Tony Chin (all playing as part of the “Fully Fullwood Band,” that includes veteran master-keyboardist Michael Hyde).

Starting the evening off in style, and serving as a wonderful appetizer for the historic roots tunes the Dub Club patrons would hear from Johnny Clarke, was a local 1960s ska/rocksteady-revival band called “The Steady 45s”; funky, talented, and cool, they dedicated their set to legendary Jamaican saxophonist (and co-founder of The Skatalites), Lester Sterling, who passed in May.

With these basic but important details and descriptions in mind, I hope you enjoy my exclusive video footage and photos—that you can access in this article—from the show. Be sure to check back in a few weeks to read (or listen to) my interview of Johnny Clarke—conducted backstage—in which we discussed late legendary producer Bunny Lee, the Bible, Rastafari, and more. Blessings!