Cedric IM Brooks currently tours with the Skatalites (see www.skatalites.com for more details).
He also leads his own group in and around New York City.
This page is maintained by Bill Carbone on behalf of and with the permission of Cedric IM Brooks.
Tenor saxophonist Cedric "Im" Brooks is one of Jamaica's most adventuresome musicians. Born in 1943 in Kingston, Brooks has the heart of a bop jazzman beating to a reggae rhythm, and his experiments with ancient rasta nyahbinghi drum patterns has led him to fuse elements of calypso, rhumba, jazz, Afro-beat, funk, Latin, and soul into a totally unique, Sun Ra-like synthesis. His first notable recordings were done with trumpeter David Madden in the late '60s for legendary producer Coxsone Dodd. Brooks soon became a mainstay at Dodd's Studio One recording facility in Kingston, joining with fellow Jamaican jazz musicians like Ernest Ranglin, Jackie Mittoo, Roland Alphonso, and Vin Gordon to form a loose confederation of players that constituted the greatest house band in Jamaican musical history. Their various Studio One backing tracks have been versioned repeatedly and form the very backbone of the island's musical heritage. Brooks released a marvelous album called Im Flash Forward playing sax over some of these famous tracks in 1977. He teamed with nyahbinghi drummer and bandleader Count Ossie for two groundbreaking albums that fused rasta drumming with jazz overtones: Grounation and Tales of Mozambique. With his own orchestra, Brooks released The Light of Saba in 1974 and the multi-layered, big-band masterpiece United Africa in 1978. Combining traditional African and Jamaican approaches with what comes closest to free jazz, Brooks has continually given himself no limits, and his body of work is as fascinating and indispensable as any other musician on the island. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
The Slackers Holiday Shows! Check out the slackers on tour for their new cd, "Lost & Found" available through www.interpunk.com and downloadable at www.whatevski.org
Dec 18/19 - Brooklyn, NY - - Knitting Factory Dec 20 - Philadelphia, PA - TLA
Hi, what’s up??? Well, we are glad to present our second web video, "Chapalele Baby"; we hope you give us your feedback, and of course you enjoy it. Cheers, and see you soon. JKL
New Slackers CD! New MP3! The Slackers' CD, "Lost & Found: Redos, Remixes, and Rarities 1998-2007" is gonna be out in mid-october on special potato records. See blog and sample mp3s at www.myspace.com/theslackers Available as of Oct 15 via www.interpunk.com, www.phonocaster.com, soon to be available in japan on Disk Union
New Downloads! The Slackers 2009 booze cruise available on www.whatevski.org 25 songs for $5 bucks! Favorites! Rarities! Special Versions! Soon to come, the Slackers at Slackfest 2009!
Oct 8 - Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place Oct 9/10 - Toronto, Ont - Lees Palace - 2 nights! Oct 11 - Montreal, Que - Club Soda
Oct 15 - Berlin - So36 Oct 16 - Jena - Kassablanca Oct 17 - Stuttgart - Universum Oct 18 - Schaffhausen - Kammgarn Oct 19 - Barcelona - Razzmatazz Oct 20 - Valencia - Black Note Oct 21 - Madrid - Caracol Oct 22 - Rome - Forte Prenestino Oct 23 - Athens - AN club Oct 24 - Istanbul - Jolly Roger Balans Oct 25 - Milano - Magnolia Club Oct 26 - Slovenia - Bala Hala Oct 27 - Zagreb - Kset Oct 28 - Graz - PPC oct 29 - Vienna- Arena Oct 30 - Wiener Neustadt - Treibwerk Oct 31 - Regensburg - Alte Malzerei
Dec 3 - San Antonio - White Rabbit Dec 4/5 - Austin - Flamingo Dec 6 - Houston - Meridian Dec 8 - New Orleans - one eyed jacks Dec 9 - Tallahasee - Engine Room Dec 10 - Tampa - Crowbar Dec 11 - Mia
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