Biography
Born Oswald Brooks around 1935 in Kingston, Jamaica, the trumpeter found his services in demand by the close of the 1950s. With American R&B discs in short supply, sound-system operators turned to local players to cut their own sides, many of them jazz-inflected instrumentals built around a horn section and a rolling shuffle. Leading his own ensemble from the early 1960s onward, Brooks cut the jubilant “Independence Ska” to mark Jamaica’s 1962 break from colonial rule. Two further titles, “Bus Strike” and “Musical Workshop,” reached the local charts in 1964. The group’s version of “Distant Drums” also carried historical weight as the inaugural release on Philip and Justin Yap’s fledgling Top Deck imprint. In addition to supplying the rhythm section for Stranger Cole’s “Run Joe” and Eric Morris’s “Penny Reel,” the band laid down the enduring “Guns Fever” at Studio One on Brentford Road in 1965. The following year Brooks scored an instrumental success with “King Size,” a ska recasting of “Makin’ Whoopee” that first appeared as the flip of the Saints’ “Brown Eyes.” He revisited the urgent tempo of his 1965 hit on 1967’s “One Eyed Giant,” a track distinguished by its “chika chika” vocal refrain and a series of nimble jazz solos from every member of the group. Additional chart entries included “Teenage Ska,” “River To The Bank,” and “Ball Of Fire.” His recording of “Chang Kai Check” later supplied the rhythm bed for numerous reggae productions, while the band itself remained active on studio sessions into the early 1970s.