Don Drummond ranked among the architects of ska through his mastery of the trombone. As an original member of the Skatalites he supplied the style with its most extensive catalog, authoring well over 300 pieces before his brief run concluded in misfortune. Long before ska took shape, his command of jazz had already established him as a Jamaican icon. In his role as instructor at West Kingston’s Alpha Boys School he trained emerging players such as Tommy McCook, Rico Rodriguez, Vernon Muller, Joe Harriott, and Vincent Gordon.
He entered the studio in 1956, at first cutting exclusive recordings made strictly for sound-system use. Those same recordings began appearing as regular commercial releases in Jamaica and England in 1959. His profile rose still higher when producer Coxsone Dodd enlisted him to compose and arrange hundreds of landmark ska sides for both Studio One and Treasure Isle.
Drummond’s gifts were accompanied by volatility. A man known for eccentricity and spells of manic depression, he earned the nickname “Don Cosmic” from Dodd because his behavior consistently matched the label. When Studio One musical director Jackie Mittoo assembled the Skatalites in 1964, he recruited Drummond without hesitation; the trombonist soon stood among the band’s chief creative and spiritual influences. The Skatalites defined ska in their era and left an immeasurable mark: their 1964 debut Ska Authentic dominated Jamaican airplay all year, they backed every major island vocalist on sessions, and they helped introduce newcomers including Delroy Wilson, the Wailers, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and Ken Boothe. Drummond’s composition “Man in the Street” gave the group a Top Ten U.K. hit in 1964, and the following year his reworking of the theme from the film The Guns of Navarone repeated the achievement.
By then the Skatalites had already disbanded, undone by the onset of Drummond’s own downfall. On New Year’s Day 1965 he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, exotic dancer Marguerita Mahfood, whose body, bearing multiple stab wounds, was found inside his home. After a short inquiry he was ruled legally insane and confined indefinitely at Bellevue Hospital. He died there on May 6, 1969, at the age of 37. Although the death was officially recorded as suicide, no autopsy was performed and speculation about its true circumstances has persisted. Research by Bob Timm of the Ska Mining Company disclosed that Supersonics drummer Hugh Malcolm tore up the death certificate at the memorial service, accusing hospital staff of murder and describing Drummond as a victim of government authorities who routinely targeted Kingston performers; other accounts alleged that mobsters acting with the Mahfood family had killed him. In any event, his passing closed a chapter, yet his impact remains.
