The Revolutionaries

The Revolutionaries

The Revolutionaries are a Jamaican reggae band that forms in 1975 as the house band at Channel One Studios, owned by Joseph Hoo Kim, after Skin, Flesh and Bones. They are active from 1975 to the present and are associated with dub and reggae, with roots in the Jamaican sound that moves from roots reggae toward dub.

Style and influence

With Sly Dunbar on drums and Robbie Shakespeare on bass, the group helps develop the “rockers” style, which becomes a major force in Jamaican music and is widely imitated in later productions. The band is also known as Revolutionaires.

Members and collaborators

Alongside Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, the line-up includes Stanley Bryan, Ansel Collins, Ossie “Bongo” Hibbert, and Lowell “Sly” Dunbar. Other musicians who appear in the band’s work include Betram “Ranchie” McLean, Radcliffe “Dougie” Bryan on guitar, Errol “Tarzan” Nelson, Robert Lyn or Ansel Collins on keyboards, Uziah “Count Sticky” Thompson, Noel “Scully” Simms on percussion, Tommy McCook, Herman Marquis and Headley Bennett on saxophone, Bobby Ellis on trumpet, and Vin Gordon on trombone.

Recording work

The Revolutionaries record many dub albums and work as a backing band for artists including B.B. Seaton, Black Uhuru, Culture, Prince Alla, Leroy Smart, Gregory Isaacs, John Holt, The Heptones, I-Roy, Tappa Zukie, Trinity, U-Brown, Errol Scorcher, and Serge Gainsbourg.