Sugar Belly (William Walker) was a Jamaican
mento
Mento is a style of Music of Jamaica, Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. ...
musician in the mid 20th century. Sugar Belly's music was distinctive for his use of a homemade
bamboo saxophone, as well as the bamboo
fife
Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...
.
[Wayne Chen.''Reggae routes: the story of Jamaican music''. Temple University Press, 1998. ,]
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His fine playing can be heard on many mento recordings of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as his 1970s Studio One instrumental, solo reggae album entitled ''Sugar Merengue''. There were other bamboo sax players in Jamaica, including Wilbert Stephenson, who recorded extensively with Chin's Calypso Quartet in the 1950s.
Discography
Albums
* ''Linstead Market'' (Port-O-Jam)
* ''Sugar Merengue'' (Studio One, 1974)
* ''The Return Of Sugar Belly'' (Techniques, 1985)
On top of his mento session work for artists including Count Lasher, around twenty Sugar Belly mento and reggae singles were issued in Jamaica on the Port-O-Jam, High Note, Techniques, Studio One, Calypso Joe, and Love Bond labels.
External links
Sugar Belly at MentoMusic.com
*
References
Jamaican jazz saxophonists
Male saxophonists
Mento
Living people
21st-century saxophonists
21st-century male musicians
Jamaican male jazz musicians
Year of birth missing (living people)
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