Vin Gordon (a.k.a. Trommie, Don D. Junior or Don Drummond Jr) (born 4 August 1949) is a Jamaican

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

player.

Biography

Gordon grew up in Jones Town, Kingston, Jamaica as one of eight children. He went to Kingston's Catholic

Alpha Boys School Alpha Cottage School (often referred to as Alpha Boys School, Convent of Mercy "Alpha" Academy and now called Alpha Institute) was the name of the vocational residential school on South Camp Road in Kingston, Jamaica, still run by Roman Catholi ...

, where he learned to play trombone and

string bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

. He began his career in 1964 with

The Skatalites The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including " Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many othe ...

. He became the main trombonist of Studio One and he recorded for all major producers of Jamaican music in ska, rocksteady and reggae. At Studio One Gordon met Lee Perry and played with many

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

artists during the rock steady years. He played on

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

by B.B. Seaton,

The Heptones The Heptones are a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal trio most active in the 1960s and early 1970s. They were one of the more significant trios of that era, and played a major role in the gradual transition between ska and rocksteady into ...

Bob Andy Keith Anderson CD (28 October 1944 – 27 March 2020), better known by the stage name Bob Andy, was a Jamaican reggae vocalist and songwriter. He was widely regarded as one of reggae's most influential songwriters. Early life Anderson was bor ...

and

Keith Hudson Keith Hudson (18 March 1946 – 14 November 1984),Thompson, p.311 was a Jamaican reggae artist and record producer. He is known for his influence on the dub movement. Biography Raised in a musical family, Hudson attended Boys Town School i ...

. From 1965 to 1978 he was

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements ...

's trombonist and performed on albums such as '' Kaya'' and ''

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * E ...

''. One solo album was produced by Lee Perry in 1973 (''

Musical Bones ''Musical Bones'' is a studio album by Vin Gordon and The Upsetters, produced by Lee Perry and released in 1975. It was first released as a white label record.Lee Perry: Dubstrumentals (Trojan Records CD TJBDD294) Track listing #"Coco-Macca" ...

''), which was originally released on Dip in the UK on blank labels in 300 copies only. His landing in England in the 80s influenced a mostly British-born reggae groups as

Aswad Aswad are a British reggae group, noted for adding strong R&B and soul influences to the reggae sound. They have been performing since the mid-1970s, having released a total of 21 albums. Their UK hit singles include the number one " Don't ...

with songs such as "Warrior Charge" and "Dub Fire". Returning to Jamaica he worked on different recordings. In 1997, he started touring with Justin Hinds, then joined the Wailers and the Skatalites in 2004 until September 2008.

Discography

*''

'' (1975), DIP *''Way Over Yonder'' (1980), Joe Gibbs Music *''Gordon in De Garden'' (2008) *''Heavenless'' (2016) *''African Shores'' (2019)

Sources

Katz, David: ''People Funny Boy: The Genius Of Lee "Scratch" Perry'', Edinburgh: Canongate, 2000

External links

Discography at Unitedreggae.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Vin 1949 births Living people Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican trombonists The Skatalites members 21st-century trombonists