2013-08-24 Chiemsee Reggae Summer - Groundation 4440

Groundation is an American

roots reggae Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the ho ...

band with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and dub influences, from

Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. It is named for

Rastafari Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...

an ceremony of Grounation.

History

Created in 1998 by Harrison Stafford, Groundation began on the campus of

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...

's Jazz Program. Harrison formed the initial group by calling in bassist Ryan Newman, keyboardist Marcus Urani, and drummer Jason Bodlovitch, who were fellow students under the Jazz Performance department. Between 1999 and 2001, Harrison Stafford taught the first course on the history of reggae music at the university. In 1999, Stafford teamed up with Kris Dilbeck to found Young Tree Records and release Groundation's debut album ''Young Tree''. "Groundation" comes from the Rasta term "Grounation". Grounation Day is an important Rastafarian holy day celebrated April 21, which commemorates Haile Selassie's first visit to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

in 1966. Grounation Day is second in importance to Coronation Day, which is celebrated November 2, in honor Haile Selassie's Coronation in 1930. In 1999, while in Jamaica, Harrison met the legendary engineer Jim Fox, who was involved with the production of many of RAS Records’ most iconic releases. Fox remastered both Young Tree and Each One Teach One and recorded

Hebron Gate Jaffa Gate (; , "Hebron Gate") is one of the seven main open gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. The name Jaffa Gate is currently used for both the historical Ottoman gate from 1538, and for the wide gap in the city wall adjacent to it to the ...

(2002), the album that launched Groundation to international acclaim. Fox has continued working with the band on every subsequent release, helping to shape their sound on

We Free Again Groundation is an American roots reggae band with jazz and dub influences, from Sonoma County in Northern California. It is named for Rastafarian ceremony of Grounation. History Created in 1998 by Harrison Stafford, Groundation began ...

(2004), Upon The Bridge (2006), Here I Am (2009), Building An Ark (2012), and A Miracle (2014) creating a catalog of genre-bending, deep, progressive roots reggae music. Similarly, Groundation's artwork had a consistent look and feel, in collaboration with Stafford's childhood friend, Giovanni Maki, creating all visual designs from the very beginning. The band creates an altogether new reggae sound, featuring swirling, jazz/funk inspired horns, stout Latin and African based poly-rhythmics, and soulful harmony vocals. Their concerts utilize live improvisation, in classic jazz fashion, and are renowned for their high energy, communion-type atmosphere. Having gained international notoriety for their progressive fusion style, Groundation regularly plays at major international festivals like

Summerjam Summerjam is a European reggae festival. It takes places annually in July at the ''Fühlinger See'', which is a lake located in Cologne, Germany. The event usually attracts an audience of between 25,000 and 30,000 people. Two stages and two tents ...

. The band uses analog instruments and recording equipment rather than digital, with Stafford explaining "No digital, we don't work with synthesisers. Just like in the 1970s we stick to that format." Through the years, Groundation has performed in over 35 countries on 5 continents. The band, which had a number of personnel changes over the years, but always built around Harrison Stafford's leadership, continued to bring reggae into new worlds, with their last studio album, The Next Generation (2018) opening with a full jazz big band (featuring 12 horn players). This album beat out

Ziggy Marley David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley (born 17 October 1968) is a Jamaican reggae musician. He is the son of Bob Marley and Rita Marley. He led the family band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers until 2002, with whom he released eight studio albums. After ...

and others to win Reggae.fr's “Best Roots Reggae Album of 2018,” voted on by over 16,000 media members, musicians, producers, and fans. In 2022 Groundation released their 10th studio album One Rock. The album can be seen as a product of the global pandemic of the last two years. During this period, Groundation became even more aware of the issues of selfishness and greed that have emerged, which they address throughout the record, while also paying tribute to the victims and honoring the many reggae legends who have left us too soon since 2020. The group's desire to honor the "veterans" on this album was therefore obvious. Always a group to respect their elders and forebears, Groundation makes history yet again by bringing together the legendary reggae vocal groups

Israel Vibration Israel Vibration are a reggae harmony group, originating from Kingston, Jamaica. Lascelle "Wiss" Bulgin, Albert "Apple Gabriel" Craig, and Cecil "Skelly" Spence all contracted childhood polio, and went on to be a Jamaican roots reggae group i ...

The Abyssinians The Abyssinians are a Jamaican roots reggae group, famous for their close harmonies and promotion of the Rastafari movement in their lyrics. History The vocal trio was originally formed in 1968 by Bernard Collins and Donald Manning. Their fi ...

, and

The Congos The Congos are a reggae vocal group from Jamaica which formed as the duo "Ashanti" Roy Johnson (tenor) (b. Roydel Johnson, 1947, Hanover, Jamaica) and Cedric Myton (falsetto) (b. 1947, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica), later becoming a tri ...

into the fold for One Rock.

Lineup

Members

* Harrison Stafford –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Isaiah Palmer - Bass player * Zach Morillo - Drummer * Eduardo Gross - Guitarist * Roger Cox- Saxophone * Jeff Cressman - Trombone * Darren Johnston - Trumpet * Pau Dangla Valls - Keyboardist

Former members

* Matt Jenson – b3, keyboards * Will Blades – b3, keyboards * Marcus Urani – b3, keyboards * Ryan Newman –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* David Chachere –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

* Rich Armstrong –

* Craig Berletti – trumpet Keyboards * Te Kanawa Haereiti aka. Rufus –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Jake Shandling –

* Kim Pommell –

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

* Sherida Sharpe – chorus * Nicholas Daniel Wlodarczyk –

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* Jason Robinson – sax, flute * Paul Spina – drums (from December 2001 to July 2008; credited as a guest on some more recent albums). * James Stafford – drums (on the first two albums) * Shawna Anderson – chorus (from 1999 to 2004) * Ikesha Johnson – chorus (Upon The Bridge) * Benjamin Krames – congas, timbales, percussion (in 2007, during Mingo's break) * Kelsey Howard – trombone (from 2000 to 2012) * Kerry-Ann Morgan – chorus (Upon The Bridge, Building An Ark) * Stephanie Wallace – chorus (Here I Am) * Mingo Lewis Jr. – congas, timbales, percussion (2003–2013)

Discography

Studio albums

*1999: ''Young Tree'' (Remastered in 2002) *2001: ''Each One Teach One'' *2003: ''Hebron Gate'' *2004: ''We Free Again'' *2005: ''Dub Wars'' *2006: ''Upon the Bridge'' *2008: ''Rockamovya'' (Groundation's Stafford, Newman, and Urani project featuring

Will Bernard Will Bernard is a guitarist and band leader. He has led the Will Bernard Band, Will Bernard Trio, Will Bernard 4-tet, and Motherbug. Career In the 1980s Bernard was a member of the Hieroglyphics Ensemble led by Peter Apfelbaum. In the 1990s he f ...

and

Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace (born 22 August 1950) is a Jamaican drummer who worked for several years at Studio One, and has worked with numerous reggae artists including The Gladiators, Inner Circle,Hebdige, Dick (1987) ''Cut 'n' Mix: Culture, ...

), *2009: ''Here I Am'' *2011: ''Gathering of the Elders'' *2011: ''We Dub Again'' ( Dub Remixes of ''We Free Again'') *2012: ''Building an Ark'' *2014: ''A Miracle'' *2016: ''Each One Dub One'' *2018: ''The Next Generation'' *2020: ''The Next Generation Live'' *2022: One Rock