Performers > Toots & The Maytals

Reggae’s Living Legend Headlines Iriefest.


Both the audience and the artist are keenly anticipating the upcoming Toronto appearance of Toots and The Maytals. These reggae pioneers are a great choice to headline the Irie Festival in Nathan Phillips Square on August 1st. In our recent interview, Toots noted that "It's been quite a while since I've been in Toronto. I'm really looking forward to it." In turn, the city's community of reggae lovers is excited about the chance to see one of the living legends of the genre.

Toots and The Maytals are sure to be in fine form live, as they have taken their show around the world in recent months. Since the release of their superb new CD True Love back in April, they have toured Australia, New Zealand, England and Europe, as well as select dates in the U.S.. An appearance on Saturday Night Live back in April was a huge success. It featured star guests Ben Harper and Jack Johnson performing alongside Toots on a cool rendition of the classic "Pressure Drop," while The Roots and Bootsy Collins helped put the funk in another Maytals hit, "Funky Kingston."

Following their Irie gig, Toots and The Maytals will join the Roots, Rock, Reggae tour of the U.S.. Presented by The Marleys, it will feature Bob Marley's sons Ziggy, Damian, Stephen, Julian, and Ky-Mani, Nappy Roots, Common, and Toots in what is shaping up as the best reggae tour of the summer.

A San Francisco Toots gig back in May drew rave reviews. One local critic noted that the show featured Toots with "a pair of backup singers, a full band with a horn section, and an airtight song rundown." He especially loved "Pressure Drop," noting that "the teetering passion of the vocals and guitars is so soul rending that it could put the pain of struggle in the heart of the wealthy." The S.F. gig featured the surprise appearance of Bonnie Raitt, a guest on True Love. Perhaps we'll be in for a similar treat here?

The new album has received mostly positive reviews in the international press. At first glance, there's cause for a healthy skepticism towards it. You see, True Love is virtually a tribute album, as superstars from the worlds of rock, funk, country, ska and reggae line up for collaborations with Toots via new renditions of his classic tunes.

That seems like a gimmick designed to bring the work of the long under-valued Toots to a new international audience. Any such misgivings are eradicated after a few spins of True Love. Turns out it's a real fresh-sounding album, one that reminds us of both the vocal and songwriting genius of Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert.

The cast list is mighty impressive: Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Shaggy, No Doubt, Ben Harper, and Bootsy Collins. All have sold millions more records than Toots and the Maytals have managed over their 40 year career, but all were eager to show their peer respect, their 'true love,' for the work of Toots.

To learn more about the project, we tracked down Toots for an interview. He is a man of rather few words, but there is no mistaking the eloquence of that silky smooth and soulful voice (he's the Otis Redding or Al Green of reggae).

"The album concept came from the producer, Richard Feldman, along with my manager and I," explains Toots. "V2 Records then agreed to come in on the project. It didn't take long to come together, less than a year from thinking of it to finishing."

Given that modern recording technology now allows singers to duet without even meeting each other, we were curious about the method of putting these tracks together. "We did one or two like that," concedes Toots, "but most were done live and together. Like with Trey Anastasio of Phish, which we did at his studio. We let the artists pick their own songs, and it was a very fun record to make."

The guests certainly had no lack of material from which to choose. Hibbert has written a lot of classic tunes, ones that stand the test of time with graceful ease. Such Maytals favourites as "Pressure Drop,""Monkey Man," 1966's "54-46 Was My Number," "Reggae Got Soul," and "Funky Kingston" are all given a new lease of life on True Love.

Some of these tunes have been covered by prominent artists in the past. For instance, Joe Jackson, Robert Palmer, The Clash, Izzy Stradlin (Guns 'N Roses) and The Specials have all done versions of "Pressure Drop," The Specials did "Monkey Man," and Sublime and Aswad covered "54-46 Was My Number."

When asked for his choice of the favourite cover of one of his songs, Toots diplomatically states "all the ones on this album. This is a traditional album. People tell me for a long time that they hear in Toots and the Maytals a classic sound they don't often hear. It is the history of a living legend."

That may sound immodest, but it's true. In the pantheon of reggae greats, Toots surely stands alongside the likes of Jimmy Cliff and Burning Spear, just below Bob Marley, of course. His '70s work especially found a large audience in Britain, and definitely had an influence on English punk and ska-punk bands like The Clash and The Specials.

Hibbert has a funny Clash anecdote. "We opened for them at a theatre once. They didn't advertise we were playing. We only stayed on for a quarter of a song as we were booed offstage. It was fun 'cos we got good pay and we were there for one minute. Ohmigod, that was something to remember!," he laughs. "The Clash are my fans and I am their fan."

Specials singer Terry Hall teams up with The Skatalites, U-Roy, and Toots on "Never Grow Old" on True Love. Other tracks feature Bunny Wailer, Ken Boothe and Marcia Griffiths, giving the album a welcome roots-reggae element.

Toots has been critical of the shallow lyrical preoccupations of dancehall, the style now dominating reggae. "With reggae the words should be made a message. It should be cultural and good for the kids to listen to. Jah wants to hear the good words."

Hibbert has actually been credited with terming the word reggae, back with his tune "Do The Reggay," a Jamaican hit in 1968. "We played that style for a long time before I gave it a name, with 'Do The Reggay.' The name just popped up and now it is in the Guiness Book Of World Records that I came up with the name."

The Maytals began as a ska vocal trio back in the early '60s, then evolved into a rocksteady, then a reggae group. One of Toots strengths has always been his vocal versatility, and that is shown on the eclectic True Love.

"Reggae has been the leading one [element] in my career, but there's always been a combination of things like r 'n b and gospel. When I was little, I'd listen on the radio to r 'n b singers like James Brown, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye."

The famed Grammy-nominated 1988Toots In Memphis album proved that he is totally convincing as a soul singer, and Toots' dynamic performance style also owes a debt to those artists. His skill as a performer has helped him win and keep an audience in places like Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

That talent is destined to make the Toots and The Maytals gig here a highly memorable one.
By Kerry Doole

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