Skatalites still burn strong

The Skatalites' New Zealand gigs are "42 years overdue".

Ask Ken Stewart how the Skatalites have managed to stay together for so long, and he just laughs. Aside from several line-up changes, the answer becomes clear when he tells his bandmates to keep it down in the background.

"We're just in the middle of a jam session," says the keyboard player and manager of one of Jamaica's original ska bands, which formed in 1964 and still loves to play. "They're going to be quiet for a while."

Not tonight. The Skatalites play the Studio in Auckland, a gig Stewart says is "42 years overdue". Their set, part of a world tour to promote their new live album, Skatalites in Orbit, will span the five decades since ska's inception, and its evolution through rocksteady and reggae.

The Skatalites helped to spearhead the movement in the early 60s. They made their name recording at Studio One, the legendary Jamaican institution that also launched the careers of Bob Marley, Toots and the Maytalls, and Jimmy Cliff.

Punk bands might have since morphed the genre into something trendier but the Skatalites stick to simple yet sophisticated, old-school ska: a fusion of boogie-woogie, swing, R&B, jazz, Mento, Calypso and African rhythms. "By rights, anything that's reggae or dub or rap, it all came from those roots," says Stewart. "But there's so many bands doing it in different ways. It's really interesting."

It's not easy to keep up with the band's history - they've seen 17 musicians come and go and the Skatalites' discography boasts about 30 releases. Today, only Lloyd Knibb, Doreen Shaffer and Lester "Ska" Sterling can say they have been with the band since 1964.

"I think the band is sounding pretty close to the way it did way back when, despite the personnel changes," says Stewart. "We've managed to fill the shoes of people who have passed on or left the band with people who are equally as talented, veteran Jamaican players from the same era, except for myself, of course."

Stewart, an American who joined in 1989, recalls the first time he heard an ad on the radio for a Skatalites' gig. A big fan of the English Beat, a British ska band of the 70s, he could tell immediately that the Skatalites' roots went back even further.

"I was intrigued. The show was postponed. Finally they came three months later and I went to see them and that was it for me. It was the perfect combination of jazz and reggae."

Given their decades of experience and Stewart's two years in a reggae band, the Skatalites were intimidating, says Stewart, who joined when the band supported Bunny Wailer's Liberation Tour in the United States.

"I wasn't a proficient jazz player, I'm still really not, and that was what they were looking for. But it was mostly about the rhythm and that I was able to catch, no problem. There's only about five keyboard solos in all the Skatalites' recordings anyway."

Now Stewart also acts as the band's manager and has no qualms telling them when to shut up. And though their style hasn't really changed much over the years, tours are nostalgic affairs.

The band usually find themselves talking about what happened and arguing about what didn't. For Stewart, his favourite memory is the time they played in Moscow.

"Despite the Iron Curtain, the music was getting through all these years. Another time we crossed in from Finland and played in St Petersburg and the border patrol asked us for our autographs. They were just young guys. It was pretty funny."

Stewart is one of the younger ones. This month, drummer Lloyd Knibb will celebrate his 75th birthday. "When you see him play you really won't believe what I just told you. He looks good for his age but he plays like a 30-year-old.

"Last year we toured from April to December and this year we're touring March to December with few breaks in between. I don't know how they do it. I'm one of the youngest guys in the band and I can barely keep up."

* The Skatalites, tonight at the Studio, Auckland with the Midnights and the Managers; tomorrow night at Indigo Bar, Wellington with the Offbeats and the Managers