Colby Graham aims for 'Vintage Boss' release

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Colby Graham has been producing his Vintage Boss magazine for several years and has added over 12 video documentaries to his credits, the subjects including Sonny Bradshaw, the Coral Gardens Incident, Alexander Bedward and mento pioneer Alerth Bedasse.

He has also taken a turn behind the microphone with his Back in Time CD, a spoken word collection which puts Kingston characters such as 'Bun Dung Cross Roads' and the once popular Idler's Rest musicians' hang-out into verse.

Now that he has material stockpiled, Graham intends to release the magazine, documentary and CD for either the Independence or Heritage Week celebrations this year.

Other project

In a statement to The Gleaner, Graham said that in addition to over 60 unreleased issues of Vintage Boss, he is also writing the book Drum and Bass (Di Music Sweet). "The book represents nine years of research and thousands of dollars spent acquiring material most significant to a true representation of our musical heritage. The aim is to widen the dragnet to include, as much as possible, the contribution made by our entertainers from the 1900s up," Graham said.

In a previous interview with The Gleaner, Graham said "Vintage Boss is just trying to recapture our stuff, which I don't think we are doing the best in preserving."

"It must be done. Right now, the older folks are dying out with the knowledge in their heads. I find if I don't run them down they will leave us... I am doing what I am doing because I realise how important what I am doing is."

In his statement he explained, "research can be a rather, interesting and exciting endeavour when unearthing the facts. Case in point; for us who grew up on the late 1960s, 70s soul music of the Philadelphia sound can take heart that Jamaican born Thom Bell was one of the pioneers and a seminal figure in the creation of that sound. He produced the likes of The Delfonics, The Stylistics, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Billy Paul and Deniece Williams. The powers that be ought to honour Thom Bell before he passes away".

Graham has done extensive research at The Gleaner Company's library and archive, the National Library of Jamaica and the Schomburg Library in Harlem, New York. However, he relies heavily on persons who have personally known the musicians and personalities he is investigating.

As such, Graham is actively seeking relatives or friends of musicians Milton McPherson, Baba Brooks, Raymond Harper, Cluet Johnson, Trenton Spence and Eric Dean.