Jammin’ with Bob

Interesting news and interesting characterization of that news – from the NY Times:

A long misplaced recording of a young Bob Marley jamming in his pre-reggae days in a Bronx apartment sold for $26,290 yesterday at an auction at Christie’s.

The recording was sold by Jimmy Norman, a former member of the Coasters and friend of Marley. The buyer was not identified. The tape, which has eight numbers sung by Marley, then 23, in rhythm ‘n’ blues and doo-wop styles, was recorded by Mr. Norman in 1968. It was found over the summer in a box of cassettes in Mr. Norman’s apartment.

While technically ’68 was “pre-reggae” it wasn’t as though Marley was playing “rhythm ‘n’ blues and doo-wop styles” and then suddenly switched to reggae a year or so later. Marley and the Wailers were writing and recording in a very Jamaican ska style in the early ’60s as evidenced by the Songs of Freedom box set or any other early Marley collection.

I am not disputing that this tape was R&B and doo wop – he was jamming with Americans in New York – just the implication that these were his pre-reggae styles. Jah Rastafari, mon.