John "Dizzy" Moore born 5 October 1938

John Arlington "Dizzy" Moore OD (5 October 1938 - 16 August 2008) was one of Jamaica's most renowned trumpeters. As a founding member of the Skatalites, Jamaica's premier session band of the early 1960s, he helped create the ska form and backed scores of significant singers, including the young Bob Marley. 

Moore was born in Kingston, where he was raised in a strict Seventh Day Adventist household. An early fascination with music led him to fashion rudimentary wind instruments out of papaya stalks and pumpkin vines. After discovering that a drumming neighbour learned his musical craft at the Alpha boys' school, a Catholic charitable institution for "wayward boys" that was a breeding ground for some of Jamaica's most talented musicians, Moore set his mind on attending Alpha, despite the social stigma surrounding its students. Most Alpha boarders were orphans or street urchins whose parents could not afford their upkeep, but Moore gained entry by pretending to be out of control, so that his disapproving parents, who objected to the school's Catholic foundation, would allow him to learn music there. 

Don Drummond

At Alpha, where he studied electrical engineering and printing as well as music, he grew close to his fellow students Don Drummond, who soon emerged as the country's most outstanding trombonist, and Lester Sterling, later a leading alto saxophonist. Upon graduating in 1955, Moore joined the Jamaica Military Band, but was ultimately thrown out for playing bebop and refusing to shave. He then joined an uptown jazz orchestra, but was fired for refusing to cut his hair. 

                                  

Facing growing discrimination for his Rastafarian beliefs, he retreated to Count Ossie's Rasta camp, where he took part in the late-night jam sessions that gave birth to ska, just as Jamaica was struggling to free itself from Britain's colonial yoke. After being spotted by Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, founder of Studio One, Moore and his peers regularly featured on recording sessions cut for Dodd during the early 1960s. Then, in 1964, following the demise of the leading session group the Cavaliers, Dodd decided to form an official ska supergroup, featuring Moore, Drummond and Sterling, along with the pianist Jackie Mittoo, drummer Lloyd Knibb, bassist Lloyd Brevett, guitarist Jerome "Jah Jerry" Haynes and saxophonists Roland Alphonso and Tommy McCook. 

Named the Skatalites (in reference to a recently-launched Sputnik satellite), the group was officially together for only 14 months, but changed the shape of Jamaican popular music as chief proponents of the ska form, backing all the leading artists of the day, including Owen Gray, Alton Ellis, and Toots and the Maytals. Skatalites instrumentals such as Tear Up, Guns of Navarone, which also made the UK top 40, and Ball of Fire topped the Jamaican charts, and Moore, whose nickname "Dizzy" stemmed from his intricate soloing, was a key feature of songs including Ska La Parisienne, Dick Tracy, Nimrod and Ringo, the last cut for the producer Justin Yap. 

Following the break-up of the Skatalites, McCook and Knibb defected to Treasure Isle, the producer Duke Reid's rival stable, to form the Supersonics, while Moore, Alphonso and Mittoo remained at Studio One as the Soul Vendors, touring Britain with Ken Boothe in 1967. Returning to Jamaica, where he was briefly active in the uptown club act Kes Chin and the Souvenirs, Moore then joined the Supersonics, helping to define the rock steady style at Treasure Isle, but after a tour of Canada, the group disbanded, and he began to rely on session work. 

Although less active from the mid-1970s, Moore joined the re-formed Skatalites to perform at Reggae Sunsplash in 1983, contributing to the album Return of the Big Guns the following year. In 1989, the group backed Bunny Wailer on an international tour and began touring as the Skatalites in 1990, but as most of the band lived in New York, he was usually absent from their line-up, though he was later active in the Jamaica All Stars with Justin Hinds. In October 2007, Moore was awarded the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer (OD) for pioneering work in popularizing Jamaican music. 

After a long battle, Moore died of colon cancer on 16 August 2008 at the age of 69. (Sourced from David Katz @The Guardian)