Yup, it's hard to believe, but Rocksteady 7's own
Larry McDonald will be turning 80 this June! Larry has had a long and varied career so far with early gigs with Lennie Hibbert, then Carlos Malcolm's Afro Jamaicans, playing on a slew of classic reggae tracks in late '60s and early '70s, playing with Boris Gardiner Happening, then moving to the states and playing with Taj Mahal, Gil Scott-Heron, and most recently, Lee Scratch Perry. He has played percussion on literally thousands of tracks at this point! Larry is a founding member of the Rocksteady 7 and has been at the core of its sound. This will be a special concert for his birthday; expect special guest musician appearances and renditions of some classic tracks Larry has played on over the years!
The Rocksteady 7 is an influential American ska and jazz band from NYC. Since the early '90s the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader
David Hillyard (The Slackers) as well as percussionist
Larry McDonald. In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of musicians, including drummer Eddie Ocampo and Dave Wake on keys among others. Given reggae's globally reaching influence, the Rocksteady 7 holds true to the genre's roots and the self-described "Jamaican Jazz" sound combines ska, rocksteady and reggae with extended jazz improvisation, intricate melodies, and complex harmonies. The group incorporates many diverse elements of world music with rocksteady rhythms, including ska, jazz, calypso, as well as early African and American jazz influences.
100dBs is a producer and DJ living in Brooklyn whose signature style blends performance and selection: astral echo pedal on a wild crate-digger's chase through the genealogy of a tune. He came up listening to Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, thanks to the bootleg cassettes his mother managed to bring with her from Cold War Romania. An adolescent encounter with a Lee Perry record flipped his whole world and led to formative dub experiments on an old four-track. He got his start spinning hip hop nights on the Lower East Side and has toured the world since. He's rocked parties for burners, breakers, Berlin artists and Brooklyn's reggae revivalists.
46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.
Doors at 8PM. $8 cover. 21+ with ID.
