Lion’s share

>> Jah Cutta and his Determination Band
have certainly lived up to their name—for over
20 years, they’ve been a cornerstone of live
reggae music in Montreal, and their new album,
Wha Gwan, aims to make a name for them
across the country and the globe

ASSORTED FLAVOURS: Jah Cutta (L) and Determination Band

by ERIN MACLEOD

Sure, April lived up to its reputation as the cruelest month, but as the sun starts shining and summer seems right around the corner, it’s the right time for reggae. Hometown heroes Jah Cutta and the Determination Band have a new record available just in time for terrasse season

Five years in the making, Wha Gwan—released on Stomp Lion, the new reggae offshoot of Montreal’s ska label Stomp—is a collection of tunes that covers reggae’s spectrum, from bass-heavy roots to riddim-driven dancehall. Not only do Montreal’s dons of reggae provide a taste of everything, but fans will be impressed by the collaborations with saxophone king Dean “Cannon” Frazer, legendary producer Bobby “Digital” Dixon and reggae superstar Luciano.

The consistency of the album is testament to Jah Cutta’s commitment to reggae, especially Montreal’s own scene. Alongside talented musicians like Neil Benskin and Mello G—not to mention over two decades of experience under his belt—Cutta is ready to spread the sound of Montreal’s reggae vibes across Canada. Cutta spoke to the Mirror about making the record, keeping the vibes and holding it down in Montreal.

Mirror: What was the process on this record?

Jah Cutta: First thing we did was the bass and the drum tracks, here in Montreal, played by Neil Benskin and Jason Promise. From there, we took them and went to the studio to lay everything down. From there we brought in a well-known organist from Toronto, who used to play with Leroy Sibbles and Toots and the Maytals. But when we played it back, it didn’t sound as rich and proper as we wanted. So we took away everything but the bass and drum, and went to Jamaica, because we have a friend who plays with Luciano and all those great musicians on the island. His name is Right Move. He listened to all the music with me and Mello, with a temporary voice. So from there we started calling different musicians and put them to work on the project. That was where it all started to sound the way we wanted it to.

M: You say it didn’t sound right here. What did Jamaica do to make it sound right?

JC: Because in Jamaica you have, well, authentic, reggae musicians. They’ve been playing for years, all their life, it’s like they’re born playing music, and I wanna get that rich authentic sound on everything that we’re doing. I wanted to get these well-known veterans in our music, to enunciate it—like Dean Frazer, for instance. Here in Canada, you do have guys that can play the music, but it’s not the same. They don’t know how to make it reach the exact pinnacle of what you want.

M: When you are getting someone like Dean Frazer, you’re working with a legend.

JC: The best, the top. All this great harmony, these guys that play trombone and saxophone. Then you get all the engineers too. They are also incredibly skilled because that is their life. We want to capture that richness in our sound.

Savour the flavours

M: You have different producers on the album. Was that a choice?

JC: Yes. That was our choice. You see, when you listen to the album, it’s 13 different flavours. So we didn’t want to get one engineer who might think that one of the flavours was not his cup of tea. We want to give him the songs that he is good at and then we take different kinds of songs to an engineer who is good at them. This means that each will give the best of himself to the song.

M: You’ve been doing reggae for more than two decades. Obviously reggae has changed over the years. Do you try to stay up to the time?

JC: I am going to be honest. We are just making music. What comes out of us, we put out. We weren’t really categorizing what we do to fit anywhere in particular. We’re just doing what we do. We are lucky because it fits in every corner, every area.

M: Do you consider yourself a lover’s rock singer?

JC: Yeah.

M: A roots singer as well?

JC: Yeah. Lover’s rock, roots, messenjah music, sweet soulful, that’s what we are. And every one of our songs has a meaning, a message, a way of saying something towards equal rights and justice and love and unity.

M: In your liner notes, you thank Haile Selassie. How does your spirituality enter into your music?

JC: You have to remember that we come from that vibe all the way up, so that’s where we’re coming from. It’s made us who we are today. So we give thanks to him, for passing on the teaching and the history so that they can be our guide to today, to carry on so we can stay focused and stay truthful to what we’re believing in—life, love and humanity. That’s why we mention him, because he is the man that embraced the Bible. The Bible is all about God—God is love and love is God.

M: You’re doing some shows at colleges and universities. These audiences will be significantly younger than you. How do you relate across the age difference?

JC: By the words that we sing and speak. The beat is secondary, it’s the words that count. We are going to captivate them with the words and the messages in our song. That is the mission we want to focus on. My goal is to take the music from the album to people who have never heard this type of sound before, this quality of melody.

M: Do you think that youth right now are more receptive to this kind of message?

JC: Most of them want to hear sounds that are rough and rugged. You can be rough and rugged, but in the words on the riddim, you can be meaningful.

Fertile soil

M: How did you get into the reggae scene here?

JC: I was born into reggae. My mom was a great dancer and she loves music. She used to sing at church and she was one of the most boisterous people there. So, from her I had this dancing around me, from when I was a little kid. I used to put on shows for my family in the evening when everyone had finished eating. I’d put on my mom’s jacket and hat and glasses—the whole style—and perform for them. Everyone said, “This boy is going to be an entertainer.”

From there I came to Canada in 1975 and started a dancing group. But when I was growing up in Jamaica, I used to always listen to Toots and the Maytals. I used to think of myself singing, thinking that one day, I am going to sound like him! So I started dancing, and then I started doing the soundsystem thing. From there I started to grow and develop to what I am now. I opened for Peter Tosh, I sang with Leroy Sibbles, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe—they showed me a lot. Promoters started to get me to open shows.

M: You were deejaying on a sound?

JC: That’s my thing. That’s where it started. Opening for King Yellowman, Steel Pulse, UB40, Patti LaBelle, all them.

M: And your band?

JC: The band thing came in 1980. That’s when we first did the song “Tribute to Ethiopia.” Because I used to tour with soundsystems, I realized that people would prefer to see more than one guy, just me with a mic in my hand. They wanted live musicians, having fun at the same time, with me in the front. I needed the drummer, the bass, guys moving. So I transferred from the sound to a band—I wanted to take it more professionally and more seriously. I moved at just the right time, I think.

M: The largest reggae scene in Canada is clearly in Toronto. Why stay in Montreal?

JC: In Toronto, it is a wide audience with lots of support for the music. But not everyone can plant a garden on the same soil, otherwise the soil isn’t going to be rich anymore. You need to spread out the growth, spread out the plants. Spread out to different places, different types of soil, different types of land. Montreal is a little bit slow. It’s last to be into the mix of what’s going on in the reggae scene. But that’s why we’re here to keep it alive and keep it burning. We stay here to keep it going.

M: And we’ve got the Montreal Reggae festival—the biggest in Canada.

JC: If we weren’t doing it, all these promoters and agents might not get the incentive to come and do things like the festival now. People have to see something happening! Something definitely can happen from this!

CD launch with D-shade at Petit Campus
on Friday, May 4, 8 p.m., $10