I met Michael Fletcher when I was a student at the Jamaica School of Music in the mid-1980s. My friend Andrew Simpson was a highly skilled guitarist both in the genres of heavy metal and the Classical Guitar. He did Classical Guitar Trios with Andrew Simpson and Ray Hitchins who was later to become one of my most influential guitar teachers.
Later on, our musical bond became more concrete as I observed him as a bass player performing with Jon Williams, both in a Jazz trio setting and then later on as a bandmate as we played together for Father HoLung & Friends.
I was most fascinated with the fact that he had perfect pitch and enjoyed the conversations that he and Jon would have about “seeing” the sounds of the piano or guitar. It made sense to me that he would have some sort of “superpower” as this was a reasonable explanation for the vast talent that flowed from his instrument with such ease.
We are sitting in the guitar room of Avant Academy of Music. Drum mentors and social media consultant, Ramon Watson is behind the camera and I have my phone out to record this interview. I hope you enjoy the telling of his journey and how noble his path has been.
So Mikey, I was talking earlier with Ramon and explaining who you are to me in points of my life and how I see you in relation to Jamaican music history and where we are today. I really do believe that people like you are part of what is so fundamental [to the sound of Jamaican music today]. Like when you started playing five-string, six-string [bass guitars] in order to mimic synthesizers and so on. I mean, that changed the whole ethos of how we see [Jamaican] music on stage and performance and opening up opportunities for our music and for our markets. And it was you guys who did that, you, Dean [Fraser] and those guys [in the 809 band]. Let us talk a bit more personal, about how did you get on this journey? When did it start? This journey of playing the guitar?
It initially started in the UK (United Kingdom). I am from the UK. I was born and raised there and I left there when I was eleven years old. I started guitar in primary school, so I started [playing guitar] at the age of seven.
Wow.
And continued with the music classes there [in the primary school] up until [the age of] nine [years old] and then, my parents, seeing that I was pretty serious about it started private guitar lessons. That opened a whole different avenue in terms of not only doing the basic chord structures at school and playing basic melodies but getting to actual Classical Guitar music.
Right, so at nine years old they saw that you were serious? What was that? Did that mean that you were enjoying it or that you were really focused?
I was really focused and I really enjoyed it and I think my parents saw it. So my parents would take me to a guitar class every Saturday afternoon in the UK. I did that for two years until I as age eleven and then we migrated to Jamaica. That was the first time we stayed in Jamaica, at age eleven.
At age eleven?
[I was] age eleven and I was wholly and solely playing Classical music, not Reggae [music]. I mean, I was exposed and open to and listened to a lot of Rocksteady and 70’s Reggae and all that because I left the UK in 1975 (in the month of September to be exact). But listening to a lot of genres and different types of stuff going on the TV I just knew that I wanted to become a musician. If not a musician,[then] a soldier or a policeman. Of course, music chose me and I chose music.
And so, at eleven years old you are in Jamaica, you had a teacher? Who was your teacher? Your Classical Guitar teacher?
When my parents returned to Jamaica, we moved to the parish of St. Ann and we were living in Runaway Bay. My mother was teaching at Ocho Rios secondary school at the time. There was a teacher by the name of Lennie Hibbert.
Yes, Lennie!
I saw that there was a music department and I was anxious to go and see what was going on. So, when my mother enrolled me in the school I decided to go an enquire to see what was going on. I saw them with saxophones, trombones, trumpets [and] everything going on! I went up to the teacher and said, “excuse me Mr. Hibbert, but I play guitar?”, he said, “Okay, nice but today you are going to learn [to play] a wind instrument. So he exposed me to and taught me to play the euphonium. Then from the euphonium to the tuba and then finally I moved on to the trombone.
Even during that time, I was watching the bass player that was there and the guitarist but they had already started their guitar lessons outside of the school. They were doing private lessons. But nobody did Classical Guitar and I wanted to do and I wanted to do Classical [Guitar].
So that year, which was in 1977, my mother realized that I was not going to my other classes, everything was just music, music, music.
(Chuckles of laughter)
She moved me from there (Ocho Rios secondary) to Iona High School in St. Mary and there was a private high school. The music there, his name was Mr. Baker and he was a classical guitarist.
Aah... Mr. Baker! Do you remember his first name?
I think Ernie Baker.
He was a Jamaican?
No, he was from America. A white man from America. He came down on an exchange program. When I realized that my mother had moved me I thought this was it for music but she had other plans for me, she said, “No son, you have to go to your classes because you are too much in to the music and you are not doing your English and Maths and everything else.” So I said, “alright.”
So going there, I realized that it was not that bad after all because at least he plays Classical Guitar and that’s what I wanted to get more into. Not say [no] to Reggae music but I wanted to be more open-minded [and] continuing on where I left off in the UK with Classical Guitar.
I stayed there from second form up to fifth form doing Classical Guitar and during that time I enrolled in the Jamaica School of Music. That was in the early 80’s.
The 80’s...so you were about fifteen, sixteen?
Fourteen, fifteen.
Fourteen, fifteen from Iona [high school in St Mary]?
I used to come up [to the Jamaica School of Music] on a Saturday, part-time. It was just part-time [at the Jamaica School of Music].
Ooh…
So the thing is no that I joined the band [at the Jamaica School of Music] and I was playing trombone with the school band at that time.
Well, you knew a little trombone from the Lennie Hibbert time.
Yes, I knew a little trombone and I used that and at the same time, I used the one stone to kill two birds and started to do a little guitar on the side. That’s when I was also going there part-time. That was from 1982 to 1983/84 and then I enrolled into the College full time.
You mean, when it was the Jamaica School of Music at the Cultural Training Centre?
And that is where I met Ray Hitchins, and then Ray said, “oh, you have a lot of potential.” He wanted to introduce me to the electric guitar but I said, “no, I want to learn more Classical Guitar”. At the same time, I said that if I were going to learn anything electric it would have been the bass guitar.
Interesting. I see that Lennie introduced you to some bass instruments through the wind instruments.Tuba and Trombone and you would have seen a wider world of band music.
Yes, definitely!
Interesting.
That’s where I would see how he used to teach the band and get the ensemble together. I was like, “wow!”. He had great control over that and all his students were obedient, they would listen to him. I think I said that if I am playing trombone and I am going to play guitar, for me I was so attached to classical music. Not say, Reggae. If it were to be [Reggae] it would have had to have been on the bass guitar and there were two students already doing that so there was no space for me. I was admiring them so much at what they were doing but at the same time still learning the trombone and going home and practicing my classical guitar to myself.
So what program would you have enrolled in at the Jamaica School of Music? Was this the classical [program]?
When I entered the college section now (senior department), remember I went in the Junior department first part-time. That was about two years and then I was able to qualify to get into the college (senior department) and that was the CSMT. The Certificate of School Music Teaching. So that is what I did at that time. I was in that department and then I would go over to the AA department.
The African-American Division?
During that time, I think that is when you came.
I came ‘round about 1985? ‘Round that time. I got my guitar in 1984 at Manny’s.
I saw you and we were able to link up and you saw that I was doing some Classical Guitar and stuff. And your father...was a classical guitarist at the time?
Well, he was an amateur classical guitarist.
I know that you and Ray [Hitchins] and ‘Simo” (Andrew Simpson) used to play Classical Guitar together? Trio pieces and so on?
Yes, Classical Guitar trio pieces.
I came [to the Jamaica School of Music] and heard that but I did not really get to experience it. Heard about and saw a little of it. I got Gregory Alliston as a teacher and Ray. Ray taught me lots of guitar styles but Gregory was my Classical Guitar teacher.
Ok…
Patrick McDonald was my Jazz [guitar] teacher.
I was able to do from grade five while doing the CSMT course. I was able to do from grade five practical, grade 6, grade 7 and grade 8 practical with Ray Hitchins.
Right…
So you went to grade eight and you did the LRSM (Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music)?
I did the LRSM but I failed by six marks.
Oh...by six marks?
By six marks and Paulette Bellamy was outside listening and Jon [Williams]. They were outside there listening [while I was doing the LRSM exam]. Bu that time it took a lot out of you, cuz LRSM is no joke.
Right. (nodding)
And if I am even to do it now at this stage of my life I’d have to really focus on that for a year and nothing else, no other genre, just classical music.
I’m interested in the impact of the Certificate of School Music Teaching. Has that contributed to where you are now? Or was it just something that you did?
I think that it was something I did because I think at the time Ms. O’ Gorman recognized that I should have done the Certificate in Instrumental Teaching.
Right...that is what Shawn [Richards] did.
Right...instead of the classroom [teaching], so I eventually switched over to that. That was more of an impact to me seeing that I started teaching guitar to students part-time. These were in-service teachers from the schools.
They would come in [for] one day. They had a day release program. I think they came in on a Friday or something like that.
And sometimes on a Wednesday. So they had put me in charge of some of those students. And it was interesting. I got a chance to pass on some my guitar skills of learning how to play... (He plays a series of chords on the guitar with gentle arpeggiated fingerstyle technique). Instead of…(He plays a series of chords with a mento strum). Apart from doing it in folk just do it openly with a picking style (He plays a series of chords reminiscent of Pachelbel’s “Canon”).
Apart from the ‘brushing” technique…(He plays a combination of bass and chords reminiscent of the Rhythm & Blues song, “Stand by Me”). It was nice for them to be brushing to also do more of the picking. Just imagine transferring what you have an idea of on the piano to guitar now. So that is what I really wanted to bring them to the forefront with. And it was working. It actually worked.
So you are at the [Jamaica] School of Music. How now did the transition to bass [guitar] happen? Was that when Cedric ‘Im Brooks came into the picture?
Apart from doing the teaching course, I said to myself that I want to be rounded. Instead of just classroom, classroom, and not being able to deal with the stage as a balanced person. During my class break times I would go over to the performance department and watch the band playing and I would say, “No man, I need to create a bond between learning, about the classroom teaching management and how to perform on stage.” So at the same time I said earlier on [in my life] that if I played an electric instrument, it wouldn’t be electric guitar. Ray Hitchins tried to get me to do the rock guitar and I said, “No, no, no Ray, Acoustic Guitar! Acoustic and if I am going over into another electric instrument it would be the bass guitar”. So I kind of had an eye on that from Ocho Rios secondary school. It was easy for me to move from guitar to bass. Now in doing so, I was auditioned by Carol Mcloughlin, otherwise known as “Bowie”. Who is the keyboard player for Stephen Marley. So he auditioned me and said, “Alright Fletcher, we are going to see if you can fit into our class band, our school band over here so”. I said, “Ok, fine. Sure”.
Was that the RT9 band?
RT9.
RT9! The legendary or the mythical RT9 (both laugh)
So RT9, 809 everything [has a nine] now that I am thinking about it.
So it was Bowie who said yeah man, come and play with him [and] from there I started to get more into the bass.
I realized that my mother always said, “Son, you always need to have a back-up. You know, do the teaching but at the same time you can do the performance part of things”. I said, “Mum, what I really wanted to do is to perform”. So from there now I was able to link up with one of my other students that I was teaching some guitar to, Pam Hall.
Ah, of course! Who was [also] fairly well established at that time.
She had to do some Guitar Skills and I was advised that I am the one who was going to be teaching her.
Nice…
We had some classes going on and I started to get a little more frustrated with how things were being done at the school and I said to myself, “I need to move on”. Here comes Pam who says, “Mikey, would you be willing to do a hotel job in Ocho Rios?”. I said, “Yeah!”. I had never played in a hotel before and that is how it came about. From that I went down there in the later part of ‘85 going to 1986.
Oh, I never knew that!
Yes, this was right in the Sheraton [Hotel] in Oco Rios. I was there for a year and a half and then I moved over to the Americana Hotel and that was interesting too. It was really thanks to Pam Hall. She’s the one that saw the talent in me and said, “Mikey, you’re not a bad bass player you know. Yuh alright, I’m going to introduce to those guys in Ocho Rios so you can get into the hotel scene”. I was there for basically two and a half years and then I did a gig with Dean Fraser and Sonny Bradshaw.
Okay, they came down to the hotel?
No, I was playing with the Big Band off and on and then we had this gig in Old Harbour and then Sonny says, “Mikey, Dean Fraser is going to be our guest tonight. You are going to play bass tonight”. When Dean came, I said, “Dean, I would really like to play in a performing band, I want to go on tour”. Remember at that time we were [also] with Father HoLung…
Yes, yes so that’s when [we were on performing with Father HoLung and performing overseas occassionaly] at that time.
He said, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, don’t worry”. So it so happened that we went away with Father HoLung and when we came back I got a voice note and it said, “this is Dean Fraser, link mi later at this number”. I called him and Dean said, “Yeah man, come in, 809 Band now needs a bass player”. Because Derrick Barnett was no longer available, he was playing with [the] Sagittarius [Band] and Glen Browne was just a fill-in because he was playing with Jimmy Cliff. So I entered the 809 Band as the youngest member at twenty-four.
Wow...very cool.
Well from there on the rest is history as you know.
How did Cedric ‘Im Brooks play a role? Cuz I know there was a Cedric ‘Im Brooks [story]? Was it the first time you actually played bass on stage? I remember [a story that] he called on you at the last minute.
Yes, it really started with the [Jamaica] School of Music that transition when Bowie auditioned me and then Cedric saw what was going on said, “Yute, you have potential, we have a gig tonight so come and play”. I had to get into more Jazz songs, more standard songs. And at this time I was mostly into a lot of the classical stuff.
Which group was that? Was that “Light of Saba”?
No, it was ‘Cedric Brooks & Friends”.
Cedric Brooks & Friends?
Yes, on guitar was Lennox Gordon.
Yes, my god! (Both laugh with a sense of awe). That was Jazz that they were playing?
Yeah, that was Jazz.
Any of Cedric’s Afrocentric [stuff]?
Yes, Afrocentric pieces and sometimes he would start a melody and just start a movement and just say, “Follow me!”.
Just follow me. Yeah (nodding)
Very improvisational and open. I got a chance to play with him while at [the Jamaica] School of Music part-time and of course with Harold Butler too. Still a very super-talented keyboard player. And then, Marjorie Whylie. She was also teaching at the [Jamaica] School of Music. Marjorie would have small gigs. Marjorie would say, “Mikey, we have a thing going on, come and check me man”. I did a lot of gigs with her at [the] Wyndham [Hotel] at the time. She was playing there.
Oh yes, I remember that.
All that and it just evolved from there.
What about the Mutual Life Jazz Players? Was that Cedric who brought you into Mutual Life [Jazz Players]?
Cedric opened that door there. At that time I used to see a bass player by the name of Richie White.
Yes
He was paying with Desi Jones and Rupert Bent and I believe it was Jon Williams on keyboard.
Right.
But at the time now I used to watch Richie a lot and admire his playing and he migrated to Florida and then that is how I came on within that scene.
He liked Jaco Pastorius.
Oh gosh, very much so. Fully, fully, fully, fully. Playing with Cedric I am now getting the chance to be open-minded and playing with Marjorie and Harold Bulter.
The Mutual Life Jazz Players, if I am correct allowed for more fusions and experimentation?
That was more myself, Desi Jones, Jon Williams and at that time, Rupert Bent Sr. We would have guest artists come and sing and perform with us at the Mutual Life [Jazz show]. At that was in the early 90’s.
How is all of this impacting your musical development? Are you changing? Because you are moving from this nine-year-old boy who got more focused and then you have all of these experiences, some of them not under your control, you move to Jamaica and [it depended on] what parish you are in etc. Do you find that you are now finding yourself? Your voice? Your own creative voice, your own preference? Are you getting more strident about what you want?
Yes, I am finding that finally, I must say that I am finding my road. My path. Being with 809 [Band] from 1987 to 1995 opened up a lot of avenues in terms of backing artistes. The first gig that I did, Dean and them had said, “I am not sure if that yute is going to make it”.
Twenty-four years old. A twenty-four year old yute.
Andn Nambo said, “Dean I don’t know if dis yute gwaan mek it”. And Dean said, “Don’t worry man, I will take him to go to some dance man, don’t worry”.
(laughter)
I was there nervous and at that time you had Winston Bowen in the band (may his soul rest in peace), and Gibbie and Paul Kastick.
Kastick was there from those early days?
Yes, Kastick was there. Mikey Boo was there first, from 1987 to 1989 and after that was when Kastick came in. Because Mikey Boo decided to play with the Wailers.
I remember Mikey Boo having this phenomenal “One Drop”. Up to this day when people talk about “One drop” I just feel like, “guys, you don’t know what One Drop is. This Dropleaf thing that umnuu doing is not…”
Mikey Boo is out of this world. I learned a lot from him. He would say, “Yute, this is how, listen to my hi-hat, listen to my kick. So I learned a lot from Mikey Boo. And here comes Kastick and we took it to another level. From there I got a lot of chances to work with a lot of artistes. The I-Threes, Maxi Priest, Shabba Ranks, and you name it the list goes on because 809 Band was a strong backing band. Of course you had Lloyd Parkes [& We the People Band] but here comes the 809 Band. I just decided to grow from there. I thought I was playing in the hotel until I realized that until 1987/88 it helped me to a point and then I realized I started to outgrow that part of it because I wanted to perform on stage. Here comes the opening for 809 and it was the perfect time to play with a band like that and not only that, but you are drawn by some stalwart musician. I thought I was playing in the hotel.
You weren’t playing?
No, no, that was just the start.
I have not heard a band since, like 809.
One of a kind.
Not just one of a kind, but the standard.
That’s what I am saying. Just like that. You had to keep up.
For example, when I think of the Stevie Wonder song that you guys used to do. (Sings the instrumental riffs of Part-Time Lover). That was the early days of the music industry computer stuff but the way you guys would execute that with such precision, with the compound time and the harmonies etc.
To be honest with you, 809 was a school.
Right…
Even up to now it is still a school because I am still doing sessions with Dean Fraser and I am able to bring ideas to the table, he accepts them and he might have a gig here or there and I still play along with him. Now to me, it’s a school that evolved from there now getting me more mature, more advanced in terms of what I wanted to do bass wise now.
Right…
At that time I was playing five-string from there into Shaggy, for Shaggy saw us playing in Japan.
Saw who?
The 809 Band. This was JapanSplash.
This is what year?
Between 1990 up to ‘94. At that time he had “O Carolina” out in about ‘92 and he came with his band from New York but when he heard us on JapanSplash he said, “No man, these musicians are kicking strong!”
Right.
We backed him in ‘93 and then when we came back in ‘94 and he saw us again then he said, “it is musicians like this that I want”. So he chose myself, Kastick and Birch. I wasn’t there when the decision making was going on because at that time when I came back to Jamaica I went to tour with the Might Diamonds to the UK as their Musical Director. So when I got back to Jamaica that’s when Kastick and Birch told me, “Yo Fletcher, Shaggy, he wants us and he wants you to play bass”.
I’m sorry, you kind of glossed over something there. You were the Musical Director for the Mighty Diamonds?
At the time I just went on a one run and they wanted an MD to just run a concert. We had a series of shows in the UK nad that was in early ‘96. ‘95/’96. By this time, 809 Band was like, everybody was doing their thing, here and there and experimenting with different projects. Gibbie was starting his Dub/Metal project with more rock guitar…
That was [with] “Bird” [on drums] and “Simo’ [on lead guitar]
They [The Mighty Diamonds] said, “Fletcher, do you want to direct the band in the UK? Because we are going there and we need someone strong like you to direct the band”, and I said, “sure”. So I did that and then I came back Shaggy said that he was ready for a new band. And that was now the movement from 809 over to Shaggy. For me that opened another avenue of international doors.
Right.
Michael Fletcher performing for Alborosie at the Rugby Sound Festival in Legnano, Italy in 2018. Photo by Massimo Tuzio
So playing more basses, different types of basses and appreciating the styles of music you were playing and we had a chance to execute them and just get a lot of exposure.
Right.
Now that being said, In all of my mind, I am from a family of teachers. So my mother is a retired teacher. My brother still teaches and my sisters are still teaching. I had it in me all of this time cuz remember in the ‘80’s of going to the [Jamaica] School of Music and doing the teaching course it stilll was in the back of my mind that one day, apart from touring, touring, touring I am gong to give back to the students. So that is why in 2010, when all is said and done, Ibo Cooper got in touch with me and said, “Mikey, we need you to invigilate at Edna Manley College” and I said, “OK”
This is at the School of Music?
Yes, at the School of Music. I did it one year and then the following year they said, “Mikey, we love what you are doing and are you open to doing some part-time teaching?”. So I said, “yeah”. With some Pop ensembles, it was right up my avenue and I wanted to give back to the school and to the youngsters who were coming up because I actually went through the same avenue. So that was that, easy transitions happened right there. I taught at Edna [Manley College] from 2010 to 2016. In between that time I said that I still have to keep a balance. Teaching, Lecturing, Performing. They students needs to see you, what you are doing. I just decided in 2016, that I was going back to touring and that is where it is now. I am still having students performing here there and everywhere. I still encourage them and show them stuff.
You went back to touring in what year? Do you remember?
Around 2016. I was part-time with it (touring) say 2012 and 2013. Because 2010 to 2013 I was still touring with Shaggy. In that time things had changed for him and for me because I wanted to be on a wider program and I said to him that I needed to take a different avenue. I was there for seventeen years.
You were with Shaggy for seventeen years? Wow.
So I said it is time to move on now and to do what I have to do and to focus on what more Mikey Fletcher is about. And that is what happened. So after 2013, I decide seh, this is it now and I need to focus. At the same time at Edna Manley College, I was teaching these ensembles and getting the students to perform with different groups and so forth. And that is basically what happened. In 2013, I was full-time at the [Edna Manley] College and it was difficult to do a full-time job and still tour and so I had to make a decision in 2016. I decided that it was time to get back into the streets.
Have you returned to touring with Shaggy?
No, no. Not with Shaggy. I had resigned from Shaggy in 2013. Cuz I had started Edna Manley College in 2010 and was still touring with him but at that time his touring had slowed down. So I was able to balance with the teaching part-time while touring with him off and on. When 2013 came he was doing some more stuff and I realized that I could maintain my lifestyle here [in Jamaica] with my family, being married with my kinds. Let me do this and at the same time give back to the school and the new upcoming students that want to get into a band, understanding how to perform, knowing the rules and regulations and what it takes to be a good performer and get out there.
So who are you touring with now?
Alborosie. At one time, I was part-time with Jah Cure and at one time I was with Freddie McGregor. These artistes were not touring every weekend. It worked out that I could be at school and touring with them [at the same time]. After a while, it came to a point that I was missing classes at Edna [Manley College]. So I had to make a serious decision. By this time I had created some impact with the students from 2010 to now.in terms of telling them about the road, “Don’t wait until you finish school before you get out there. So in year two, start to do little gigs here and there, so you can understand what it takes to be a performer. However, at school do your classes”.
Do you think that is ideal? Or do you prefer that there would be more performing opportunities in the curriculum so that they don’t have to leave?
First of all, they have a degree in teaching, in classroom teaching and they have a degree in performance. My take on it is that in year three for the classroom teachers, they go on teaching experience.
I see what you are saying.
They should have the same thing for performing students. So Iw as trying to say them [at the Edna Manley College]. When the students move from year one to year two to year three we should send them on to performance practice. Like, the Edna Manley College in association with the [Jamaica] Pegasus or in association with the Terra Nova [Hotel], something like that to get them out there and then we would go and grade them.
At Berklee [College] they have so many concert venues, they have within the school several small ensemble areas and large halls and they have coffee houses and so on. Without leaving the school, you are getting the equivalent or even better experiences than on the road.
Yes, that is needed.
And people from outside come in and pay money and enjoy.
That’s key.
It makes sense from a curriculum point of view. Because it is like a medical doctor, there is this period of internship. With Lawyers too, it has to be in our curriculum.
I think the school could organize that some more. Make it more structured instead of the students having to fend for themselves and go out there and try to hustle here, there and get out there. There are enough platforms. We have the North Coast, We have the South Coast, we have Negril, we have Montego Bay, we have Ocho Rios. We even have places in Kingston where it could happen. I think the school would have to take more of an initiative to take control of that. As I have said, “The Edna Manley College in Association with the Pegasus” and the evening the students go and perform and we grade them. When year four comes on now, when they are to do their final show they will be more rounded, more prepared. It would not feel like they are under o much pressure trying to catch up to put on this A-Class, A-1 performance, They would have been more tutored and be more prepared.
You said something about them being on their own. I there a danger to the students going out there? Are there risks in going out there unsupervised in the world of touring? Are there possibilities of getting in with the wrong crowd or harming yourself in some way?
Yeah, yeah, it is one of the reasons I had to take a look back when Ibo asked me to start teaching in 2010. I ha a lot of discussions with them, talking with them and saying. “Students you are not just to play a bass line and drum pattern and then you go on tour and get a gold chain. There is more to it than that. We have some artists out there, they used to go to the North Coast to find musicians. Now they are coming to the College. Now that started with Ibo Cooper and of course, from Ibo to myself now, and I have resigned so it has gone back to Ibo. where these people can now say, “I don’t have to go to Montego Bay, they are right here in Kington. Right here out of Edna Manley College”.
It actually started with Maurice [Gordon] when he started the “Master Class”. He was the one who started the master class and he was the first person to bring in outside persons and then he created that format. I think Ibo accelerated it and made it more focused. Ibo was more determined to make the connections.
That means from Ibo I took and I sat in the driver’s seat and took it to another level. Getting the students more organized. So it is not just they learn a song and play tomorrow. I would tell them what I think would be recommended for them and their approach and how they go about it. Because you have some students, if they go out there, if they are to get five dollars they get a dollar fifty. Why are you going to do that? If you are going to play with an artist, give me some idea of who the artists is, what are they checking you about to do and all of that. I got the students to trust me. Say, listen I know this artist, some times I would represent the student and say that I realize that you are going to use one of my students to play in your band. What is going on? What are you about? What are your plans? What’s the play like?
So you are filling almost like a management role? So that’s missing? That’s missing in our industry for musicians?
Because what happens, some artists say, “Well dem ah Edna students, dem young man, dem a starter ting”.
Right
Yeah, but you working with the starters and there is a reason why.
They have value!
They have value and some of them say [that the students] they have to do it for exposure. I say, “Well, what you call exposure? Remember that the students have bills same way, they have to get to school, they have to eat, they have rent to pay, they have books to buy. All of these things. So you have to take them into consideration.
It would be good if they could quantify what “exposure” means. Because that exposure is not in any way, defined.
So that’s why the majority of the artists that I know even to the present day I will still talk to one or two of the artists and say, “yeah man, you are using this student, sure no problem. Just remember perdiem, pay. Just relate to him. Let him know what is going on, don’t hide anything.”. So far so good. It is just to get the students to understand what it takes to go out there and tour like most of the students that are with full-time musicians now like Chronixx. Full-time musicians now with Protoje. Just to name two. And you have Buju Banton, who is using Keniel on Drums. He is one of my students. I would say, “Keniel, you are getting this opportunity, go fo it. Just do what you have to do. Don’t let it slip”. But he did an audition. He did very well. So these are the things we are talking about. We have another student of mine. Ottmar Campbell. He plays keyboards for Alborosie and he is one of my students out of the school too. I have many more students who are playing in different bands with these artists and they are out there doing their thing. It is very important now that there is a change from the western side of Jamaica to the eastern side and that the artists are trusting these students, what they are doing and their musical involvement, their creativity, their level of maturity and understanding the music business. I am not going out there and work for free. Utilising the student and not “using” them. Understand them and respect them for what they are. Like, Kabaka Pyramid. Those are the majority of my students out of Edna Manley College and they are still there to this present day. To build with an artist, to grow with an artist is important.
Would you say that your parents supported you n your journey? Did they understand it?
Oh yes, initially when my mother wanted me to do the teaching course. She says the teaching, but when she realized that I was getting into performance now she says, “Oh no, lawd Jeezam. Yuh go play wid some rasta head man dem now! And did and smoke week and take drugs!” and I said, “Mum what are you talking about?. And she lived to say, “Woo, I am proud of you son”. You live and learn. I did not have and part of it, it was so much around me but I knew the right from wrong and said I am not going there.
What do you attribute your ability to know right from wrong? Is that from your home or was it the type of education that you had?
Exposure. Exposure form home being told what to do and to look for this and that. Being at the college at the time, at the school of music and being able to do small gigs with these artists. Like doing a gig with Cedric, doing a gig with Marjorie, doing a gig with Harold, doing a gig with Sonny Bradshaw at the Surrey Tavern at the Pegasus at the time.
Yes, Tuesday nights!
I was out until late so I was able to see a lot, so you get a chance to get proper exposure. And good, then you know the right from wrong.
This journey that you have had you’ve gone through obviously many genres and you have traveled the world playing Reggae music, the Pop music, Jazz and some other things, what role has the Classical Guitar played in all of that? Was it an advantage? disadvantage? Did you have to unlearn things? Or was it an asset to your journey?
An asset to a point in terms of me getting exposure to the five-string bass and sometimes the six -string bass, Being able to play chordal patterns or lines. The classical guitar exposed me to knowing how to appreciate different genres. That is what it has done. Even still to this day. Classical music is still my strength. When I am at home I practice quietly to myself and I play it has me very calm and relaxed.
So you have been maintaining practicing the guitar all this time?
Not as much as I would like. I want to do it some more. But from time to time I pick it up and I have not forgotten it.
Do you think there is a future for the Classical Guitar in Jamaica?
As now called fingerstyle playing? It’s hard to say. We he some like Christopher Campbell who teaches at the school. He performs for Richie Spice.
He was one of our teachers here at Avant Academy of Music. He teaches Classical guitar?
Yes he teaches at the School.
He started lessons here with Norman
What we call Classical Guitar others would call fingerstyle guitar. It is like... (He plays Redemption song in fingerstyle )
Earlier you were playing the Bouree. (He plays a section)
A piece like that which has a bass line and harmonies and so on. Studying that repertoire and not just the technique. But also the repertoire and the approach to using this instrument. Do you think there is a future for that in Jamaica?
I do, I just think that it would take a different type of a platform. More persons who are along that path to teach it like Shawn Richards, Norman McCallum. We have it in the hotels, but I don’t think it is enough around Jamaica... I think that more of the young upcoming guitarist want to play... (plays a reggae strum), instead of... (plays fingerstyle) there is a future for it is kind of difficult, but I think maybe the fundamental teachers of it of the instrument have to apply it more. Maybe play it more around Jamaica so that other young guitarists can see it. I don’t think it is done enough.
What‘s next for Micheal Fletcher?
What’s next for Micheal Fletcher is that I am planning to work on a Bass/Dub album called “Megahbass presents Megah Dub”. That is something I am looking forward to experiment in using my six-string bass. To have some loops played. So it is like, me and a drummer and somebody playing some samples.That is what I am thinking about doing now. Seeing how I can start it towards the end of this year into next year and head to Europe with it.
Megahbass is a nickname you got?
Yes.
Who gave you that nickname?
I did.
(both laugh)
Thanks, looking forward to the performance on November 28th, Acoustic Delights and continue to explore your story I think it is fascinating.
I am looking forward to seeing you perform I have not seen you perform in quite a while on the guitar. Of course Norman and Shawn. I am looking forward to doing it, because it is quite a while. I mean everybody has seen what I have done over the years. In bass. (plays a reggae bass line). And now it is (plays fingerstyle combined with bass line). So they will see it in a classical way. Because a lot of persons don’t know that I even started with the Classical Guitar.
Indeed. Thank you so much.
