So, I got a Faculty Development Grant from our beloved Berklee last year to go to Jamaica and study Bob Marley! You can imagine what kind of responses I got from my colleagues when I told them: "How'd you pull that off, man!?", "Yea sure you're going to Jamaica to study Bob Marley!", "Make sure you look both ways before you light up!", "Have fun sitting on the beach, drinking crazy rum drinks while we freeze our butts off dude."

Well, in response to those remarks let me just say that I pulled it off because I created and teach the "Music and Life of Bob Marley" class here, and while I was in Jamaica I really did study Bob Marley, I did look both ways, and (not to rub it in too deeply) I did have a lot of fun sitting on the beach while many of you were freezing your butts off!

It was an incredible journey that I had spent months preparing for. The goal of my trip as stated in my grant application reads like so: "This is a three-week trip to the Island of Jamaica to conduct both academic and anthropological research on the life of Bob Marley, reggae music and Jamaican artistic culture. The trip serves two purposes: 1) to help bolster my musical goal which is to make a meaningful contribution to the reggae idiom, and to increase my visibility, legitimacy and connections in this particular field 2) to aid in deepening my research and understanding of Bob Marley and reggae music so as to enhance the class that I have developed and teach at Berklee entitled, "The Music and Life of Bob Marley.""

My preparations consisted of tracking down every possible connection I had to those on the island who had studied Brother Bob, knew him and worked with him. Months in advance I wrote many letters, sent many emails and made many calls setting up interviews. In all cases I was quite well received as the Jamaican people, by and large, are very warm and hospitable, especially when it comes to their most celebrated National hero. Contrary to what many of the high-end tourist establishments and media seem to want you to think, I never once felt unsafe!

Yes, the first 3 days I thawed myself sitting on the beach in Negril. It's a 7 mile beach on the west end of the island with a zoning law that says ya can't build a structure higher than the tallest tree. Because of this it probably looks not too differently than when those first gold and slave hungry Europeans set their eyes on this gem. The beach is lined with small hotels, guest houses, clubs and if you have any doubt about Jamaica being truly a BASS CULTURE, this will be immediately dashed as you observe the massive sound systems that every establishment has on hand. I swear, even the boom boxes that the guys with the jerk stands on the roadside have must be specially manufactured for Jamaicans. You walk by and the bass coming out of those things shakes your sternum!

Jamaica is a land of intense juxtaposition of beauty and struggle. I met Neville Garrick, Marley's artistic director, at his home high in the hills overlooking Ocho Rios. The view was truly amazing: lush tropical flora, crashing down into the glowing-blue Caribbean ocean, in an absolutely perfect climate. But as we took it all in, Neville described to us the economic realities of the scene. The corporate policies of the cruise lines make it nearly impossible for the common man to even make a buck from the jolly sunburnt "TT's" (typical tourists) who depart for an hour or two with instructions to stay near the tourist areas, buy only from the vendors located there. The cruise lines charge exorbitant fee's for advertising, making it even harder for local artisans to sell their product.

There is poverty everywhere on this island. It is very sad to see. But you know, perhaps partly because of this (and this is NOT to say that I am in favor of seeing any society in poverty!), or perhaps partly just because Jamaicans are this way, there is a certain communal connectedness that you feel everywhere. Maurice Gordon, a fine Jamaican jazz guitarist whom I befriended while I was there said to me, "That's one of the things I love about this island: no one will be left behind. Someone will always lend you a helping hand." It is indeed one of the diamonds hidden in the vast rough of Jamaican society.

For better or for worse, I rented a car and drove to Kingston. Driving in Jamaica is complete craziness. The roads are mostly in rough shape and the Jamaicans drive a million miles per hour and will pass you at any moment, at any blind corner, always with a seemingly friendly, well-timed toot on the horn. Here I hit the streets and interviewed some 20 people including Neville Willoughby (perhaps one of Jamaica's best known broadcasters who interviewed Marley many times), David Madden (Marley's trumpet player), Sparrow Martin (the musical director at the Alpha Boys School), Roy Sweetland (music photographer and Marley archivist), Dwight Pincknew (guitarist with the Roots Radics and studio owner), Coxone Dodd (the owner of the famous 'Studio One'), Skill Cole (international soccer star and one of Marley's closest friends), Mortimer Planno (perhaps Marley's most deeply influencing Rastafarian theologists), Dr. Carolyn Cooper (head of the Reggae Studies Unit at the University of the West Indies [UWI]), Dr. Barry Chevannes (Dean and Professor of Anthropology at UWI), Dr. Michael Witter (head of the Economics department at UWI), Dr. Matthew Smith (professor of sociology at UWI), Sharon Marley (Bob's first daughter with his wife Rita), Judy Mowatt (member of the I-Three, Marley's back up singers), Anthony B (current reggae star), Elise Kelly (broadcaster at IRIE FM radio)………you get the idea.

Maybe because of the slow, languid pace of the island, perhaps it's because of some vibe that emanates from the Caribbean sea, perhaps it's because I was down there doing what I'm SUPPOSED be doing in this life, I don't know, but there's a certain 'opening, ' a certain connection to higher forces that I experienced. It was demonstrated to me time and time again in the form of little crazy twists of fate; a phone call, a serendipitous run-in with an important person, a mistaken left hand turn that would leave me temporarily lost but only to arrive at an even better situation. I later learned that many Jamaicans are well aware of the nature of these events and call them "blessings," yea, BLESSINGS! If one were to just sit back and expect these things to happen, they almost assuredly would cease, but I found myself increasingly taking a daily outlook in which I would wait, watch and listen for the right moments and then, like a truly inspired solo, just allow myself to be taken by this current that seemed to be constantly flowing with some sort of exact precision. I no longer would make much of a fuss if something that I had planned didn't work out. Now that's a thing of beauty! Upon return I think to myself that it's just this 'rightness' that our psychotically advanced Capitalistic society seems to work against.

There were two connections that I made that were of particular inspiration to me. One was with "Red", a Rastafarian elder who lives up in the hills in the West End of Negril. He took me and my travel partner up to his home in his bombed out Toyota. We spent the afternoon 'reasoning' with him at his very humble dwelling. This gentleman has true wisdom grounded in a combination of living the hard realities of life while staying in a positive vibration that I'm sure emanates, at least partially, from the attitude of remaining open to….'blessings.' And boy can he SING! His tape recorder had broken and I promised to send him a new one, along with a size 13 pair of boots from the Salvation Army!

The second was a connection with one of Marley's guitarists, Chinna Smith. I went to his humble home, with platinum albums from the likes of Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Lauren Hill hung on the walls, set up my minidisk recorder and hoped that I would be able to talk to him about his experience recording with and touring the world with Marley. Instead I witnessed an absolute barrage of Jamaican Patois (the unwritten native language that is a combination of English, some surviving African and Arawak Indian words and just plain street slang,) amongst the few Dreads hanging out. My connection with Chinna over the following few days was much more than what I could have asked for in an interview. There was a beat up Fender Rhodes piano, some Nayabinghi drums and a couple of amps on the porch ready to be used at any time. We jammed. I taught him some of my tunes and some improvisation approaches (he was very interested in getting a copy of Mick Goodrick's book!) and he taught me some of his tunes. We even learned Wayne Shorter's "Beauty and the Beast" and rocked it acoustic reggae style! All with any number of visitors playing the drums, singing….and generally CHANTING DOWN BABYLON! I got the feeling that this is what it must have been like in Marley's yard at 56 Hope road, or even what it was like in his earlier years in the slums: the communal experience of making music…both for the fun of it and for survival. Fi true!

One day I went to visit the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston. After meeting with the principal I was given an informal tour by one of the students. We arrived at an ensemble room where 3-4 young students were plugged in, jamming. As soon as my identity as a Berklee professor was exposed, students from other parts of the facility streamed in, pulled up chairs and began rifling questions at me about how to get in to Berklee! Not only that, but most of them were really into learning jazz.

Lastly, Dr. Matthew Smith (UWI Professor) approached me about doing a radio interview as part of their special Marley birthday broadcast, February 6th. We did a very insightful half hour piece, complete with excerpts of tunes from my CD and a few cuts from the students in my Music and Life of Bob Marley class playing their recital at David Friend Hall!