Meet The Keyboard King – Jackie Mittoo

WHEN the sensational Sleng Teng beat was released in 1985, it gave birth to dancehall ‘s digital age. Twenty years before the Sleng Teng, a pianist/organist named Jackie Mittoo called the shots.

Mittoo, who died from cancer in Toronto in 1990, is reggae’s original beat master. He played on or arranged many of the timeless rhythms of the 1960s, several of which are sampled by contemporary dancehall producers and artists.

He was an ingenious member of The Skatalites, joining that band while he was an adolescent and still a student at Kingston College (KC). it had been within the KC chapel that Mittoo fine-tuned his skills on the piano and organ, preparing him for a prolific career that took off at Studio One.