| About Jephtee / GATp | ‘Praises be to the Father’ and give thanks for looking in on Producer Jefftee’s Profile. Jefftee grew up in S.E.london, the family home was in Algernon rd Lewisham. He spent most of his teenage years in the 70’s growing up in the newcross area on the notorious woodpecker estate, in those days known as the ghetto, hanging out at ‘Rocks Cafe’ on Clifton Rise. In the ghetto entertainment came from the moonshot club which was initially a community centre run by the lovely Cybil Pheonix, that hosted the great Jah Shaka sound system on a wednesday and friday night until it was burnt down one night and having heard the sound play at a party for the first time in halesworth rd Lewisham at the age of 13 jefftee was hooked on music. Then, later there was the shubeen in Bawtree rd where the excellent music of Negus roots, run by the late Peter “fat man” Marie, kept the ghetto alive musically. At aged 14 Jefftee did a stint of box lifting with Sir Dynamite Sound, run by Sparrow and David in the 70’s. This with the constant going out listening to music steered jefftee away from his mother Enid who was struggling to get him to learn to play the piano at home as she herself was giving tutoring instructions. He admits later: ” I just couldn’t concentrate on playing the piano as I was always thinking about sound systems and music instead, though in hindsight if I did I would be a much better player today” He then goes on to say: "that from the late 70's onwards, what was significant in his understanding of music and the cultural aspects that surrounded it, was his gradual transition from listening to music to playing it by ear". Wanting to actually play music was almost an obsession for jefftee but eventually he was able to play various instruments. Jefftee was comfortable on bass but went on to eventually play riddim gits, some times bass in sessions for various bands. One of these bands was The Troublesome Band, being the band that jefftee actually learnt his rhythm style and plied his trade with. He recalls: “ Ah yes The Troublesome Band in the mid 80's, I had some good times with them backing all the good local artists at the time, working with the likes of Millitant Dee, Mikey General, Bubbles, Sister Lorna, Picka-Pow and Horace Andy amongst others” Jefftee then went on to join The Mighty Faith Band whose lead singer Owen ‘bagga’ Welch he met at a Jah Foundation gig at The Albany Empire in Deptford, London. Jefftee worked with Owen Faith composing and arranging live sets for the band. He was also doing some session work with Jah Foundation and the late Ras Benji who’s live gigs were mostly played in Europe. In the late 80's, after 18 months playing sessions on and off with Jah Foundation, Jefftee became interested in films, Drama's and documentry's for television in a musical sense and was recording tracks associated with such works in mind and hints that " a feel of those visions are prevelent on some of the tracks on this CD". Jefftee soon found him self picking up the odd job here and there in these fields, eventually landing the job as Musical Director for a live communiy play, ‘High Life ‘ at The Albany Theatre. Shortly afterwards jefftee worked with Film Director and Producer Carol Jacobs doing the music score on the documentary ‘Stepforward’ for C4 Highlighting black music in S.E. London. Jefftee has come a long way and in between, as he puts it: “ countless hours of owned studio recordings, a few painful experiences, as well as 16 years a bus driver, family life and now i'm studying for a Masters Degree“, manages to continue slowly develope his style of composing, performing and arranging in the recording studio producing the sounds you will hear on his debut Instrumental backing track CD Ethans Dub, which is named after his now 7year old son, whom he says " was the inspiration for the track, hence the title". Jefftee almosts smirks as if he knows something else when he says that: “ This one is kickin in places and that this debut is a taster and with jah guide this will be followed by another with plans for a 3rd featuring various artists using some instrumental tracks from the previous 2 CD’S Indeed some of the tracks on this CD album are kickin, the title track being a good example is one of a few. All the tracks are original and jefftee makes good use of some sounds, I haven’t heard before and the music is constructive with some good arrangements. A truly interesting listen. The peoples of the world are invited to preview this CD on here and much appreciation for any comments forthwith. The Album will soon be downloadable from Itunes and will be available on various other sites soon. Good Vibes, Rasta Vibes, Jefftee Vibes. Bless-ed Love. Interview JahZinnia |
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