Jah Thomas "Come Nurse” - Sonia Pottinger, High Note, Jamaica 1978

Fabulous reggae tune Jah Thomas "Come Nurse” from legendary producer Sonia Pottinger on the High Note label, Jamaica 1978.

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Jah Thomas was an important figure on the Jamaican music scene during both the roots era of the '70s and the subsequent dancehall decade of the '80s. One of the island's top producers for both singers and DJs. Many of these sides found their way to the dub studios of King Tubby, who transformed a wealth of Thomas' rhythms into a some of the best dub tracks to emerge from Jamaica.

Born Nkrumah Thomas in Kingston in 1955, Jah Thomas’ story begins with the legendary Channel One studio, where the aspiring DJ first cut tracks as one of a crew of young chatters in the mold of innovators like U-Roy, Big Youth, and Dillinger.

Working off his Channel One success, Thomas followed his fellow chatters in cutting sides for Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson at their 16-track studio on Retirement Crescent (the studio tandem -- also known as the Mighty Two -- were at the height of their success at this time, recording such DJ smashes as Trinity's "Three Piece Suit and Thing" and Prince Far I's "Under Heavy Manners").

Joining the ranks of contemporary dancehall knob twiddlers of the late '70s and early '80s like Henry "Junjo" Lawes, Linval Thompson, Gussie Clarke, and Winston Riley, Thomas began making his presence felt as a producer with sessions for both DJs and singers.

Like many of Jamaica's most important and talented musical men and women, Jah Thomas will probably not become as well-known and celebrated as, say, Lee Perry, Tubby, or Duke Reid, but his place in reggae's cannon can't be denied as one of the handful of producers who helped steer reggae out of it's first roots period into the modern dancehall era of the '80s and early '90s, the effects of which are still in evidence as reggae moves into the new millennium.