by Howard Campbell
[SOUTH FLORIDA] – Donald Kinsey did not hear a lot of reggae in his home state of Indiana. Indeed, it was not until his association with Bob Marley that the blues guitarist was introduced to Jamaican music.
Kinsey is one of two African-American musicians usually associated with Marley, the reggae legend who would have celebrated his 76th birthday today. He died in May, 1981 at age 36.
Kinsey played on his Rastaman Vibration album, released in 1976, and toured with him for over a year promoting that set which was released by Island Records.
The 67 year-old Kinsey, who currently tours with The Wailers, said Marley was not afraid to embrace different sounds including the blues.
Bob Marley’s Love of Blues Music
“Bob really loved the blues. I remember one night after we did a show at The Roxy (in Los Angeles), he invited me to his hotel room and said, ‘Donald, play me some blues, man’. I would sing some traditional kinda blues and that made a connection,” he recalled.
Kinsey was a prodigy who learned the blues from his father, Big Daddy Kinsey, a bandleader. At 16, he was playing in blues legend Albert King’s band.
He got to meet Marley in 1975 while visiting Island Records’ New York office. White Lightning, the blues-rock band he was with at the time, was seeking a deal with that label.
Kinsey and Anderson played on Rastaman Vibration, considered Marley’s breakthrough in the United States. His riffs can be heard on songs like Johnny Was, Roots Rock Reggae and Want More.
He admits it was tough pitching reggae to his family whose roots were steeped in the blues and Pentecostal music.
“My Dad never heard of reggae, so I played it for him and he invited some friends over to the house and listened to it. By the look on their faces, they were trying to figure it out,” he laughed.
Kinsey Visits Jamaica
Marley won over the Kinsey family when they saw him in concert at the Chicago Theater in 1976.
In December that year, Kinsey was at Marley’s home in Kingston when gunmen invaded the premises and shot the star, his wife Rita, manager Don Taylor and another colleague. The band was rehearsing for a peace concert to ease political tension in Jamaica.
Fearing for his life, Kinsey left the country before the show. Eventually, he joined Peter Tosh’s Word, Sound And Power Band, with whom he recorded several albums. He is best known for the searing guitar solo on Tosh’s version of Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode.
Kinsey has fond memories of his time with Bob Marley.
“I did more records with Peter than I did with Bob but my experience with him, the time that I was there, was amazing,” he said.
