Jackie Mittoo was the organ playing child prodigy of Jamaican music who churned out countless hits at Studio One for Coxsone Dodd in the Sixties.

I think it’s finally hot enough to post this at last – reggae legend Jackie Mittoo’s take on the Gershwins’ standard Summertime.

The Jamaican organist and keyboardist was a child prodigy who between the ages of 15 and 21 helped shape and transform the island’s music as it transitioned from Ska and Rocksteady into Reggae.

In 1963, at the age of only 15, he became musical director at Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd’s famed Studio One, and soon after that he co-founded the seminal group The Skatalites.

Mittoo produced hit after hit record, as his work at Studio One required him to deliver at least five new riddims / instrumental backing tracks a week, but sometimes he recorded that many (and more) in a single day.

This tune was recorded at Studio One in 1970 with the incredible house band Sound Dimension, who included reggae household names like guitarist Ernest Ranglin, bassist Leroy Sibbles and trombonist Vin Gordon.

As is the way with reggae music, his riddims lived on as the years passed, often transforming songs from ska and rocksteady into reggae, of which one of the most famous examples is I’m Still In Love With You, which he wrote with Alton Ellis in 1967.

Originally sung by Ellis, it’s gone on to be a hit in many different versions, most notably as Althea and Donna’s Up Town Top Ranking and later byu Sean Paul and Sasha.

Mittoo and Ranglin collaborated on another great tune called Jericho Skank which went on to be transformed by Johnny Clark into one called You I Love.