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From control room to calling

“It is a duty, it is your life, it is your legacy.” Stephen Marley on what music means to him. Photo submitted
1415marley
Grammy-winning producer steps into spotlight with debut album. Photo submitted

Who: Stephen Marley

When: Sunday, April 15, 4 p.m.

Where: Skiers Plaza, main stage

How much: Free

By Vivian Moreau

Stephen Marley is trying to tell this old-school white chick reporter about the vibe of his freshly-released, much acclaimed solo album.

“It has more vibe to me, is more of a vibe than a lyrical album,” he says.

There’s a pause and then as I am clearly not getting it, he explains how he put together the album. The Grammy-award winning producer and son of reggae giant Bob Marley was working on several other projects while putting together Mind Control and what resulted is an eclectic mix of jazz, R&B, even flamenco-infused reggae that covers political and personal ramifications of what it is to be a socially-aware dynamic artist.

I still don’t get it.

So then Marley provides the example of James Brown.

“James Brown wrote Please, Please, Please and that song, that’s almost all he says is (and here Marley sings the words) Please, please please — it is the vibe of the song, it is not the lyrics that is the spirit of the song.”

When he starts to sing, I get it, the same thrill from hearing his versatile, muscular voice over a crackly telephone line from Missouri — one stop on a 43-date North American tour that includes Whistler — as I did from listening to the 11 track-CD on my Bose.

Stephen Marley is the third of Bob Marley’s 10 recognized children and a five-time Grammy-award winning producer and sought-after studio musician. At 34, his first CD, released March 19, received a Rolling Stone rave review and debuted at number one on Billboard’s reggae chart. The album spotlights not only artists such as Mos Def, Mr. Cheeks and a soaring Maya Azucena, but also a lot of Marleys, including Damian, Julian, Cedella and two of Stephen Marley’s own 10 children, Mystic and Summer.

In town April 15 as part of the outdoor concert series for the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival, Whistler is one of only three Canadian stops on Marley’s tour, other dates being Vancouver and Toronto. Marley, who lives alone in his Florida home/studio had two of his sons by his side in Kansas City, and said he will be bringing a full band to the outdoor Whistler show.

Critics are hailing Marley’s debut album as “the sound of a man coming into full realization of his powers and his legacy,” and Marley echoes that sentiment, commenting on music that is both gift and calling.

“I am from a seed and the work that we do wasn’t started here, it was started before me,” he said. “It is something that is an inborn conception. It is one thing but at the same time it is a duty, it is your life, it is your legacy.”

The challenges of a life married to music is underlined in Hey Baby , a song that began as a lullaby he sang to his children when the music road called: “ I’ll be gone awhile away from you/and I hope you understand/ that I’ve got to do what I must do/to be a better man./Cause if I was just to act the fool/ do nothing with myself/ then all my blessings would be cursed/ my world would crumble in.”

While true to reggae’s inclusion of bass, rhythm guitars, keyboards and traditional back beat emphasis and use of highly-tuned snare, Marley steps beyond the average with intriguing mixes of despondent flute following guitar riffs in Fed Up , a woman’s perspective on life with the “too-demanding” Stephen Marley. Humour is also an element, showing up as a mischievous Ponderosa-style dang-dudda-dang guitar riff in Iron Bars , about a few hours he and brother Julian spent in a Tallahassee jail in 2002 for marijuana possession.

But Marley said his favourite song on the CD is Inna di Red , an introspective six-minute-plus track about what keeps him awake at night. Featuring roots rocker Ben Harper on slide guitar, Marley, with the help of a “little spliff,” takes a walk inside his head: “ Now I’m in an irie place/now I’m in an irie space/Now I man can I ditale/ Free ourselves from all that hate/ Bless them with Jah love embrace.” The song ends with a spritely chant from Marley’s daughters and their father’s approving laughter.

Marley said when he and his brothers wanted to start recording their father sat them down for “the talk.”

“You know that is what I really learned from him is ‘don’t do this thing if you’re not right, if you’re not serious,’” Marley said, adding his father cautioned them not to assume that just because they were his sons they would be successful in music — they also had to work hard.

“I learned work ethics,” Stephen Marley said. “About what it takes to be great, to be successful in the sense of true musicianship and a true artist.”

As Inna di Red , the final track on his first album ends with Stephen Marley’s laugh and clap for his daughters, one can almost feel his hand reaching out to grace their cheeks, realizing that Bob Marley’s legacy is indeed ever expanding.