... Dennis, Lincoln, Gregory, troubador trinity ...

... one of the sustaining joys in life is the sound of reggae music ... as a living entity it compares to those hardy species of tree that thrive in the tropics ... trees with anchoring roots that respond to adversity by sending out another shoot, or branch, often in a new direction ... strong like Lignum Vitae, expansive like Guango and ubiquitous like macka or cassie-bush ...

... the Jamaican musical continuum is as old as slavery, even older if you include earlier African and European influences ... for purposes at hand I focus on the last fifty years and the successive passage of definable eras ... one such era has been slipping away since the death of Dennis Brown more than a decade ago ... this year, with the loss of Sugar Minott and now Gregory Isaacs, that process is all but complete ...

... Gregory, a favourite son since the early-seventies, had the sort of talent that proved greater than the sum if its parts ... his appeal leans quirkily on a smooth-as-silk, post-nasal croon, sounding like no-one before or since ... with a keen awareness for a sentimental lover's lyric, a penchant for natty threads and the sort of laconic inner-city cool only Snoop can match nowadays, the Cool Ruler had the skill-set to remain popular down the years ... he drew excited audience responses simply by sauntering onstage moaning contentedly into his cordless microphone ...

... Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown, two of the most identifiable figures in reggae due to their unique voices and prodigious output, released steady streams of music over decades, the best of which can be found strewn throughout the prolific chaos of their extensive back-catalogues ...

... these beloved performers rode the riddim to stardom and international acclaim ... from the beginning, the Jamaican public-at-large identified with their brand of sufferer soul ... they started their own labels and were providers for extended families ... the fact that Brown and Isaacs had long-term cocaine habits which hastened their departures from this mortal coil is a sad footnote to the often collaborative legacies they left on record ...

... Gregory sings Dennis, Dennis sings Gregory ... the sheer amount of joint-releases and artistic overlap from them cements their legacies as twin-pillars of the reggae industry ...

... Lincoln "Sugar" Minott wasn't known for the type of drug struggles his two more celebrated compadres became associated with but his career followed a similar path of autonomy and mentorship, garnering the respect of peers and public, more than justifying his inclusion in this company ...

... the genius of entertainers like these is related to their abilities to carry cultural pride along with them as they journey out into wicked Babylon on their way to a better place ... if it is understood that Babylon will present obstacles as well as opportunity, then the way forward requires not just performing talent, but also, love in your heart, commitment to progress and versatility ...

... this trinity of troubadors sang in the voice of African identity, each living the music and honoring it as a driving force for positive energies ... despite occasional expediency-motivated, undercooked releases there was always good music being made, often stamped only on scarce vinyl to be collated latterly on collector compilations or torrent download ...

... Minott mastered Lovers Rock and Brown was born to sing songs of love, but it is Gregory who stirs it up with his ability to help us to ... how shall I put it? ... um ... move the action from the parlour to the boudoir, when it's time for business ...

... it has fast become cliche to big-up Gregory by singling out the iconic "Night Nurse", I was trying to avoid that trap but you just have to heart this tune and it's many remixes ... we've heard Dennis Brown's voice sampled to great effect ... look for same with Gregory Isaacs who's always killer when dropped in a dubmix ...

... in due course, life-lessons from the Original Dapper Don must be absorbed as we try not to repeat the mistakes of our forebears, but thankfully for Gregory and those who continue to enjoy him, it's the good you do that will live on after you ...