HEAVYWEIGHTDUB!

Ted Sirota Interview
Ted Sirota is a Chicago-based drummer. His latest album, The Scientist Meets Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub, is one of my favorite reggae/dub releases of 2014. The album was produced by legendary dub producer Scientist. Ted recently discussed his favorite drummers, how he got into reggae and dub, how Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub came together and advice to musicians just starting out. For more info on Ted Sirota, check out http://www.tedsirota.com/music/

What was your earliest musical memory?

My earliest musical memories…Hmm…That’s tough. I would have to say what comes to mind most is spinning records on my Mickey Mouse turntable. That thing was so magical to me. The tone arm looked like Mickey Mouse’s arm and I just loved the the process of playing records on that. I remember wearing out Don McLean’s “American Pie” I have an older cousin who used to babysit for me and he claims he used to play me Bob Dylan, but my first strong memories have to do with the record player.

What got you interested in playing the drums?

It was sort of random. In 5th grade we were able to join band at school and choose an instrument. I was a very athletic kid and I think I was attracted to the physical nature of percussion. It looked like the most fun to me. That’s pretty much it. Percussion then started to grow on me over the course of time until I really identified with it.

Who are some of your favorite drummers and why?

I could list hundreds but I’ll try to narrow it down – Max Roach, Ed Blackwell, Alan Dawson, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Billy Higgins, Pete La Roca, Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Papa Jo Jones, Joe Hunt, Dannie Richmond, Vernell Fournier, Paul Motian, Tony Allen, Carlton Barrett, Lloyd Knibb, Sly Dunbar, Style Scott, Zigaboo Modeliste, Idris Muhammad Al Jackson Jr., Howard Grimes, Clyde Stubblefield, Jabo Starks, James Gadson, Milton Banana, Dom Um Romao, All because of their feel, soul, creativity, unpredictability, musicality and groove.

What do you enjoy most about the music scene in Chicago?

Chicago is a vast city. People from the coasts don’t understand how huge Chicago is. I’ve been here most of my life and have been a professional musician here for 22 years and I’m still meeting new cats every week. I like the open mindedness of the city. It’s not so overcrowded that you get pigeon holed into one thing. Musicians can get involved in a number of different scenes if they are so inclined. I feel like there is a soulfulness that is still important to Chicagoans. You can get intellectual here, but at some point you have to bring it back to the soul in order to keep the masses interested. I’ve noticed over the past 15 years or so that more and more younger musicians are choosing to move to Chicago rather than New York, so right now I think what I like best is that there is a continual influx of good young musicians coming to the city and keeping the scene vibrant. I also like the legacy here from people and bands like Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, Von Freeman, Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, Muddy Waters, Sam Cooke, etc. There’s a rich history of music in Chicago and I’m just trying to be a part of continuing that forward.

What first got you interested in reggae and dub?

I first got interested in Reggae in 1980. I was hearing ‘Buffalo Soldier’ on the radio around the time Bob Marley died. I wasn’t really aware of Reggae before then. I started hearing more and more Bob Marley and also the Police at the same time. I found out about Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer from listening to Bob. I heard about Steel Pulse because they were opening up for the Police on a show in the Chicago area. The Clash, The English Beat and The Specials also started turning my ears toward Jamaica. After I discovered Steel Pulse I found out about Black Uhuru and started digging them big time. Then it was Jimmy Cliff and the ‘The Harder They Come’ soundtrack, which lead to Toots & the Maytals, Desmond Dekker and all the groups on that record. Then from there – Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, and tons of the ‘Roots’ stuff. Then the dancehall stuff from the early-mid 80’s – Yellowman, Barrington Levy, Frankie Paul, Toyan, Josey Wales, Half Pint, Johnny Osbourne, Sugar Minott, Little John, Michael Palmer etc. etc. etc. I was hooked completely by that point. Mutabaruka’s record “Check It!” was always one of my favorites. I can’t tell you what it was about reggae that attracted me. I guess it was just something about the pace and the groove of the music, and the simplicity and space in the music that I related to.

I was pretty much unaware of dub back then. I was listening to it on the B side of records, but I didn’t think of it as a ‘style’ of music. To me it was just reggae with most of the lyrics stripped out and some delays, reverbs, and other effects added. It was just an extension of the groove to me – an extended remix. It wasn’t until the early 90’s that I really started listening with a purpose to King Tubby, Scratch Perry, Scientist, Augustus Pablo etc. The first actual dub record I owned was Linton Kwesi Johnson’s ‘LKJ in Dub’. Sometimes it’s hard to remember life without the Internet. Back then it was mostly just going to record stores and taking a chance on something that looked like it might be interesting. That’s pretty much how I discovered all this music and one thing lead to another. It wasn’t being played on the radio. I didn’t have any friends turning me on to the music. I felt like I was on a quest in some ways, and that can be addictive.

I kind of lost interest in reggae at the tail end of the Buju Banton era. During that time and afterwards most of the new music I heard coming out sounded like crap to me. That’s when I started looking back through the history of Jamaican music more and getting into the dub recordings more and more. That has continued up until today.

How did Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub get started?

Heavyweight Dub got started because I felt like I was ready for a change of direction as a musician. I have a jazz band called Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls, which I’ve been leading since 1996. I’ve written some reggae-influenced tunes for that band that we’ve played over the years. Audiences always seemed to respond favorably to the music I wrote with different grooves like ska, reggae, afro-beat. To be honest, I was getting a little tired of the jazz ‘scene’ and playing gigs where you look out and by the expressions on the audiences’ faces you would think they were at the dentist’s office. Jazz audiences often look like they are being tortured and are in misery. I was also getting tired of audiences talking over the music all the time. I’m trying to absorb myself in the music and I have to hear somebody’s conversation at the table next to me about some inane bullshit, and they’re staring at their phones the whole time. I wanted to be involved with some music where people are expected to dance and have a good time. Also, this music is primarily played in different settings and venues. I don’t have to worry about being distracted by audiences because I can’t hear their conversations when I’m playing Reggae. The music is louder and I’m more separated from the audience.

But the main reason is that I love the music and I was excited about digging deeper and deeper into the music and challenging myself musically – as a drummer, composer, and bandleader. There’s not a TON of bands out there doing this kind of thing and I felt it would give me some room to breath and present something that is somewhat unique. I never considered leading my own reggae band for various reasons, but I’ve always wanted to play reggae in a serious way, and not just Bob Marley covers for drunks with fake dreadlock wigs and ‘Irie Mon’ t-shirts. Since I started this band I’ve discovered SO much more Jamaican music that I was not familiar with before. I’ve been discovering the link between jazz & reggae more and more through the music of Tommy McCook, Cedric I’m Brooks, Ernest Ranglin, Jackie Mittoo, Dave Madden, Don Drummond etc. And so much of the music I’m discovering still sounds so fresh decades later. I want to be part of continuing the legacy of this great music and keeping it alive for people to hear in person. I want to do it in a way that pays tribute to the people that created this music but also put my own stamp on it and consider the times that we are living in today.

How did your collaboration with legendary dub producer the Scientist come together?

I was reading some Scientist interviews online and was listening to a lot of Scientist’s work. I really liked and respected the music that he helped produce, especially with Flabba Holt, Style Scott and Roots Radics. I followed a link to dubmusic.com and suspected that it was his website. I wrote an email saying that I was a fan, had started a Dub band in Chicago, and hoped to cross paths with him at some point. I didn’t hear back and forgot about the email, but a couple months later I got a call from Scientist and that’s when we started talking about collaborating on a record.

What have been the biggest challenges with the Heavyweight Dub project?

The biggest challenges with Heavyweight Dub have been 1) finding the right musicians to be a part of it. 2) The Kickstarter was a HUGE challenge and drained the hell out of me, but it was successful and allowed us to bring Scientist to Chicago to record and mix the record and to release it. 3) managing a 10 piece band and trying to get gigs where I can pay a band that size. With a band this size it’s nearly impossible to get a rehearsal where everybody is available. I finally feel really happy with the lineup of musicians I have at this point, but we have yet to have a rehearsal where everybody in the band was present at the same time. I had intended to form a smaller group, but my ears followed the music and I ended up with a big band. The advantage of that is I believe that we have achieved that ‘heavyweight’ sound – a rich, full sound that can’t be achieved otherwise. The disadvantage is it’s harder to manage, as I mentioned, and it’s also harder to get out on the road without losing money.

How do you approach the live shows with Heavyweight Dub differently from your work in the studio?

Live and studio are completely different with this music – like night and day. Dub is a genre that was created in the studio, so as a live band we are kind of coming at it from the opposite direction. In a studio setting you have much more control over everything as far as ‘dubbing’ the music is concerned. In the studio you have isolation of tracks, digital editing, unlimited channels and effects etc. On the live shows we have Anthony Abbinanti aka “King Tony” from the Drastics live mixing us. Anthony really knows this style of music deeply and is remarkable at what he does. He really turns us into a live Dub experience, rather than just a band tinkering with some effects and hinting at Dub. It’s a very difficult thing to do in a live setting and there is no instruction manual for making it happen. Since he can’t mute musicians in a live setting, the musicians are responsible for dropping in and out of the music and leaving space. It’s a very tricky and risky scenario musically. It’s almost like a game in some ways. Everybody really has to be listening to one another and making sure to leave space in the music. It’s easy to get excited in a live show and start playing more notes and rushing the tempos because of the energy of the crowd. We have to remain disciplined and we have to breathe and remain relaxed in order for the music to come out the right way. Everybody has to trust each other and really work as a unit. You can’t just go on ‘auto-pilot’.

What advice would you give to musicians just starting out?

My advice to musicians starting out would be to take advantage of the technology available to you today. Understand what people had to go through in the past to get their hands on a record, or transcribe a track, or slow down music so we could learn it better. We had to struggle and put tons of effort into this type of stuff, yet today it’s all instantly available to you at the touch of a finger. Take advantage of that!!! Don’t take it for granted. The tools that we have at our disposal these days just blows my mind. Understand the world around you, or try to. Don’t just make ‘art for art’s sake’. Try to inspire people and take inspiration from them and work that into your music. Make yourself vulnerable and take risks. Don’t play it safe all the time. Put your neck on the line musically and accept the consequences – good or bad. Practice a lot but play with other people as much as possible. You can’t learn to swim without getting in the pool. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Emulating other musicians can be good for learning music but eventually you must expose who YOU are through the music if you want to be considered an artist. Play as many styles of music you can and learn about other cultures and how that culture relates to their music. Finally, don’t expect to make a living as a musician – it’s getting harder and harder to do so, but keep striving for that if that’s something you want. There are people out there still making a good living in the music industry, but it takes hard work and luck. You might put in a lot of hard work but never get lucky, therefore you have to play music because you love to do it above all else, or else you’ll end up angry, resentful, and bitter. - McClain Johnson

The future of dub is the present.
Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub has met The Scientist, and what has emerged is pure heavy, funky, hazy dub. On The Scientist Meets Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub, eras collide as the legendary - and kids, that’s not just because of K-Jah - engineer deftly teases echoes and effects, adding all the right elements to the already tight musicianship. “Scientific Strut” might let the entrancing horns lead, but the echoing guitar and thick bass remind us exactly who is strutting here. “House on the Rock” is slightly psychedelic courtesy of the vocals and guitar; “Jackie-Me-Too!” brings a skankin’ vibe with a featured organ line that receives plenty of affection. Or is it effection?
“Stop and Frisk.” though the intro is pure Chicago soul, rides on its heavy political vocals while”Killa Dilla” is another tight instrumental dub: horn clean, guitar slightly twangy. Modernity does poke its head in on “Saro-Wiwa” in the form of Diverse’s conscious hip-hop verse, concluding with ‘how do we see the truth with no light on?’
“Give a Little Love” features a dominant haunting keyboard part to open before a thick groove is unleashed beneath it; “Tubby” - a tribute? - and “Geronimo’s Free” are both movie montage-worthy instrumentals, while “Baltimore” seems better suited to gritty streets. Closer “Yanira Dub” is technically the only dub on the whole album - with the near-blues vocal featured in the original removed, the bass is allowed to lead the track further into the musical depths.
While not The Roots Radics - though apparently that might really be happening? - Ted Sirota and his deep ensemble of musicians hold their own on this impressive overture to dub’s golden age, when the b-side was in demand on the 7”s, while not ignoring the times we live in. If you know dub you definitely want to hear this, and if you love dub you should purchase yourself some FLAC goodness. - The Groove Thief

Sure, if you're a reggae fan you're probably familiar with producing, engineering and mixing wizard Overton "Scientist" Brown. So who the heck is Ted Sirota? I'll tell you. He's a Chicago-based drummer who's played all sorts of music and has had a longstanding love for reggae that began when he first got wind of Bob Marley and the Wailers as a youngster, investigated further and then sought to emulate the nuances of such reggae drumming greats as Sly Dunbar, Style Scott and Steel Pulse's Steve Nesbitt. It took three decades for him to put his first reggae band together, but to say it's been worth the wait is an understatement. Thanks to an assemblage of skilled players and singers, plus a successful Kickstarter campaign that paved the way for The Scientist's participation, the debut album of Ted Sirota's Heavyweight Dub is here. And it's a beauty. In keeping to the tradition of legendary Jamaican bands like Soul Syndicate, Roots Radics, the Upsetters and the Revolutionaries, the tracks here are anchored by heavy drum and bass foundations and layered with the intricacies of lead and riddim guitar, keyboards, horns and percussion. True to the title, most of it is very dubwise in execution but all of it flows impeccably. With Scientist able as ever at the controls, Sirota pays tribute to his influences via originals like "Tubby" and "Jackie-Me-Too!," runs a few covers through the echo chamber, includes a smattering of vocal selections among the mainly instrumental track listing and charts a course that includes roots, rockers, ska, early dancehall, jazz and funk overtones and, of course, dub. Be glad that Sirota finally decided to follow his reggae muse, because the result makes for excellent listening. -Tom Orr - Nice Up.com

The debut CD from Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub in now available for purchase/download. Get your copy today! If you are looking to purchase a physical CD go to Bandcamp. Download at iTunes, Amazon, Google Play. Streaming at Spotify - but don’t just stream, if you like it buy it!

When Chicago-area drummer and riddim creationist Ted Sirota was looking to team up with an experienced dubmixologist for his new dub album, he looked no further than the “Heavyweight Dub Champion” himself, Hopeton Brown AKA SCIENTIST. Busy in his DUBWORKS lab creating 3-D music, SCIENTIST received a set of riddims from Sirota and liked what he heard. Their collaboration resulted in SCIENTIST MEETS TED SIROTA’S HEAVYWEIGHT DUB, one helluva headbanger that was released just last month. Sirota and Scientist are touring the acclaimed dub album now, playing several dates with the likes of SHINEHEAD and GENERAL JAH MIKEY as emcees. In this new era of laptop liquidators, lightweight beats, and weakheart riddims, SCIENTIST MEETS TED SIROTA’S HEAVYWEIGHT DUB is a pure and true blessing from the Kingdom of Dub. - Midnight Raver Blog

A bouncing batch of contemporary dub from drummer Ted Sirota and his heavyweight combo – mixed and mastered by dub legend Scientist! Sirota is one of the most talented and most creatively boundless players to come out of the Chicago jazz scene of the past decade or so, and this reggae inspired project isn't only respectful of the classic Caribbean inspiration, it's entirely credible – a genuine credit to the genre, as opposed to a mere tribute. Good stuff! Players include bassist Matt Ferguson, Andrew Trim and Dave Miller on guitars, Marquis Hill on trumpet, Matthew Davis on trombone, Chaka B and Diverse on vocals, Tom Vaitsas on keys and Cameron Pfiffner on tenor sax. Titles include ""Scientific Strut", "House On The Rock", "This Is A Takeover", "Saro-Wiwa", "Give A Little Love", "The Struggle", "Geronimo's Free", "Baltimore", "Give A Little Love", "Tubby" and more. © 1996-2014, Dusty Groove, Inc. - Dusty Groove

Acclaimed U.S. jazz drummer, producer and composer Ted Sirota decided a while ago to pay tribute to the music he had been in love for the past 30 years or so.

The project started with a successful Kickstarter campaign where Ted Sirota and premier dub wizard Scientist managed to raise 25,000 dollars. The funds were invested in Scientist Meets Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub, a 14 track album recorded, mixed and mastered by Scientist.

The album title suggests a straight dub set, but this is not the case. A number of the cuts lean more towards instrumentals and songs such as Yanira and Saro-Wiva have lots of vocals thrown into the mix. A good thing that makes the album more diverse than a traditional dub effort.

Roots reggae, jazz, ska, hip-hop and dancehall are the main influences, and highlights include versions of Johnny Osbourne’s Give a Little Love and Randy Newman’s Baltimore, immortalized by Sly & Robbie’s highly successful take on it. Both cuts give the originals a run for their money.

Scientist and Ted Sirota also pay tribute to the late and great Jackie Mittoo and King Tubby. The former via the organ lead spaced out Jackie-Me-Too! and the latter through Tubby, a bass and percussion driven dancehall scorcher with honking saxophone and trombone echoing in and out of the mix.

Scientist Meets Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub is maybe not the bass heavy punch that the title proposes, but it contains several inspired mixes and the instrumentation is superb throughout. - Reggaemani.com

“Dance,” the Clash once commanded, “to the latest hi-fi sound of bass, guitar, and drum.” Longtime lovers of reggae, they hoped to open their audience’s ears to a rhythm that simultaneously seduced you to dance and rebellion. Ted Sirota wants to achieve something quite similar with Heavyweight Dub, his latest ensemble. Sirota may be best known as the drummer for the Sabertooth Organ Quartet, which holds down a weekly gig from midnight-to-five on Saturday nights at the Green Mill, for twenty years. In his own band, the Rebel Souls, he’s often bolstered a sense of swing rooted in the lessons of jazz masters like Max Roach and Dannie Richmond with reggae and Afro-beat grooves, and he’s celebrated figures of resistance against oppression through the ages with tunes like “Geronimo’s Free” and “Chairman Fred (I Wish Fred Hampton Was Here).”

But it wasn’t until early 2013 that he decided to form a steady project in order to make this case: that reggae is not just a party soundtrack, but deserves every bit as much respect and serious study as that of Duke Ellington or Thelonious Monk. First came a Kickstarter-funded recording with Scientist, the legendary producer responsible for many classic dub sides (and album covers!). The resulting CD hearkens back to the pre-digital era roots reggae during which Scientist first cut his teeth. But in concert Heavyweight Dub casts a wider net, using the disciplined, jazz-honed chops of certain band members to bring things full circle to the earliest days of Jamaican popular recording, when moonlighting jazz musicians devised the rhythms that became ska and rock steady.

Sirota has used a monthly free gig at the Whistler to spotlight key figure from reggae’s history; on Thursday, July 17th they’ll pay tribute to Studio One, the legendary label operated by the late Coxsone Dodd. But should you like to hear your reggae under a warm summer sky instead of within the confines of a club, this is your week. On Monday, July 14 Heavyweight Dub will open for Mauritanian singer Noura Mint Seymali as part of the Downtown Sound series at Millenium Park. The ensemble’s line-up is in constant flux. For these concerts, it will comprise Sirota, singers Cosmos Ray (Monday only) and Yanira Marin; horn players Roy McGrath and Matthew Davis, guitarist Brian Citro, bassists Doug Bistrow and Jason Matula, keyboardist Tom Vaitsas, percussionist Chris Paquette, and live dub mixer Anthony Abbinanti. - Chicago Music.org

The Scientist Meets Ted Sirota: Heavyweight Dub (2013)

By MARK CORROTO, Published: November 16, 2013
The Scientist Meets Ted Sirota: Heavyweight Dub Like fellow Chicagoan Mars Williams, Ted Sirota does not limit himself solely to jazz. The saxophonist Williams fronts the hip-hop funk freestyle band Liquid Soul and Sirota has assembled this Jamaican music band. Reggae music, the drummer's first love, has been incorporated into his longstanding jazz outfit Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls. With Heavyweight Dub he dives headlong into unexpurgated Jamaican music.

Those familiar with Sirota's work in Sabertooth, who released Dr. Midnight (Delmark, 2007) and their longstanding gig at The Green Mill, might find this music foreign. But listeners to his Rebel Souls records, Breeding Resistance (Delmark, 2004) and three prior Naim releases, will find the ingredients that inspired this dub Record.

He enlisted dub master Hopeton Overton Brown, AKA "The Scientist," an originator of Jamaican dub, to record this session. While it is not purely a 'dub' record, because it is an original recording (not a remix), the dub influence is apparent in the sounds of the drums and bass. Fans of the echo and reverb of dub won't be disappointed. Sirota delivers a roots-steady pulse throughout. His inclusion of vocals and a hip-hop verse keeps things interesting throughout.

Ever the cultural commentator, Sirota takes on Fourth Amendment issues with "Stop And Frisk (The New Jim Crow)" featuring Paul Mabin's vocals expounding on the 21st-century police tactic for rousting inner city residents. "Geronimo's Free" extends a ska riff with echoing horn blasts and a danceable beat. Sirota unleashes his party band here with an infectious and mighty sound. Rapper Diverse summons dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, aka LKJ with his rap on "Saro- Wiwa." "The Struggle" continues with Sirota's passion for social justice through music, singing "Don't give up the struggle, unite." Indeed.

Track Listing: Scientific Strut; House On The Rock; Jackie-Me-Too!; Stop And Frisk (The New Jim Crow); Killa Dilla; This Is A Takeover; Saro-Wiwa; Yanira; Give A Little Love; Tubby; The Struggle; Geronimo’s Free; Baltimore; Yanira Dub.

Personnel: Ted Sirota: drums; Matt Ferguson: bass; Chris Paqutte: percussion; Dave Miller: guitar; Andrew Trim: guitar; Mike Dangeroux: guitar (4, 8, 11); Tom Vaitsas-keyboards: organ; Cameron Pfiffner-: tenor saxophone; Matthew Davis: trombone; Marquis Hill: trumpet; Yanira Marin: vocals (2); Paul Mabin: vocals & vocal background arrangements (4, 8, 11); Chaka B-: vocals (8); Diverse-: vocals (7).

Record Label: Liberated Zone Records

Style: Modern Jazz - All About Jazz

Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub throw down - Though the group proper is a relatively newbie on the Chicago front, its members -- particularly frontman Sirota -- are anything but rookies. Sirota’s been a sideplayer or bandleader in several groups since the '80s, each time delivering a band and sound a notch above so many others. Sirota offers a warm reprieve when he brings the Caribbean beats to the Morning Shift. - WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago

By Dave Cantor
09.20 Ted Sirota @ wrld music fest
Photo: Michael Jackson
Honing in on sounds drawn from Jamaica invariably abut America’s jazz tradition. Drummer Ted Sirota’s more than vaguely familiar with both. But his estrangement from reggae and dub didn’t occur because of lacking fealty. The drummer just found himself more easily insinuated into jazz ensembles.
“I’m rediscovering the whole thing,” Sirota says of Chicago’s Jamaican music scene, after spending the better part of the last two decades working in jazz mode across the city, including a regular date at the Green Mill as Sabertooth’s backbone.
Earlier in his career, the percussionist did time in David Byrd’s ensemble, which at one point included a former Black Uhuru guitarist. Other well-known guests weren’t too uncommon, either.
“Sometimes we’d play gigs where Hamid Drake would do percussion,” Sirota says. “He’d bring a djembe, and I’d play drums—we’d switch off a little.”
Eventually, though, the jobs just weren’t there, and Sirota found himself shifting focus, performing with the likes of Jeff Parker, Jeb Bishop and Rob Mazurek as Rebel Souls. The ensemble, which released its last disc about four years back, integrated Sirota’s taste for Afrobeat, vague strains of free jazz and occasional moments of out-and-out reggae. Rebel Souls’ lack of musical focus and its inclusion of sundry genres, splintering a potential fan base, could have provided for its eventual dissolution.
“With Rebel Souls, I infused it with sounds that influenced me—Afrobeat and reggae, Brazilian. We tried to put it under one tent and have it sound cohesive,” Sirota says, describing the impetus for his halted project. “We’d play Mingus-type stuff and Ornette. I think it was effective and it worked. But I wanted to do something… I wanted to break up that band into specific styles.”
Hitting on the desire to focus his sights and devise a project devoted to a singular genre, Heavyweight Dub began about ten months back. And over that time, Sirota’s devised what he believes to be a ruggedly unique and capacious troupe.
“Instead of having a three- or four-piece group with a keyboard playing cheesy patches, we have horns. We have a guy playing organ. I have a percussionist. … And that’s the sacrifice,” he says. “We get offered these gigs that don’t pay anything. It’s really economic a lot of times when people have small groups. In the reggae scene, for the past several years, I think people have been taking the music for granted. I want to take the music seriously.”
After reaching out to Scientist, a pioneering dub producer who’d moved from Jamaica to Los Angeles, “The Scientist Meets Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub” came together relatively quickly. The recorded artifact exerts a series of bass-heavy displays, clearly rooted in Jamaica’s classicism, but updated through guest vocalists and production value.
09.20 Ted Sirota @ wrld music fest2
Photos: Chuck Przybyl
“Scientist co-produced the record with me … engineered the session, and he mixed it. On those older records, you know those bleeps? He doesn’t really do that anymore,” Sirota says, explaining the different styles Scientist employs behind the boards on his seminal 1970s work and the new disc.
Despite the genre frequently being reduced to Bob Marley discussions, the broad tapestry of Jamaican music encompasses everything from R&B and soul to jazz and autochthonous musics. That pastiche of sounds, despite being boiled down to its most guttural rhythms, provides Sirota with an opportunity to perform in a unique collaborative environment.
“You have to accept your role in the band—accept that every element is equally important and without one of them, the whole thing falls apart,” the drummer says. “I find that music from what gets called third-world countries, are based on community and people coming together.”
Dub’s simplicity is often mistaken for inept musicianship, pedestrian drug stuffs or formulaic genre worship. But the music’s open compositional space enables the most minute variations on rhythm to sound like explosive creativity.
“To me it’s liberating in a different way. You have to give yourself over to the music or it’s not, it’s restrictive,” Sirota says, describing the difference between performing in a jazz group and one focused on Jamaican minimalism. “It’s where I use all my energy; artistically, logistically. Sabertooth, honestly, I just kinda show up and play.”
For Heavyweight Dub’s upcoming performance at Chicago’s World Music Festival, Sirota’s pulled in Scientist to mix the show, a few guest vocalists and The Drastics’ Anthony Abbinanti for assistance.
“Well, I do that all the time in the studio,” Abbinanti says of manipulating electronic sounds, perhaps preparing to add those absent bleeps Scientist previously trucked in. “But it’s a nice experience to be able to do it with a band. It flexes the musician—and producer—brain stems, simultaneously.”
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Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub – The Scientist Meets Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub - World Music Central.org

Local jazz drummer Ted Sirota goes deep and low in Jamaican roots with his Heavyweight Dub combo. Here, the group teams with one of the masters, the Scientist, a dub engineer mentored by the legendary Lee Perry and King Tubby. The two take the stage along with guests Shinehead and General Jah Mikey. - Time Out Chicago

Drummer Ted Sirota is a fixture on Chicago’s jazz scene in large part thanks to his tenure in organ combo Sabertooth, which has held down a late-night gig at the Green Mill for two decades. But in his own long-running Rebel Souls, Sirota has often displayed a love for styles far afield from Sabertooth’s postbop: reggae, Afrobeat, Brazilian pop, even punk rock. For him, what connects those styles is the spirit of protest wielded by some of their heaviest hitters—Bob Marley, Fela Kuti, Caetano Veloso, and the Clash, for example. Early this year he formed the reggae combo Heavyweight Dub, which balances outraged, insistent revolutionary songs against tunes that favor rootsy ebullience. For the band’s debut album, The Scientist Meets Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub (Liberated Zone), Sirota enlisted producer and King Tubby protege Overton H. Brown, aka the Scientist, to dub out his original tunes, which include instrumental salutes to reggae greats (“Tubby,” “Jackie-Me-Too!”) and politically charged rockers such as “Stop and Frisk (The New Jim Crow)” and “Saro-Wiwa.” (The former features singing by Paul Mabin, and the latter showcases rhymes from Chicago rapper Diverse.) That’s not to say the group’s music is bereft of dub effects under ordinary circumstances: resident mixer Anthony Abbinanti mans the board at live concerts. Heavyweight Dub’s lineup often changes from show to show, and tonight’s crew includes plenty of strong musicians, among them reedist Cameron Pfiffner, bassist Matt Ferguson, guitarist Andrew Trim, and vocalist Yanira Marin, who also guests on the album (and is Sirota’s wife). —Peter Margasak Doctah X, Mobile Disco Unit, and Pressure Sound System open. - The Reader

Release date: 20 September 2013

Ted Sirota is a Chicago bandleader and jazz drummer whose love of Jamaican music inspired the creation of the Heavyweight Dub band. He sought out the production experience and engineering of Hopeton O. Brown, also known as The Scientist, whose 35-year long career has earned him the moniker “dub champion of the world.” The Scientist plays with gated reverb and echo chamber effects, especially in Sirota’s percussion and the noticeable delay on the brass instruments. The lackadaisical, slow-bouncing rhythms mixed with major/minor melodies are characteristic of The Scientist’s dub releases. Sirota mixes the start-stop guitar popular in reggae with fusion keyboard effects and a roots-based rhythm section. The classical jazz elements sharply stand out; of note are Cameron Pfiffner’s tenor sax, Matthew Davis’s trombone, and Marquis Hill’s trumpet. There are pronounced early ska textures, as this is big band dub. Various guest vocalists present anti-establishment lyrics in a half-sung/half-spoken flow. Ted Sirota and The Scientist serve up a fresh outlook on new and old school dub here on Heavyweight Dub. Fun fact: the funds for this collaboration were raised via Bandcamp!

Great for reggae shows and morning shows; a few tracks can be played on jazz shows. Out on Liberated Zone Records. - Reviews For Radio - R4R

A clean, crisp dub session thanks to the standout performance by the players of instruments (Ted Sirota's been teaching drums for over 20 years!). Scientist on the mix. Strictly early 80s style. Very solid release. - Ernie B's Reggae