I first became familiar with the music of Phil Pratt after hearing John Holt's plaintiff vocals to 'Strange Things' on David Rodigan's program sometime in the early 80s. Until then roots, DJ and dub music was my thing but this was a 'lovers' vocal performance riding a jagged, insistent bassline and plucked guitar rhythm that demanded attention. I tracked down John Holt's Studio One LP to discover the original 'Strange Things' was not a patch on the later cut produced by Phil Pratt. Seldom is a Studio One original bettered - here was a producer to be reckoned with.

I became aware of Phil Pratt's DJ productions through the Trojan LP 'DJ Round-Up' (with killers like 'Tell It Black' by Big Youth) but further records and information about the man proved elusive. Bit by bit, song by song, an impressive musical legacy emerged, a legacy built on rock steady foundations.

Many argue that the rock steady era produced Jamaica's finest music, a time when the country's deep well of vocal talent was given ample opportunity to record with superb instrumentalists at the peak of their powers. In the early 60s George Philips (later named Phil Pratt by Ken Lac) had become a box man for the Studio One sound system (Coxsone's Downbeat), forging an enduring friendship with Lee Perry also working for Downbeat at this time. Like many Jamaicans, Phil fancied himself as a vocalist but was disappointed after Coxsone chose not to release his first recording at Studio One, a tune called 'Safe Travel'.

Undeterred Phil took his music to enigmatic producer B.K. Calnek - better known as Ken Lac - who promptly issued 'Sweet Songs For My Baby' on the Caltone label achieving some success. Phil gave four more tunes to Calnek and commenced a business partnership with the man operating his Sun Shot label out of the same premises as Lac's Caltone imprint. The Caltone connection provided access to the very best talent on the island including band leader and guitar virtuoso Lynn Taitt and singers of renown such as Ken Boothe, John Holt and Pat Kelly. Phil Pratt quickly became a well respected producer with a reputation for issuing high quality vocals using seasoned veterans as well as untested talent. The 1971-1975 period was highly successful for Pratt with DJs of the calibre of U-Roy, I-Roy, Big Youth, Jah Woosh and Dennis Alcapone employed to great effect on the top Sun Shot rhythms of the day.

Phil was also a regular at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio during its first year of operation, recording arguably Linval Thompson's first tune 'Girl You've Got To Run' and singing harmony there on sides by Al Campbell. A fruitful musical partnership with keyboardist/arranger Bobby Kalphat was well established that even led to an instrumental LP with Bobby on melodica ('Bobby Kalphat In Dub'). But it was Al Campbell and Pat Kelly who were to provide the biggest hits for Pratt capitalising on the large audience in the UK for lovers music with tunes like Al's 'Gee Baby' and Pat's redo of 'Talk About Love'.

However by the time the dancehall era of the late 70s/early 80s kicked in, the audience for carefully crafted, thoughtful music had contracted forcing many producers and artists into semi-retirement. Sadly Phil Pratt was one of these and little new material has been heard since. Every now and then reissues of Phil Pratt's music appear on 7" and much of his work has been made available on CD through an arrangement with French label Jet Set - check compilations like 'Best of Sun Shot' and 'Raw Roots Volumes 1 and 2' for his best work.

In a chat at Phils' restaurant in North London with FOTW man Adrian a couple of years back, Phil mentioned a book he was planning - the history of rock steady and reggae as seen through the eyes of a key artist/producer will be something worth waiting for.