The self-produced ‘Take It Easy’ was recently released by his Baraka Music label, and came ten years after he dropped his debut, the cleverly-titled ‘Twelve Joints of Kane’.‘Babymother’, a heart-rending ode to an impatient spouse, is the lead song from the 12-track ‘Take It Easy’ which features the talents of some of contemporary reggae’s most respected musicians, such as saxophonist Dean Fraser, guitarist Mikey Chung and keyboardist Stephen ‘Lenky’ Marsden.
Michael Marsh explained the lull between albums: “Is me alone doing my thing. There is nobody to help me so we just took time and see that everything was done properly,” he said. Born in Dunnsville, a district on the outskirts of Ocho Rios in St. Ann parish, Jamaica Michael Marsh is used to doing things properly. It is a trait that he has perfected after nearly thirty years of trodding the musical pavement.
Making original music, he pointed out, is something he strove for on ‘Take It Easy’. He takes pride in the fact that he wrote all of the album’s tracks.“There was a time when Jamaican artistes used to just sing over songs and it made us look like we lacked creativity. Nowadays, we see some of the youths trying a thing and being around for a while I have to lead the way,” he said.
Michael Marsh began his career while he was still a student at Jamaica College, one of Jamaica’s leading secondary institutions. This took place at the famed studios of producer Harry ‘Harry J’ Johnson where he recorded his first song, ‘Ghetto Tenement Yard’. From there he moved on to another noted Jamaican producer, Lloyd ‘King Jammys’ James, for whom he cut several songs which included a cover of the Gloria Estefan ballad, ‘Anything For You’.
While doing songs for Jammys during the 1980s, Michael Marsh still had to pay the bills. During this period, his main salary came from working the tourist circuit as front-man for the New Breed and New Foundation bands, which played to appreciative audiences in Negril and Ocho Rios. Michael Marsh left for New York City in the 1990s, shortly after recording ‘Printer’ with deejay Mega Banton for singer/producer Colin Roach.
He continued his music career in the Big Apple, working with stalwart New York producer Phillip Smart and the legendary Clement ‘Coxson’ Dodd’s Studio One label which was based in Brooklyn. ‘Why’, done on the enduring ‘Undying Love’ rhythm, was Michael Marsh’s best known song for Dodd. ‘Twelve Joints of Kane’, released in 2001, was testament to his perseverance. Michael Marsh has come a long way since his days hanging out at the studios of Harry J. But he keeps making music the only way he knows how: as sweet as the crop for which he is named.
