• By Xavier Simacourbe
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• Sunday, August 17, 2008
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• Source : The Press Association

Johnny Moore, trumpeter and founding member of Jamaican ska and reggae band The Skatalites, has died of cancer at 70.

According to music promoter and producer Herbie Miller Johnny 'Dizzi' Moore died at a friend's house after being released from the hospital following cancer treatment last week.
Moore, a musician at Studio 1, helped form The Skatalites in 1964 along with saxophonists Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso and trombonist Don Drummond. The band released many great ska songs such as Confucious, Red Is Danger and The Reburial in 1964.

They broke up in the 1960s, but regrouped in New York two decades later. Two of their albums, Hi-Bop Ska and Greetings from Skamania, were nominated for the Grammy Awards Best Reggae Album. Recently he played in the Jamaica All Stars band, a supergroup of established artists from the Jamaican musical scene. Band members Justin Hinds, Noel "Skully" Simms and Sparrow Martin are backed by a team of musicians from the famous Alpha Boys School.

To finish here are some words from 'Dizzy' Moore’s interview in 2005 :

"I put music in general before anything else! That's my favourite subject; it's my woman, my companion and my soother when I have problems. Music is my life."

Hope you can play, where you go man. Peace.