Trombonist Carlos Malcom (right), founder/leader of Carlos Malcolm and the Afro-Jamaican Rhythms, at the Lecture Hall of the Institute of Jamaica, downtown Kingston, recently. At left is Herbie Miller, director/curator of the Jamaica Music Museum.—-
LEGENDARY bandleader Carlos Malcolm says he has never earned from the musical scores he wrote for Dr No, the first James Bond movie.
Starring Sean Connery, Dr No was largely filmed in Jamaica.
“After Dr No came out, it took me two years to watch the movie. The first time it came out I cried like a baby… The man left with my scores. These were my original scores,” Malcolm said during an onstage conversation with Herbie Miller, director/curator of the Jamaica Music Museum.
Malcolm’s reflection on his 60-year career was among the high points of a two-day symposium at the Lecture Hall of the Institute of Jamaica, downtown Kingston.
The symposium started on Friday under the theme ‘The Business of Jamaica’s Music and Cultural Industries’.
Malcolm, who was born in Panama to Jamaican parents, admitted that his inexperience and lack of knowledge about the entertainment industry is the reason for him not being compensated for 53 scores he wrote for the film, based on British writer Ian Fleming’s spy novels.
“This is where I made my big mistake, I signed away my life. Once you signed a general release, that’s it,” he explained. “I got paid as hired. If you don’t sign it, you would get pay every time it (the movie) plays. After that, I went out and copyright everything I wrote. That’s the greatest lesson of my life,” Malcolm added.
The trombonist is founder/leader of Carlos Malcolm and the Afro-Jamaican Rhythms, a band famous for instrumental songs like Rukumbine, Coolie Gal and Bonanza SKA.
Malcolm lives in Florida.
He told the Jamaica Observer that he is recording a set of Jamaican and Caribbean folk songs for an album to be used in schools.
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