Bryan, his colleague in The Maytals band for over 50 years, died at age 78 in October. Cliff, who became a superstar through his starring role as Ivan in ‘The Harder They Come’, passed away on November 24 at age 81.

“Dougie was a real gentleman, great lead and rhythm guitarist. One of the best, right up there with Hux Brown and Ernie Ranglin, he was the first guitarist to use a wah wah pedal as a rhythm guitarist,” said Jackson.

Bryan’s riffs can be heard on classic songs like ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ and ‘General Penitentiary’ by Black Uhuru, ‘Soon Forward’ by Gregory Isaacs, ‘Monkey Man’, ‘Funky Kingston’, ‘Pressure Drop’ and ‘Sweet And Dandy’ by Toots and The Maytals.

Along with Jackson, Brown, drummers Winston Grennan and Paul Douglas, he helped craft the patented Maytals sound.

At Cliff’s official funeral at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston on December 17, the burly Jackson was a member of the band that had the hall rocking to renditions of his most memorable songs, some of which he played on.

“It wasn’t a case of how important it was to be present at the memorial, it was a given,” said Jackson, who refers to Cliff as “Sir James.

It was the singer-songwriter who took him on his first overseas tour and they remained close friends for over 50 years. He recalled Cliff’s positive outlook on life and a willingness to share that optimism.

“We would sit for hours on his verandah, reminiscing and be thankful for being Aries. Sometimes we’d just sit there not saying a word, just lost in our thoughts and world, and then we’d just get up at the same time and say,’Let’s go have some lunch/dinner’,”Jackson disclosed.

Although he played on numerous classic songs such as ‘Funky Kingston’ and ‘Sweet And Dandy’, ‘Girl I’ve Got A Date’ by Alton Ellis, ‘Small Axe’ by The Wailers, ‘The Harder They Come’ and ‘Wonderful World, Beautiful World’ by Cliff and Paul Simon’s ‘Mother And Child Reunion’, the Kingston-born Jackson retains a high sense of humility.

At the end of Jimmy Cliff’s service, he was surrounded backstage by a group of admirers that included his daughters, dignitaries and fellow musicians. One day later, Jackson shared an anecdote his departed friend always gave him.

“At the end of our numerous meetings his (Cliff’s) parting words were always, ‘Believe in yourself’,” he said.

(Photos contributed)