Glenn DaCosta
Artist. Reggae
- Active
- 1970s-
- Sunrise
- 1941 or 1942, Jamaica
Glenn DaCosta is a saxophonist and flautist whose playing appears across the horn arrangements of 1970s Jamaican music.
He was a member of Zap Pow, the Kingston band that combined reggae with funk and jazz and had a substantial local following through the decade. With David Madden on trumpet and Vin Gordon on trombone, he formed the horn section that worked as a unit across a great many sessions for other artists, including work with Bob Marley and the Wailers during the Island years. He and Madden were working out horn parts with the band at 56 Hope Road when gunmen attacked the house on December 3, 1976.
He came up through Alpha Boys School, where at about eleven he was put on clarinet because the school needed one, and he taught himself saxophone; he joined Zap Pow on leaving the army. He later argued that synthesizers "didn't do the music much justice" and predicted that "in time the authentic horn sound will make a comeback." He has continued to perform and record, largely outside Jamaica.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Bob Marley (bandleader)
- David Madden (bandmate)
- Dwight Pinkney (bandmate)
- Zap Pow (band)
- The Wailers (session work)
- Vin Gordon (collaborator)
Notes
- Bradley lists "Glen DaCosta" with Vin Gordon and Bobby Ellis in the brass section of Lee Perry's 1970s session crew. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 326. The Rough Guide names him among the saxophonists on Yabby You's dub work. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 236.
- Wikipedia says Zap Pow was formed in 1969 with DaCosta on tenor saxophone, vocals, and flute, that its 1976 album Zap Pow Now topped the UK reggae chart, and that the band split in 1979. "Zap Pow," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zap_Pow.
- Wikipedia lists the trumpeter David Madden as a fellow founding member of Zap Pow. "Zap Pow." The Rough Guide names DaCosta and Madden together in the horn section on the Gladiators' Nighthawk albums of the 1980s. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 211.
- The Island album Kaya (1978) credits the horns to Vin Gordon, David Madden, and Glen DaCosta. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Kaya, Island, Discogs, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/12797560. Discogs also credits him on Confrontation (1983) and on Rita Marley's Who Feels It Knows It (1980). "Glen DaCosta," Discogs, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/artist/146230-Glen-DaCosta.
- Tyrone Downie recalls that they were rehearsing "I Shot the Sheriff" because "the horn players wanted to play on it," and names "the horn players Glen DaCosta and Dave Madden" among those who sheltered in the bathroom: Roger Steffens, "The Night Bob Marley Got Shot," Rolling Stone (Australia), July 10, 2017, https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-night-bob-marley-got-shot-1877, an excerpt from Roger Steffens, So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley (New York: W. W. Norton, 2017).
- Wikipedia says he was a former pupil of the Alpha Boys School. "Zap Pow."
- "Glen Da Costa," interview, Rebel Base, February 4, 2007, https://rebelbase.be/interviews/detail/glen-da-costa---petrol-022007.
- Discogs credits him on later Wailers Band albums, including I.D. (1989) and Majestic Warriors (1991), and on Alpha Blondy's Jerusalem (1986), recorded with the Wailers. "Glen DaCosta," Discogs.
