World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Vin Gordon

Artist. Ska, rocksteady, reggae

Active
1964-present
Sunrise
August 4, 1949, Kingston, Jamaica
Also recorded as
Don Drummond Jr.

Vin Gordon, credited on records as Trommie and as Don D. Junior or Don Drummond Junior, is a trombonist whose playing runs through the Studio One catalog and the Marley albums.

He grew up in Jones Town, one of eight children, and learned trombone and string bass at Alpha Boys School, the same training that produced Don Drummond, as whose successor he was billed. He began recording in 1964 with the Skatalites and became Studio One's principal trombonist, working afterward for every major producer through ska, rocksteady, and reggae, including sessions for Bunny Lee's Aggrovators, among them the instrumental "Magnum Force" on the "None Shall Escape the Judgement" riddim, and for Lee Perry.

Perry produced his solo album Musical Bones in 1975, issued in Britain on blank labels in a pressing of three hundred. He moved to England in the 1980s, where he played on Aswad records including "Warrior Charge," and later returned to Jamaica.

Last updated October 23, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide credits "trombonist Don D. Junior's 'Evil Spirit'" and refers to "Don Drummond Junior (aka Vin Gordon)" and "Vin 'Don D Junior' Gordon." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 118, 166, 391. One British pressing of Aswad's "Warrior Charge" credits him as "Trommie." "Aswad - Warrior Charge," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1660286.
  2. The Rough Guide singles out his Studio One instrumental "Heavenless," a rhythm much revived in the dancehall era, and his playing on Studio One's dub albums. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 75, 226, 262. Wikipedia names Exodus and Kaya among the Marley albums. "Vin Gordon," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Gordon. The original British Exodus lists no horn players. "Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/525689.
  3. Wikipedia gives Jones Town, the eight children, and trombone and string bass at Alpha. "Vin Gordon." Bradley lists him among the Alpha old boys, with Tommy McCook, Rico and others. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 101. On the Drummond name, see Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 166. Augustyn and Reeves's Alpha history names him among the school's alumni. Heather Augustyn, "Alpha Boys' School: Cradle of Jamaican Music by Heather Augustyn and Adam Reeves Is Now Available!," SkaBook (blog), November 18, 2017, https://skabook.com/2017/11/18/alpha-boys-school-cradle-of-jamaican-music-by-heather-augustyn-and-adam-reeves-is-now-available/.
  4. Wikipedia gives the 1964 start with the Skatalites and calls him Studio One's main trombonist. "Vin Gordon." The Rough Guide names him among the Bunny Lee All Stars of 1967-68, the Aggrovators, the Revolutionaries and Perry's Upsetters. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 80, 153, 157, 176. Bradley places him in the Black Ark brass section. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 326. Katz names his trombone instrumental "Magnum Force," on the riddim of Johnny Clarke's "None Shall Escape the Judgement," among that hit's follow-ups for Bunny Lee. David Katz, "The (Not So Clear-Cut) History of the Flying Cymbal," Red Bull Music Academy Daily, July 31, 2013, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2013/07/flying-cymbal-feature.
  5. Discogs lists the British issue on Dip as 1975; a later reissue notes that it was "Recorded and mixed at The Black Ark, Jamaica 1975" and that the labels credit the Upsetters. "Vin Gordon - Musical Bones," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/6164942; "Vin Gordon - Musical Bones," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/746479. The Rough Guide dates it 1974. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 225. Wikipedia gives the blank labels and the three hundred copies. "Vin Gordon."
  6. The Rough Guide says Gordon's and the alto saxophonist Michael "Bami" Rose's horns made "Warrior Charge," a 1980 twelve-inch featured in the film Babylon, Aswad's "most powerful track to date." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 391. Wikipedia gives the move to England in the 1980s and the return to Jamaica. "Vin Gordon."

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