Carl Harvey

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Photo courtesy Harding

Carl Harvey’s career in music spans over four decades, to the mid-1970s when he recorded with reggae immortals such as Jackie Mittoo, King Tubby and Prince Jammy, a decade which for Harvey culminated with Willi Williams’ international hit record Messenger Man and his own first solo album Ecstasy of Mankind, which since its first legitimate release on Makasound in 2005, has become a much sought-after collector’s item. Also during that time, Harvey joined Crack of Dawn, Canada’s seminal black funk band that has recently reunited for several special concerts. In 1980, Harvey joined the literal originators of the word reggae, Toots & The Maytals. Thirty-three years later, the Maytals remain one of the top touring reggae bands in the world. In just over half a century since the great Toots Hibbert founded the Maytals, they have released more than 30 albums and compilations; Harvey appears on more than 15 of these records including 2004’s Best Reggae Album Grammy Award-winning True Love. Toots & The Maytals have performed with the some of the world’s most popular artists including the Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews and Sheryl Crow; and headlined stages at major eclectic, jazz and reggae festivals worldwide such as Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Montreal Jazz Festival, Reggae on the River, Fuji Rock,Summerjam (Cologne, Germany) as well as hundreds of others along with the global A-list of clubs & theatres. Harvey’s 2005 solo album The Times also received wide-ranging critical acclaim.

Harvey’s body of work as an engineer and producer, and his overall contribution to the development of Canadian reggae & RB, is equally as impressive as his musical canon. Three-time Juno award winner (and 4-time nominee) Kim Richardson, Canada’s first international reggae supergroup Messenjah, Sway (he produced their Juno-nominated 1989 worldwide hit ‘Hands Up’), Ojiji (with his brother Rupert), Alexis Baro and Crack of Dawn head the long list of Canadian solo artists and bands whose success bear Harvey’s indelible stamp as a producer and creative contributor.

In His Own Words

"The guitar sounded awesome at the gig Saturday night. I found myself using less effects because I was able to pull so much nuance from the guitar I was afraid I would cover something up, however when I did use an effect it just jumped out! I'm really digging these pickups! I spent some time last night doing some AB comparisons with my other guitars and I must tell you, it was scary! There was a noticeable amount of detail missing when I went back to my stacked single coils, which I thought were really good and I was willing to make the slight tradeoff in tone loss for the absence of noise. However, the Zexcoils exhibit all the tone of a great single coil without the hum and inherent noise. I also noticed that I was able to obtain a great tone at a much lower volume as I was using an amp in my condo in the middle of the night. The stacked singles improved as I brought the volume up but at low volume they were lost! This presents quite the dilemma! I'm going to be compelled to switch out the pickups in at least a few more guitars! Lol They are truly revolutionary. It's like taking a blanket off the sound (well maybe a veil, lol) when compared to other noise canceling pickups and there is none of that ice pick tininess associated with some true single coils.”

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