Deejay Trinity, born February 10, 1954 in Kingston, was a keen follower of soundsystems such as Tippertone, El Paso, Kentone and King Tubby's HiFi, to name but a few. At soundsystem Vee Jay the Dubmaster he started his career and there stayed for some four years. It's not sure whether he recorded his first tune for producer Derrick Harriott ('Owner Fi De Yard') or for Channel One boss JoJo HooKim ('Step Up Yourself'), both tunes released in 1976.
After doing some more tunes for JoJo, he switched to the then in-demand producer Joe Gibbs, where he recorded his most popular tune Three Piece Suite in just one cut! The tune utilized the riddim of Marcia Aitken's updated version of Alton Ellis' Studio One hit I'm Still In Love. The whimsical version by teenage schoolgirl duo, Althea Forrest and Donna Reid -- 'Uptown Top Ranking' -- was virtually ignored when first released; the preferred cut was Trinity's piece on the riddim! A slew of fine singles followed: John Saw Them Coming, 'Starsky and Hutch' and 'Judgement Time'. Joe Gibbs released Trinity's debut LP in 1977, predictably under the title 'Three Piece Suit'.
At the time of this album's original release deejay Trinity was -- alongside fellow deejays Dillinger and Ranking Trevor -- at the height of his powers and popularity. After his stay at Joe Gibbs' he went on recording for Prince Tony Robinson, Alvin Ranglin and he also released some self-produced albums. In 1987 he resurfaced as Junior Brammer - a fine vocalist - and under that moniker he put out two vocal albums.
The 'Three Piece Suit' album has been a sought after piece for a long time. Now Crazy Joe Records in France has re-released this classic deejay album in truly fine style. The digipack format includes two wicked bonus tracks, and comes in the original, amusing sleeve art. The sound quality is excellent, probably they have used the original tapes.
The ten album songs offered here utilize the classic Jamaican riddims which Joe Gibbs used for tons of his productions. Queen Majesty is Rocksteady style, riding the riddim of the same name. Strickly Cash tackles another rocksteady riddim, the Jamaicans 'Ba Ba Boom' tune. 'Heart and Soul' was a hit for Junior Byles, here Trinty lays down a wicked rendition called Render Your Heart. Bob Marley's 'Hypocrites' riddim is used in full effect on John Saw Them Coming. Jacob Miller, by the way, delivered a stunning version on the same riddim for Joe Gibbs as well. Studio One's Coxsone Dodd released several tunes on the 'Rockfort Rock' riddim. Joe Gibbs loved the riddim and Trinity voiced his cut calling it Kingston Two Rock, complete with some bizarre sound effects. Muhammed Ali is cut across the 'Joe Frazier'(!) riddim.
The bonus tracks are two 45's on Joe Gibbs' Belmont label. The first one -- Nice Up The Yard on the 'Boxing' riddim -- sees Trinity in combination with U Brown, while the second tune is a hard roots tune on Gibbs' cut to the Gaylads 'Hard To Confess'.
Truly essential stuff!
Teacher 1 Mr.T  /  www.reggae-vibes.com

Back in 1978 on its original appearance this album was rightly lauded as a top flight DJ work and its still sounds great after all these years, with Trinity communicating the great fun he’s having in the studio knocking these tunes out. Available on both CD and LP, its best to go for the vinyl version as thankfully the politically incorrect artwork remains intact. Both Trinity and his pal Dillinger were of the new DJ school and, although there was a clear debt to Big Youth particularly, they both possessed the brashness of youth that carried the swing. ‘Three Piece Suit’ has a contemporarily heavy dubwise sound provided by engineer Errol Thompson for Joe Gibbs, and many of the rhythms are still being retrod today: ‘Song Of The Midnight Hour’ is ‘Java’, ‘Render Your Heart’ is on Junior Byles’ beautiful ‘Heart & Soul’, perversely ‘Mohammed Ali’ rides Spear’s ‘Joe Frazier’, ‘Rasta Dub’ is the Wailers’ ‘Keep On Moving’ and of course the rhythm of the title track provided Althea & Donna with a number one tune in the UK on ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ itself derived from Hortense Ellis’ ‘I’m Still In Love With You Boy’.
www.otwradio.blogspot.com