Since leaving Steel Pulse and the dissolution of Bass Dance, Basil has been far more choosy about his live performances. He's appeared with friends in the guise of the more occasional Gabbidon Worldwide, or Gabbidon International or just plain Gabbidon with irregular gigs taking place in clubs and venues across the Midlands and at festivals like 'Black History Month' or the 'Making Friends with Music' day of world music and dance at the Birmingham Symphony Hall where he gave his own potted version of the history of reggae backed by a collection of family and friends in September 2002.

Kicking off 2003, I witnessed a great show at The Drum in Aston, Birmingham on 15 February. Basil laid on a jamming session with his band and a few guests including the Jamaican legend, saxophonist Papa Saxa, to an appreciative audience. With Basil's guitar leading from the front, Saxa, famed for his ska sax solos joined him for the second half and brought his own inimitable flamboyance to the evening's proceedings. Amongst the other invited guests, Yaz Alexander who's recorded with Pato Banton and on three albums with Steel Pulse (Victims, Vex, Rage & Fury), guested superbly with a suitably powerful rendition of Bob Marley's Forever Loving Jah. Birmingham-based Yaz, who's worked with Pato Banton for twelve years, Steel Pulse, Mighty Diamonds, Eddy Grant and Andy Hamilton and has recently taught with Banton as a vocal tutor, sang as beautifully as she looks.

Papa Saxa, who joined The Beat in 1979 after a life's worth of experiences with Prince Buster and The Beatles amongst others, reminded us just how he gave The Beat the edge over the other Two Tone bands at the time with a rich display of horn work. Now in his eighties, he was joined on the sax by his son Lionel for one of the numbers. Basil and his band, which included his younger brother Colin (also a former member of Steel Pulse) on drums, Jason (keyboards), Craig Spence (bass), Matt Taylor (sax) and Lee Alexander and Laura Ige sharing the lead vocals with Basil himself, blazed a series of tunes with highlights including their own versions of Steel Pulse's Handsworth Revolution and Rally Round and an impressive vocal from Laura on Changes. Also guesting was Milton Godfrey who offered a unique performance of Homecoming. Nearly three hours of great music in a mixture of styles ranging between reggae, ska, jazz and African.

In recent years, Basil has spent a lot of his time making real efforts to encourage the schoolchildren and youth of Birmingham and the Midlands to enjoy and participate in music through a series of community music programmes. His real aim is to set up a music academy for under-privileged youngsters in Birmingham, with the aid of government money and help from sponsors. "There are other ways to keep music alive apart from constant gigging and replaying your old stuff. I'm now trying to put back what I got out of it. To try and motivate local people and promote music to the youngsters in schools in particular. I will never stop making music. I'm enjoying it more now over the last few years. Seeing how hard Buju Banton worked made me realise how lazy I was before. Hence why lots of things are moving now. The energy is back, I can play any music I want to, not just reggae. My confidence is bubbling again." When he's not encouraging the next crop of musical talent to blossom, Basil is still making music himself, and he has plans to release a single in the near future. He already has an album's worth of concept material in the can and waiting to be released. And with other projects in the melting pot, including his own music company and talent agency, watch this space for the next absorbing chapter in the Basil Gabbidon story. Basil Gabbidon - The Full Story