Dur­ing the 1950, Em­manuel "Cobo Jack" Ri­ley strode Wood­brook as a colos­sus, and he de­served to, be­cause he was as pop­u­lar as ham and hops. Pan lift­ed his pro­file. It was his pan-play­ing skills that gave him this lever­age among pan­men of his era. The name Em­manuel Ri­ley or "Cobo Jack" spelt im­pro­vi­sa­tion.Few pan­men could touch him, or come a dis­tant close to this mas­ter. How­ev­er, Cobo Jack was known for his pan-play­ing skills, but lat­er added pan-tun­ing to his skills bank.

It was un­der the great El­liot "El­lie" Man­nette that he honed his skills. Be­ing the loy­al­ist that he is, Cobo Jack stayed true to In­vaders, even in the rough and tum­ble years.Be­ing as­so­ci­at­ed with sev­er­al bands be­cause of his cel­e­brat­ed sta­tus, Cobo Jack re­mained neu­tral when In­vaders and Rene­gades ri­ot­ed dur­ing the heady days of steel­band vi­o­lence and ri­val­ry. He rose above the may­hem. Such was the re­spect pan­men from op­pos­ing camps held for Cobo Jack.

Jack had the ho­n­our of cap­tain­ing In­vaders when El­lie left for the USA in 1967. At that time, In­vaders was at the top of its game, be it in mu­sic or war­fare.The shy Jack lat­er mi­grat­ed to the USA and lives in Brook­lyn, USA where he makes a liv­ing play­ing and tun­ing pans.The cel­e­brat­ed and leg­endary pan­nist is billed to ap­pear on Fri­day, April 29, at Her­itage Park, Pi­geon Point, To­ba­go in a Pan Trin­ba­go pre­sen­ta­tion called Paz­zazz at 7.30pm.