Jazz with African influences?

[Kari S]

Now, I'm aware that jazz originated from plantation lullabies sung by African slaves, and some rhythmic things like polyrhythms come from there, but having recently been listening to McCoy Tyner's late 60's and 70's albums (like Tender Moments, "Man From Tanganyika" for example), I started thinking. What other great jazz albums and artists with clear African influences are there, and what do you recommend? I think at least Woody Shaw had some...?

[Jim Dye]

Randy Weston - Just about anything you can get your hands on. I highly recommend The Spirits of our Ancestors

[Guy Berger]

Trane's Kulu Se Mama

The '72-'75 Miles Davis band... Pangaea, Agharta, Dark Magus

Guy

[couw]

Try some Dollar Brand / Abdullah Ibrahim while you're at it.

[jazzbo]

Randy Weston, for sure, all good recommendations here.

Also The Brotherhood of Breath, Hugh Masakela . . . .

[Dr. Rat]

African Jazz Pioneers might be a stop. There's actually plenty of good South African jazz ranging from stuff along the lines of 30s swing to Dudu Pukwana, a lot of which drinks deeply from the well of African trad and pop.

--eric

[Noj]

I've got volumes one and two of this series which feature African-themed jazz from Blue Note albums. Some cool Art Blakey tracks!

[couw]

African Jazz Pioneers might be a stop. There's actually plenty of good South African jazz ranging from stuff along the lines of 30s swing to Dudu Pukwana, a lot of which drinks deeply from the well of African trad and pop.

--eric

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indeed. here's a link to previous discussion

[JSngry]

[Kalo]

I second (or third?) Randy Weston.

[Johnny E]

How about African music with jazz influences?

Fela Kuti:

Fela Ransome Kuti & the Africa '70 With Ginger Baker

Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Roy Ayers - Music of Many Colours

Fela Anikulapo Kuti with Lester Bowie - No Agreement

[JSngry]

Yes to Fela!

[Jazzmoose]

Babtunde Olatunji's Love Drum Talk.

[brownie]

Ahmed Abdul-Malik is an excellent recommendation!

Couple more albums worth seeking (there are others):

- Jazz Sahara (with Johnny Griffin) on Riverside, reissued on the OJC series,

- East Meets West (with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Griffin, etc..) on RCA, reissued on vinyl

and NOT TO BE MISSED:

- Roswell Rudd 'MaliCool'.

Details at:

http://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/malicool.shtml

[White Lightning]

Also The Brotherhood of Breath, Hugh Masakela . . . .

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BoB is great, look for "Travelling Somewhere"

Also try to find some of "the Blue Notes" stuff - a South african sextet led by McGregor as well.

and NOT TO BE MISSED:

- Roswell Rudd 'MaliCool'.

Details at:

http://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/malicool.shtml

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I second that!!

Also look for WSQ's M'Bizo

Now that I think about it, many of Bluiett's album have african influences and several of David Murray.

And try any of Don Pullen's The African-Brazilian Connection.

[king ubu]

As you will quickly see when following couw's link above (and then following the links in that thread again), I'm a big fan of the ZA jazz and jive stuff!

Most highly recommended for someone rather new to this would be two compilations:

African Horns (on Kaz/Camden, feat. Ibrahim, Moeketsi, Coetzee a.o.)

Jazz in Africa Vol. 1 - The Jazz Epistles (see the Kippie thread for details on the discography, which is a mess - this one's again on Kaz or Camden)

Then of course, there's a bunch of excellent Ibrahim discs (recommended for the "genre" we're discussing here: African Marketplace [Discovery/Warner], a large band including Carlos Ward. Then there are tons of great discs of his on Enja, check out South Africa, Africa - Tears & Laughter, Zimbabwe... some of his solo stuff is excellent, too, first tip: African Piano on some ECM subsidiary. Then his two duo discs with Johnny Dyani, discussed, I think, in a Dyani thread in the artists section).

On Weston: get all you can, simple as that! Many of his late eighties/early nineties albums produced by Jean-Philippe Allard for French Universal are OOP or hard to find, but they're all excellent. Here's a few I love: Volcano (feat. Teddy Edwards!!!), Saga (recently reissued in that anniversary series, I think, I got the older issue), the above mentioned Spirits of our Ancestors (I think that one runs out of steam at some points, but still it's a great one, feat. Dizzy, Pharoah, Dewey Redman [right?], and Idrees Sulieman, among the usual gang of Benny Powell, Talib Kibwe and Alex Blake, who are on most of these discs). Then there is a fascinating "crossover" album Randy did with those Gnawa musicians that also recorded with Ornette - I can't remember the title of that one, but grab it when you can!

In a similar "crossover" vein is the mentioned maliCOOL of Roswell Rudd's - one hell of a beautiful and grooving disc, I tellya!

I assume that, plus the stuff mentioned by others will keep you busy for some time!

Question: how "honest" and "genuine" are those fifties things? I mean, I like those Blakey drum-fests, and the Ahmad Abdul-Malik things, too, but then, how much do they really have to do with Africa, and how far are they just reflecting the image of Africa, the "idea" that urban African-Americans had of Africa in a highly-charged time? (Slightly related: Interesting website I found while googling - obviously - for Marcus Garvey.)

Edited May 27, 2005 by king ubu

[Kari S]

Solid suggestions, everyone - thanks. I'm aware of artists like Weston (though I've only heard 'Blue Moses' on CTi), Dollar Brand. Or from Africa: Fela and Masekela; but there were a lot of people I've never heard of and might be interested. Even though I was mainly looking for (African-)American jazz artists influenced by the "motherland", mostly in the sounds and colors of their compositions, like McCoy.

I came up with one discovery of my own - a group called The Pharaohs (leader Louis Satterfield) whose 1971 "Awakening" seems to be quite tight stuff. Even the reissue is apparently oop though, but you can listen a few clips here. I gotta find that one.

[Noj]

That "Pharohs" stuff is fun, Kari S. I downloaded it from emusic a while back.

In addition, The Daktaris are cool Afrobeat stuff available on emusic.

There's also compilations called "Booniay" and "The Danque" that feature more funky Afrobeat stuff.

[JSngry]

...I was mainly looking for (African-)American jazz artists influenced by the "motherland", mostly in the sounds and colors of their compositions, like McCoy....I came up with one discovery of my own - a group called The Pharaohs (leader Louis Satterfield) whose 1971 "Awakening" seems to be quite tight stuff. Even the reissue is apparently oop though, but you can listen a few clips here. I gotta find that one.

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The AK Salim album I mentioned earlier has a front line of Johnny Coles, Yusef Lateef, & Pat Patrick blowing in front of an African drum choir. That's it - no ersatx attempts at "fusion" or anything like that. Pretty strong stuff, imo.

As a trivial note, did you know that Louis Satterfield went on to play with Earth, Wind & Fire in the 1970s? That band's ties to the Chicago jazz scene of the late 1960s/early 1970s weren't fully eradicated for quite some time!

[Chuck Nessa]

Does the phrase "ancient to the future" ring a bell?

[GregK]

Does the phrase "ancient to the future" ring a bell?

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exactly what I was thinking, Chuck

[SEK]

Does the phrase "ancient to the future" ring a bell?

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exactly what I was thinking, Chuck

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Indeed!

[chris olivarez]

Pharoah Sanders "Jewels of Thought" also the one that followed it and "Thembi" all have African influences.

[Alexander Hawkins]

I don't know much Hamid Drake yet, but 'Together Again' with Fred Anderson seems to fit here.

Also, Kahil El'Zabar's 'Love Outside of Dreams'.

[nemo7]

speaking of mccoy tyner-"asante"