Jazz /
Ravissante Baby
Rare funk & Avant-Garde soul from a seven years old kid singer featuring the best of French and Cameroonian musicians diaspora, recorded in Paris in 1977. The album contains two nicely dramatic tracks: “Look Up in the sky (Negro nature)” is a stretched funk groove with psyche synth by Michel Morose, bubbling bassline by the great Victor Edimo, the famous Toto Guillaume on guitar, and a brilliant poetic song by Francis The Great, who at that time studied in Menilmontant (Paris). “Ravissante Baby …
Afrodisiac
Super album, mixing some of the improvisational verve of jazz into Fela Kuti's Afro-funk stew. These four workouts, all sung in Nigerian, are propulsive mixtures of funk and African music, avoiding the homogeneity of much funk and African records of later vintage, done with nonstop high energy. The interplay between horns, electric keyboards, drums, and Kuti's exuberant vocals gives this a jazz character without sacrificing the earthiness that makes it danceable as well. "Jeun Ko Ku (Chop'n Quen…
African High Life
Pioneering percussionist Solomon Ilori was one of the first Nigerian artists to record with American jazz musicians, travelling to New York in 1958 to introduce African music to American audiences. After appearing on Art Blakey’s 1962 LP The African Beat for Blue Note; he recorded African High Life with members of Blakey’s ensemble, including guitarist Jay Berliner, bassist Ahmed Abdul Malik, Hosea Taylor on alto sax and flute, and percussionists Montego Joe, Robert Crowder and Garvin Masseaux. …
FRKWYS Vol. 9
LP version: for the ninth volume of FRKWYS, a music and film series pairing contemporary artists with those that may have preceded them in style and/or approach, Sun Araw and M. Geddes Gengras meet The Congos in Jamaica.
Rekkez
Limited edition of 250, with full color 23 by 33 poster designed and painted by G.Loli. Mutamassik (= tenacity in Arabic) is the musical avatar of Giulia Loli, who merges Egyptian percussions with hardcore breaks. The result, sometimes dubbed Sa'aidi hardcore & Baladi breakbeats is a mutant, syncopated form of instrumental hip-hop. The history of Giulia Loli herself is marked by fluid borders, being born in Italy of an Egyptian mother, moving to the United States in her childhood, staying in Egy…
V.I.P. / Authority Stealing
Fela Anikulapo Kuti's 1978 Berlin Jazz Festival appearance, here as V.I.P. (Vagabonds in Power), is one of Africa 70's finest performances. V.I.P. castigates Nigerian authority more sizably than any other Fela album for one reason: he verbally beat down the country's power structure in front of a European crowd. It was a big move for the singer (who'd lost his mother, his home, and any sense of physical security in his homeland thanks to Nigeria's thoroughly corrupt military elite). Fela certain…
Live In Amsterdam
Personnel includes: Fela Kuti (vocals, soprano saxophone, electric piano, organ); Laspalmer Ojeah (guitar); Femi Kuti (alto saxophone); Oyinade Adeniran (tenor saxiphone); Tajudeen Amimashaun, Achampong (baritone saxophone); Moses Sobo Wale, Akameah (trumpet); Dele Soshimi (keyboards); Lamtey (drums); Benjamin (congas). Producer: Fela Kuti. Reissue producer: Jean-Pierre Haie. Recorded live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on November 28, 1983. Includes liner notes by Jacqueline Grandchamp-Thiam, Ri…
Zombie
A record full of magical chants & even more magical grooves (anyone who would wish the part seven minutes into "Zombie" would end has no soul & probably does not have a soul). Fela Kuti's music transcends barriers of taste & culture, due to the inevitable desire of all human beings to throw their hands up & shake their rumps with no remorse.
Underground System
At 28 minutes in length, the title track boogies from fat funk break to fat funk break as though James Brown possessed the structural ambition of Duke Ellington. Recorded when Fela's 34-piece band was at its apex, this indispensable Fela disc has it all: wavelike call-and-response blowing and singing, thundering-herd percussion, dynamic electric grooves, and potent lyrical invective. The title track excoriates a government no less corrupt today than when it was written.
Teacher, Don't Teach Me Nonsense
In Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, Fela explains the role of the teacher in any society with the concept that all the things we consider to be problems and all that we consider to be good in life begin with what we are taught, whether it's by our mothers at home, our teachers at school, lecturers at University or the government beyond that. Who then is the governments teacher? 'Culture and Tradition' says Fela.
Stalemate / Fear Not For Man
Originally released in 1977, this is a studio recording so it has a more polished sound than on the recent Best Best. BTW, none of these tracks are on Best Best... Stalemate and Fear not for Man are the stand outs, but the rest of album is good too. It's another intoxicating organic mixture of African harmonies, bebop, and James Brown. Listen to the samples!
Shakara / London Scene
These percolating, horn-heavy grooves simmer while Fela lays down his trademark rants, often in deliberately skewered pidgin English....totally unstoppable in its mix of music and message. His voice, interlocking guitars and percussionist Tony Allen turn grooves that often have 1 or 2 chords into complex statements - minimalism made for dancers.
Roforofo Fight/Fela Singles
This is essentially a CD reissue of Fela Kuti's 1972 album Roforofo Fight, with the addition of two previously unreleased tracks from the same era. It's true that Kuti's early-'70s records tend to blur together with their similar groupings of four lengthy Afro-funk jazz cuts. In their defense, it must be said that while few artists can pull off similar approaches time after time and continue to make it sound fresh, Kuti is one of them. Each of the four songs on Roforofo Fight clocks in at 12 to …
Monkey Banana / Excuse 0
"Monkey Banana/Excuse O" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series. (By the way, the cover art posted on this page is that of "Upside Down" not "Monkey Banana.") It should be noted that unlike some of the other titles in this series, the song "Monkey Banana" was previously available on the original Celluloid label release of "Zombie" in the mid-1980s. Both the original "Monkey Banana" (with its b-side "Sense Wiseness") and "Excuse O" (with its b-side "Mr. Grammarticalogylisa…
Koola Lobitos 63-68/69..
Recorded between 1964 & 1969. Includes liner notes by Mabinuori Kayode Idowu, Jacqueline Grandchamp-Thiam & Rikki Stein.Mojo (Publisher). Intriguing...KOOLA gathers 6 highlife tracks from 1964-68, ranging from the almost-Caribbean via trad jazz to the nascent funk of 'Wayo'....by THE 69 LA SESSIONS [Fela] had discovered African music in California and the 10 tracks are life-affirming slabs of soul music.
J.J.D. / Unnecessary Begging
"JJD/Unnecessary Begging" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. As original LPs, "JJD (Johnny Just Drop)," recorded live at Fela's home/club/compound, Kalakuta Republic, was released in 1977, while "Unnecessary Begging" and its b-side "No Buredi (No Bread)" were issued a year earlier in 1976. These albums were part of what was arguably Fela's greatest period as he released more than a dozen albums between 1975-77! While "Zombie" and "Opposite People" are clearly …
Expensive Shit / He Miss Road
Recorded in 1975. Includes liner notes by Jacqueline Grandchamp-Thiam, Michael A. Veal & Rikki Stein. Newcomers to the music of Fela Kuti are faced with some difficult choices since the late-1990s/early-2000s reissues of his string of classic '70s albums (the reissues put two records back-to-back). In truth, they're all good, so it is hard to go wrong picking one at random. Still, EXPENSIVE SHIT/HE MISS ROAD is arguably one of his best. In addition to its burbling percussive groove, infectious h…
Everything Scatter / Noise For Vendor Mouth
"Everything Scatter/Noise for Vendor Mouth" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. It should be noted that unlike some of the other titles in this series, the tracks that make up the "Everything Scatter" LP -- the title cut and "Who No Know Go Know" -- were previously available on CD on the Celluloid label in the late 80s. "Scatter" was part of the original "Zombie" disc, and "Who No Know" was on "Mr. Follow Follow." Both "Everything Scatter" and "Noise for Vendor…
Confusion / Gentleman
Collecting two of Fela Kuti's finest mid-1970s albums onto one disc, CONFUSION/GENTLEMAN presents the revered Nigerian Afro-pop renegade in the midst of an early career stride. Released in '73, GENTLEMAN consists of the latter three out of this set's four tracks, and is particularly notable since it marks the fiery performer's studio debut on the saxophone. Never one to shy away from challenges, Kuti offers up an impassioned sax solo at the beginning of the extended title song (even though he ha…
Beasts Of No Nation / O.D.O.O.
After helping Fela Anikulapo Kuti with Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, Wally Badarou then produced Beasts of No Nation. Another album that has been combined with this one is the 31-minute "ODOO (Overtake Don Overtake Overtake).