Babatunde Olatunji
Encyclopedia
Babatunde Olatunji was a Nigeria
n drum
mer, educator, social activist and recording artist.
, Lagos State
, in southwestern Nigeria
. A member of the Yoruba people
, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. He read in Reader's Digest
magazine about the Rotary International
Foundation's scholarship program, and applied for it. He went to the United States of America
in 1950.
in Atlanta, Georgia
, where he desired to, but never sang in the Morehouse College Glee Club
. Olatunji was a good friend of Glee Club director [Dr. Wendell P. Whalum] and collaborated with him on a staple of the choir's repertoire, "Betelehemu", a Nigerian Christmas carol. After graduating from Morehouse, he went on to New York University
to study public administration. There, he started a small percussion group to earn money on the side while he continued his studies.
musicians, notably creating a strong relationship with John Coltrane
and Columbia Records
A&R
man John Hammond
who signed him to the Columbia label in 1957. With Coltrane's help, he founded the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem
. This was the site of Coltrane's final performance. In 1959 Olatunji released his first of six records on the Columbia label, called Drums of Passion
.
In 1969, Carlos Santana
had a major hit with his cover version of this first album's "Jin-go-lo-ba
", which Santana recorded on his debut album, Santana, as "Jingo." Olatunji favoured a big percussion sound, and his records typically featured more than 20 players, unusual for a percussion based ensemble. Drums of Passion became a major hit and remains in print; it introduced many Americans to world music
. Drums of Passion also served as the band's name. Notable band members included; Clark Terry
, Bill Lee
, Horace Silver
, Yusef Lateef
, Sikiru Adepoju
and Charles Lloyd, among others.
Olatunji's subsequent recordings include Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988), Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989) (which included Airto Moreira
and Carlos Santana
), Love Drum Talk (1997), Circle of Drums (2005) (originally titled Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations, with Muruga Booker
and Sikiru Adepoju
), and Olatunji Live at Starwood (2003 – recorded at the 1997 Starwood Festival
http://www.freetimes.com/story/3493) with guest Halim El-Dabh
. He also contributed to Peace Is The World Smiling: A Peace Anthology For Families on the Music For Little People label (1993).
Olatunji recorded with many other prominent musicians (often credited as "Michael Olatunji"), including Cannonball Adderley (on his African Waltz
(1961) album), Horace Silver
, Quincy Jones
, Pee Wee Ellis
, Stevie Wonder
, Randy Weston
, and with Max Roach
and Abbey Lincoln
on the pivotal Freedom Now Suite aka We Insist, and with Grateful Dead
member Mickey Hart
on his Grammy winning Planet Drum projects. He is also mentioned in the lyrics of Bob Dylan's
"I Shall Be Free" as recorded on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
.
theatrical and Hollywood film productions of Raisin in the Sun. He assisted Bill Lee
with the music for his son Spike Lee
's hit film She's Gotta Have It
.
political beliefs are outlined in The Beat Of My Drum: An Autobiography, with a foreword by Joan Baez
, (Temple University
Press, 2005). He toured the American south with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and joined King in the march on Washington. When he performed before the United Nations
General Assembly, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
took off his shoes and danced. Later, he was one of the first outside performers to perform in Prague
at Václav Havel
's request. On July 21, 1979, he appeared at the Amandla Festival
along with Bob Marley
, Dick Gregory
, Patti LaBelle
and Eddie Palmieri
, amongst others.
Olatunji taught drum and dance workshops year-round starting in the late 1950s. Over the years he presented workshops nationally and internationally at colleges, universities, civic, cultural, and governmental organizations too numerous to list here.
He co-wrote, Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People with Betty Warner-Dietz (John Day Company, 1965). He taught a summer drumming and African dance course with his wife, at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York for many summers during Family week. He also taught at the Esalen Institute
in California
from 1985 until shortly before his death in Salinas, California
from diabetes in 2003, on the day before his 76th birthday.
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
mer, educator, social activist and recording artist.
Biography
Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, a small town near BadagryBadagry
Badagry is a coastal town and Local Government Area in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is situated between Metropolitan Lagos, and the border with Benin at Seme...
, Lagos State
Lagos State
Lagos State is an administrative division of Nigeria, located in the southwestern part of the country. The smallest in area of Nigeria's states, Lagos State is the most populous state in Nigeria and arguably the most economically important state of the country and west Africa, containing Lagos, the...
, in southwestern Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. A member of the Yoruba people
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. He read in Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
magazine about the Rotary International
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
Foundation's scholarship program, and applied for it. He went to the United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1950.
Education
Olatunji received a Rotary scholarship in 1950 and was educated at Morehouse CollegeMorehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....
in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, where he desired to, but never sang in the Morehouse College Glee Club
Morehouse College Glee Club
The Morehouse College Glee Club, founded in 1911, is the official choral group at Morehouse College. The Glee Club has a long tradition of significant public appearances, having performed at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, President Jimmy Carter's inauguration, Super Bowl XXVIII, and the 1996...
. Olatunji was a good friend of Glee Club director [Dr. Wendell P. Whalum] and collaborated with him on a staple of the choir's repertoire, "Betelehemu", a Nigerian Christmas carol. After graduating from Morehouse, he went on to New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
to study public administration. There, he started a small percussion group to earn money on the side while he continued his studies.
Musical career
Olatunji won a following among jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians, notably creating a strong relationship with John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
and Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
man John Hammond
John H. Hammond
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
who signed him to the Columbia label in 1957. With Coltrane's help, he founded the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. This was the site of Coltrane's final performance. In 1959 Olatunji released his first of six records on the Columbia label, called Drums of Passion
Drums of Passion (album)
Drums of Passion is an album released by Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji in 1960. It was one of the first world music albums that was recorded in the United States. It was immensely successful and sold over five million copies...
.
In 1969, Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
had a major hit with his cover version of this first album's "Jin-go-lo-ba
Jin-Go-Lo-Ba
Jin-Go-Lo-Ba is a 1995 compilation album by Santana.-Track listing:# "Persuasion" # "La Puesta De Sol" # "El Corazon Manda" # "Jin-go-lo-ba" # "As The Years Go By"...
", which Santana recorded on his debut album, Santana, as "Jingo." Olatunji favoured a big percussion sound, and his records typically featured more than 20 players, unusual for a percussion based ensemble. Drums of Passion became a major hit and remains in print; it introduced many Americans to world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
. Drums of Passion also served as the band's name. Notable band members included; Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
, Bill Lee
Bill Lee (musician)
William James Edwards "Bill" Lee III is an American musician. He has played the bass for many artists including Cat Stevens, Harry Belafonte, Chad Mitchell Trio, Gordon Lightfoot, Aretha Franklin, Odetta, Simon and Garfunkel, and Bob Dylan...
, Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
, Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef
Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
, Sikiru Adepoju
Sikiru Adepoju
Sikiru Adepoju is a percussionist and recording artist from Nigeria, primarily in the genres of traditional African music and world music. He plays a variety of instruments and styles.- Background :...
and Charles Lloyd, among others.
Olatunji's subsequent recordings include Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988), Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989) (which included Airto Moreira
Airto Moreira
Airto Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. He currently resides in Los Angeles.-Biography:...
and Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
), Love Drum Talk (1997), Circle of Drums (2005) (originally titled Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations, with Muruga Booker
Muruga Booker
Muruga Booker is an American drummer, recording artist, and Orthodox priest.- Biography :Booker was born Steven Bookvich in Detroit, Michigan on December 27, 1942 and is of Serbian decent. His father, Melvin Bookvich, was a shoemaker who played accordion. He has a wife, Shakti; a son, Aaron; and a...
and Sikiru Adepoju
Sikiru Adepoju
Sikiru Adepoju is a percussionist and recording artist from Nigeria, primarily in the genres of traditional African music and world music. He plays a variety of instruments and styles.- Background :...
), and Olatunji Live at Starwood (2003 – recorded at the 1997 Starwood Festival
Starwood Festival
The Starwood Festival is a seven-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects...
http://www.freetimes.com/story/3493) with guest Halim El-Dabh
Halim El-Dabh
Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh is an Egyptian-born American composer, performer, ethnomusicologist, and educator, who has had a career spanning six decades...
. He also contributed to Peace Is The World Smiling: A Peace Anthology For Families on the Music For Little People label (1993).
Olatunji recorded with many other prominent musicians (often credited as "Michael Olatunji"), including Cannonball Adderley (on his African Waltz
African Waltz
African Waltz is an album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley released on the Riverside label and performed by Adderley with an orchestra conducted by Ernie Wilkins. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars and states "The music on this CD reissue is better than it should be...
(1961) album), Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Pee Wee Ellis
Pee Wee Ellis
Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis is an American saxophonist, composer and arranger. He was an important member of James Brown's band in the 1960s and appeared on many of Brown's most notable recordings...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Randy Weston
Randy Weston
Randy Weston , is an American jazz pianist and composer, of Jamaican parentage.-Biography:Weston studied classical piano as a child. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he ran a restaurant that was frequented by many of the leading bebop musicians...
, and with Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
and Abbey Lincoln
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...
on the pivotal Freedom Now Suite aka We Insist, and with Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
member Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...
on his Grammy winning Planet Drum projects. He is also mentioned in the lyrics of Bob Dylan's
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
"I Shall Be Free" as recorded on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in May 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, Freewheelin initiated the process of writing contemporary words to traditional melodies....
.
Film and theatre
Olatunji composed music for the BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
theatrical and Hollywood film productions of Raisin in the Sun. He assisted Bill Lee
Bill Lee (musician)
William James Edwards "Bill" Lee III is an American musician. He has played the bass for many artists including Cat Stevens, Harry Belafonte, Chad Mitchell Trio, Gordon Lightfoot, Aretha Franklin, Odetta, Simon and Garfunkel, and Bob Dylan...
with the music for his son Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
's hit film She's Gotta Have It
She's Gotta Have It
She's Gotta Have It is a 1986 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee. It was also Lee's first feature-length film. The film stars Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell. Also appearing are cinematographer Ernest Dickerson as a Brooklyn resident and...
.
Social activism
Olatunji was known for making an impassioned speech for social justice before performing in front of a live audience. His progressiveProgressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
political beliefs are outlined in The Beat Of My Drum: An Autobiography, with a foreword by Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, (Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
Press, 2005). He toured the American south with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and joined King in the march on Washington. When he performed before the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
General Assembly, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
took off his shoes and danced. Later, he was one of the first outside performers to perform in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
at Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
's request. On July 21, 1979, he appeared at the Amandla Festival
Amandla Festival
Amandla--Festival of Unity—was a world music festival held at Harvard Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 21, 1979. The goals of the concert were to support and celebrate the liberation of Southern Africa as well as the on-going efforts of people in Boston to end racism in their families,...
along with Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory
Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
, Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
and Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri , is a Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican pianist, bandleader and musician, best known for combining jazz piano and instrumental solos with Latin rhythms.-Early years:...
, amongst others.
Teaching career
Olatunji was also a music educator, and invented a method of teaching and recording drum patterns which he called the "Gun-Dun, Go-Do, Pa-Ta" method after the different sounds made on the drum.Olatunji taught drum and dance workshops year-round starting in the late 1950s. Over the years he presented workshops nationally and internationally at colleges, universities, civic, cultural, and governmental organizations too numerous to list here.
He co-wrote, Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People with Betty Warner-Dietz (John Day Company, 1965). He taught a summer drumming and African dance course with his wife, at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York for many summers during Family week. He also taught at the Esalen Institute
Esalen Institute
Esalen Institute is a residential community and retreat in Big Sur, California, which focuses upon humanistic alternative education. Esalen is a nonprofit organization devoted to activites such as meditation, massage, Gestalt, yoga, psychology, ecology, and spirituality...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
from 1985 until shortly before his death in Salinas, California
Salinas, California
Salinas is the county seat and the largest municipality of Monterey County, California. Salinas is located east-southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River, at an elevation of about 52 feet above sea level. The population was 150,441 at the 2010 census...
from diabetes in 2003, on the day before his 76th birthday.
Albums
- Drums of PassionDrums of Passion (album)Drums of Passion is an album released by Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji in 1960. It was one of the first world music albums that was recorded in the United States. It was immensely successful and sold over five million copies...
(1959) - Zungo! (1961)
- Flaming Drums (1962, Columbia Records CS8666)
- Olatunji
- Soul Makossa (1973, Paramount) (Single/EP)
- Dance to the Beat of My Drum (1986, Bellaphon)
- Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988, Rykodisc)
- Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989, Rykodisc)
- Drums of Passion: Celebrate Freedom, Justice & Peace (1993, Olatunji Music)
- Drums of Passion and More (1994, Bear Family) Box Set
- Babatunde Olatunji, Healing Rhythms, Songs and Chants (1995, Olatunji Music)
- Love Drum Talk (1997, Chesky)
- Drums of Passion [Expanded] (2002)
- Olatunji Live at Starwood (2003) Recorded Live at the Starwood FestivalStarwood FestivalThe Starwood Festival is a seven-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects...
1997 - Healing Session (2003, Narada)
- Circle of Drums (2005, Chesky)
Videography
- Olatunji and his Drums of Passion (Video) (1986 Video Arts International) Recorded Live at Oakland Colisium 12/31/85
- Love Drum Talk (Video) (1998, CHE, TMS, Chesky)
- African Drumming (Instructional video) (2004, Interworld)
- Olatunji Live at Starwood (DVD) (2005, ACE) Recorded Live at the Starwood FestivalStarwood FestivalThe Starwood Festival is a seven-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects...
1997
Contributions
- 1960: Uhuru Afrika - Randy WestonRandy WestonRandy Weston , is an American jazz pianist and composer, of Jamaican parentage.-Biography:Weston studied classical piano as a child. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he ran a restaurant that was frequented by many of the leading bebop musicians...
- 1960: We Insist! – Freedom Now - Max RoachMax RoachMaxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
- 1960: The Incredible Kai Winding TrombonesThe Incredible Kai Winding TrombonesThe Incredible Kai Winding Trombones is an album by American jazz trombonist Kai Winding featuring performances recorded in 1960 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
- Kai WindingKai WindingKai Chresten Winding was a popular Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is well known for a successful collaboration with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson.-Biography:... - 1961: Common Ground - Herbie MannHerbie MannHerbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...
- 1961: African WaltzAfrican WaltzAfrican Waltz is an album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley released on the Riverside label and performed by Adderley with an orchestra conducted by Ernie Wilkins. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars and states "The music on this CD reissue is better than it should be...
- Cannonball Adderley - 1977: Silver 'n PercussionSilver 'n PercussionSilver 'n Percussion is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1977. The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 3 stars and states "Silver's best work came prior to this recording, but this may be his best work of the '70s...
- Horace SilverHorace SilverHorace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer.... - 1977: Home in the Country - Pee Wee EllisPee Wee EllisAlfred "Pee Wee" Ellis is an American saxophonist, composer and arranger. He was an important member of James Brown's band in the 1960s and appeared on many of Brown's most notable recordings...
- 1980: Connections - Richie HavensRichie HavensRichard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
- 1987: Taj - Taj MahalTaj MahalThe Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
- 1988: The Other Side of This - Airto MoreiraAirto MoreiraAirto Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. He currently resides in Los Angeles.-Biography:...
- 1990: At the Edge – Mickey Hart (Rykodisc)
- 1991: Planet Drum – Mickey Hart (Rykodisc)
- 1991: Around the World for a Song (Rykodisc)
- 1991: Jungle Fever - Stevie WonderStevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
- 1993: Peace Is The World Smiling: A Peace Anthology For Families - Various Artists
- 1994: The Big Bang: In the Beginning Was a Drum
- 1994: The Best of Both Worlds: Rykodisc/Hannibal World Music Sampler
- 1995: The Big Bang
- 1995: Dance of the Rainbow Serpent - Carlos SantanaCarlos SantanaCarlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
- 1997: Jazz 'Round Midnight - Quincy JonesQuincy JonesQuincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
- 1998: Selections from Mondo Beat
- 1998: New Visions: World Rhythms
- 1998: Mondo Beat: Masters of Percussion
- 1998: The Best of Santana - Carlos SantanaCarlos SantanaCarlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
- 2000: The Rose That Grew from Concrete - 2Pac
- 2000: Club Africa, Vol. 2: Hard African Funk, Afro-Jazz, & Original Afro-Beat
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