The African Beat
Encyclopedia
The African Beat is a jazz
album
released by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in November 1962 on Blue Note Records
. He described it as the first opportunity he had to work with drummers from Africa
; as a blend of American jazz
with the traditional rhythms and tonal colors in the percussion of that continent. The album features compositions by African and American musicians, all based on aspects of West Africa
n (especially Nigerian
) music.
Jazz
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...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
released by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in November 1962 on Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
. He described it as the first opportunity he had to work with drummers from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
; as a blend of American jazz
Jazz
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...
with the traditional rhythms and tonal colors in the percussion of that continent. The album features compositions by African and American musicians, all based on aspects of West Africa
Music of West Africa
West Africa stretches from the Sahara Desert to the Atlantic Ocean. The region's musical heritage includes a variety of popular music styles, especially from the countries of Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Sierra Leone and Nigeria...
n (especially Nigerian
Music of Nigeria
The music of Nigeria includes many kinds of Folk and popular music, some of which are known worldwide. Styles of folk music are related to the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own techniques, instruments, and songs...
) music.
Track listing
| # | Title | Length | Composer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prayer by Solomon G. Ilori | 0:52 | Traditional |
| 2 | Ife L'ayo (There Is Happiness In Love) | 5:30 | Solomon G. Ilori |
| 3 | Obirin African (Woman Of Africa) | 3:41 | Garvin Masseaux |
| 4 | Love, The Mystery Of | 9:23 | Guy Warren Guy Warren Guy Warren of Ghana or Kofi Ghanaba was a Ghanaian musician, best known as the inventor of Afro-jazz and as a member of The Tempos.- Biography :... |
| 5 | Ero Ti Nr'Ojeje | 7:33 | Solomon G. Ilori |
| 6 | Ayiko, Ayiko (Welcome, Welcome, My Darling) | 7:12 | Solomon G. Ilori |
| 7 | Tobi Ilu | 5:56 | James H. Bey Chief Bey Chief Bey, born James Hawthorne Bey, was an American jazz percussionist and African folklorist.Born in Yamassee, South Carolina, he moved with his family to Brooklyn and then to Harlem, where he began playing drums and singing in church choirs... |
Personnel
In alphabetical order:- Ahmed Abdul-MalikAhmed Abdul-MalikAhmed Abdul-Malik was a jazz double bassist and oud player of Sudanese descent....
— bassBass (instrument)Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles... - Chief Bey — double gong, congaCongaThe conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
, telegraph drum - Art BlakeyArt BlakeyArthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
— drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, timpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, telegraph drum, gongGongA gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet.... - Robert Crowder — Batá drum, conga
- James Ola. Folami — conga
- Curtis FullerCurtis FullerCurtis DuBois Fuller is an American jazz trombonist, known as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributor to many classic jazz recordings.-Biography:...
— timpani - Solomon G. IloriSolomon IloriSolomon Gbadegesin Ilori is an Nigerian drummer and percussionist who moved to New York City in the late 1950s and collaborated with jazz artists such as Art Blakey before recording his debut album for Blue Note Records in 1963.-References:...
— vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, talking drum, pennywhistleTin whistleThe tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and... - Montego Joe — corboro drum, log drumLog drumA log drum is a type of unpitched percussion instrument.*see drum for the history of log drum and information on the log drum as a means of communication in ancient cultures* see also:**Tongue drum**Slit drum**Bosalabos**Wood block...
, bambara drum, double gong - Yusef LateefYusef LateefDr. 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...
— cow horn, fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, mbiraMbiraIn African music, the mbira is a musical instrument that consists of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. It is often fitted into a resonator...
, oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca... - Garvin Masseaux — shekereShekereThis article is about the musical instrument. for the musical genre, see Sekere.The shekere is an instrument from West Africa consisting of a dried gourd with beads woven into a net covering the gourd. Throughout the continent there are similar gourd/bead or gourd/seed percussion instruments. Some...
, African maracas, conga