A while back in Paris one thing led to another and I found myself in the studio with my elder and old friend Oghene Kologbo, guitarist of Fela Anikulapo Kuti's Afrika 70 band and performer on so many of the classic recordings.
Kologbo's solo album "Africa is the Future" is finally out via the ParisDJs label. They've just revealed the fourth track from the album "You No Lie" featuring Ghanaian funk/highlife legend Pat Thomas and me on flute.
Preview/preorder/support the album below:
Besides Antibalas stuff I have been doing a lot of writing and recording for the next Ocote Soul Sounds album.
In June I went to perform at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee with Angelique Kidjo's Remain in Light project. It was hot, muggy, and intense. U2's bassist Adam Clayton was there on the side of the stage digging the show. This was a big nerd moment for me as the first concert I attended was the U2 Joshua Tree Tour at JFK Stadium, Philly in 1987. (That's Adam of U2 front left, Angélique Kidjo center stage and me on the far right with the big saxophone).
Last week I was at Studio G in Brooklyn with Lyrics Born, the Antibalas horns, and Grammy nominated producer Joel Hamilton recording a Lyrics Born's "Don't Change," for a special livestreamed session using the amazing gear that Universal Audio makes. You can watch the whole session below:
A few weeks before that I was at Good Child Studios in Brooklyn working with producer Lawson White and Balún, an amazing electro-acoustic band from Puerto Rico. They wrote a beautiful song that featured the Antibalas horns.
When I'm not driving or sitting in a van on the highway, I have been doing lots of vegetable gardening--tomatos, kale, peppers, salad greens, eggplant, herbs, flowers, apples) (pics forthcoming) and building out my studio on the side of a mountain in Appalachian Pennsylvania.
Antibalas announces release of 6th studio album, 2017-2018 tour dates.
I'm honored to play at Carnegie Hall for the sixth time in my career, this Friday with Angelique Kidjo, her band, and the Antibalas horns, doing a radical reinterpretation of the classic Talking Heads "Remain In Light" album.
I will be playing flute and baritone saxophone and did a lot of the writing/arranging of the horn parts that you'll hear onstage and on the album of the same name.
Tickets: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2017/5/5/0800/PM/Angelique-Kidjo-and-Friends/
"Garden of the Peaceful Dragon" (dir. Daniel Peddle, prod/editing Karim Lopez) premieres at the Harlem International Film Festival in Harlem, NYC on May 4. I did some original music for the film and contributed some recordings by Ocote Soul Sounds. I can't say enough about the magic and the spirit of this film...the protagonist is one of a kind.
Tickets: http://afro-punksci-ficinema.brownpapertickets.com/
Description, from the Harlem Intl. Film Fest site:
"Opening Night, Thursday, May 4, marks the debut of Daniel Peddle’s GARDEN OF THE PEACEFUL DRAGON, which profiles Burley Luvell Benford III, an elderly African-American veteran who occupies an abandoned piece of government property by the beach in Kauai, Hawaii. After being discharged from the Marines, Benford became one of the first employees of IBM and neighbor to Timothy Leary.
A single acid trip changed his life over-night. Ditching his “suit,” he moved to San Francisco where he fell in with the Beat Poets and witnessed the birth of The Grateful Dead. Legendary music promoter Bill Graham hired him to be a bodyguard for his artists and he spent the better part of a decade jet-setting and hobnobbing with stars.
Looking for another dramatic change of lifestyle, he repaired a schooner and sailed it all the way to Hawaii. Three divorces and four children later, we find Luvell homeless, living out of his pick-up truck on the beach. A man whose incredible life story may have been lost to time is vividly rediscovered in this final chapter of his life.
Preceding the screening of GARDEN OF THE PEACEFUL DRAGON will be the U.S. Premiere of Anneta Lauffer’s short film, AFRO PUNK GIRL, and Eileen Byrne’s short film IRIDESCENCE.
Thursday, May 4
7:30 PM (doors open at 7pm)
I am proud to announce a song/video I collaborated last year on was co-winner of the Global Health Advocacy award from the Pulitzer Center/ Consortium of Universities for Global Health.
Collaborators include:
Here's the video (English / Fongbe) : (Version Français / Fongbe LINK)
Here's the behind the scenes / making of:
I was blessed with the role of musical director (and flutist/baritone saxophonist) for this show at Carnegie Hall last Monday, putting together charts and arrangements for Antibalas, the ace house band for 18 of the 22 songs performed onstage that evening, among them:
Here are some of photos collected from the roving eyes of the Internet.
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Antibalas with vocalist Courtney Trice at City Winery NYC 3-7-2017 / Music of Aretha Franklin Afterparty
New collaboration with La Banda Bastön (Mexico) and members of Antibalas (NYC) for their latest album "Luces Fantasmas"
Words Without Borders translates literature and writing from all around the world. They're doing a party/fundraiser to continue their noble efforts in New York City on November 1 at Three Sixty, 10 Desbrosses St. NY NY at 8:30PM. Click on the image above for the event's Facebook link.
I'll be spinning records-- all vinyl -- lots of new, wild wonderful stuff from all of my excursions.
Please come, dance, and support.
TICKETS / INFO: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-wwb-globe-trot-tickets-27776880397
A few weeks back I got a call from my friend Will Holland aka Quantic asking me to join his four-piece band for a bunch of dates all across North America in October. The group will include vocalist Nidia Góngora and drummer/percussionist/vocalist Wilson Viveros!
Here is Nidia with a Quantic's Ondatrópica group:
How could I say no? I'll be playing flute, tenor saxophone, percussion, and some keyboards. Come and hear us play.
A few weeks back we got the boys together for a beautiful night of music. Our first live Ocote Soul Sounds show since 2012.
Here's a REVIEW of the show from Joy of Violent Movement
and more PHOTOS by William Ruben Helms
After a brief respite in August, we are back out on the road, debuting unreleased songs from our upcoming album and some old surprises
On June 8, we staged a live debut of Bosco Mann's "Fugue In Soul," which we recorded at the Daptone House of Soul a few months back for Daptone's 100th 45 rpm release. Present here are the horn sections from the Dap Kings, Antibalas, Lee Fields and our extended family of musicians.
Here's a fan video of the performance from June 8, 2016 for the inauguration of Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park Bandshell. Stay tuned for the 45.
New 45 single release by Ocote Soul Sounds feat. Quantic and Chico Mann. Out 6/17/2016 on Wonderwheel Recordings.
Members of the band including myself recently collaborated with students and teachers from CIAMO (International Center for Art and Music in Ouidah) and filmmaker Jon Fine and Sarah Dupont on a music + video project (still in progress) to promote methods of malaria prevention. Last year, malaria killed over 400,000 people on the African continent, so it remains a serious problem which destabilizes families and ruins lives and communities on a mass scale. The song and video outline the most effective steps that families can take to protect themselves: protect all members of your family, particularly children under 5, with a mosquito net from dusk until dawn, go to a community health clinic to get checked if you show symptoms.
I received a demo of a song recorded by Sim de Souza and his students at CIAMO last year. The melody and the lyrics - in French and Fon - were beautiful, the bridge, the verses, everything made sense. What we did was speed up the tempo, and suggest that they change the chorus from "We're afraid of you, malaria" to "We'll beat you, malaria". We wrote some horn lines, and tracked drums, bass, guitars, and horns in New York. Then, we sent the track to Angelique Kidjo, who recorded the verses on the song.
In late March, I as part of a four-person US-based crew, flew to Cotonou, Benin, to begin filming and recording the project. We spent our first night in Cotonou and a meeting at the US Embassy, where we met several partners from UNICEF, USAID and ISMA, the audiovisual college in Cotonou.
In the upcoming months, I'll be in collaboration with musician/cinematographer Jon Fine of Freed Pictures, members of Antibalas, Angélique Kidjo, UNICEF, and youth from CIAMO (International Center for Art and Music) in Ouidah, Benin, West Africa.
We'll be putting together a song and video that educates the public about the benefits of using mosquito nets and basic health practices to prevent the spread of malaria via the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. While malaria can be found in tropical areas across the world, according to the World Health Organization, "Sub-Saharan Africa carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2015, the region was home to 89% of malaria cases and 91% of malaria deaths."
We are tracking rhythm and vocals in New York and will be doing additional vocal and percussion recordings in Benin, hopefully in late March of this year. Video production will be happening simultaneously.
Stay tuned.
I'll be performing monthly in New York with Antibalas at Brooklyn Bowl on the following dates:
Every week we'll have opening bands from our ever growing family of musicians as well as guest collaborators and lots of musical surprises. Some weeks we'll dig deep into our back catalog. Others, we'll be playing fresh, unreleased material that we'll be taking into the studio this spring.
Tickets HERE
