Jazz Articles about Babatunde Lea

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Babatunde Lea's Soul Pools

by Javier AQ Ortiz
October 6, 2003

Babatunde Lea will not forget 2003. Shortly after releasing Soul Pools , his fourth recording as a leader, his inspirer 'Babatunde Olatunji' passed away. Lea's beat, conversely, is livelier than ever and honoring in high spirits the induction of Olatunji into jazz's pantheon of collective memoirs.

Conceptually speaking, Lea's latest recording is akin to the curing properties experienced in his prescient and life-changing initial encounter with Olatunji almost half a century ago. It seems to nourish both his ...

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Babatunde Lea: Soul Pools

by Javier AQ Ortiz
February 19, 2003

Quick and to the Point: An energetic and refreshing Latin Jazz dousing....

Heavily traversing along Latin jazz mainstream tributaries, Soul Pools is a creditable recording, intermingling refreshed takes on various percussive modalities and rhythms with jazz inflow dynamics.

Babatunde Lea gathered a strong contingent for this recording. It starts off with a harried, albeit well keeled, pace in “Confrontation.” Frank Lacy alertly arranged Lea’s composition, packing a punchy drive that he sets in motion with an ...

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Babatunde Lea: March Of The Jazz Guerillas

by Jim Santella
October 1, 2000

One of this year’s top mainstream jazz albums, March of the Jazz Guerillas folds in a large part of Babatunde Lea’s eclectic professional experiences. He and acoustic bassist Alex Blake are members of Pharoah Sanders’ band. Blake opens “Abuse of Reality Mambo" with a hot, multiple-stop statement of the melody and returns midway through for an extended bass feature. Each arrangement features a different set of soloists alongside inspired rhythms. Pianist Hilton Ruiz has opportunities to reveal several sides of ...