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Article: Year in Review

In Memoriam: Jazz Musicians Who Passed in 2020

by Maxim Micheliov
December 31, 2020

As 2020 comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to remember the extraordinarily gifted musicians who made an indelible mark on jazz. With sadness, we bid farewell to Gary Peacock, Ennio Morricone, Keith Tippett, Henry Grimes, Bucky Pizzarelli, Wallace Roney and many others including NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Cobb, Lee Konitz, Candido Camero, ...

Album

Rejoice

By Hugh Masekela

Label: World Circuit
Released: 2020
Track listing: Robbers, Thugs and Muggers; Agbada Bougou; Coconut Jam; Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be the Same; Slow Bones; Jabulani (Rejoice, Here Comes Tony); Obama Shuffle Strut Blues; We've Landed.

Article: Book Review

Kick It: A Social History Of The Drum Kit

by David A. Orthmann
June 26, 2020

Kick It: A Social History Of The Drum Kit Matt Brennan 371 Pages ISBN: #978-0-19-068387-0 Oxford University Press 2020 Matt Brennan's Kick It: A Social History Of The Drum Kit is a complex, meticulously researched piece of work that spans several centuries. In the course of over three ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Big Bands, Orchestras and New Sounds

by Bob Osborne
June 18, 2020

This week we focus on new releases interpreting pop hits in a big band style with Dave Stryker working with Bob Mintzer and the WDR Big Band; delivering solo piano compositions with a cinematic blend of classical, post-minimalist and traditional music courtesy of Kosta Jevtić, from Serbia; or incorporating folk elements into contemporary jazz by Kari ...

Article: Album Review

Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela: Rejoice

by Chris May
June 12, 2020

"Unfinished" is the kindest word to describe this album, recorded in 2010 and left on the shelf until its release was prompted after Hugh Masekela passed in 2018. It should have stayed on the shelf. The album consists of eight tracks of noodling by Masekela, accompanied by autopilot timekeeping from Tony Allen, who ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

A tribute to Tony Allen plus some new releases

by Bob Osborne
May 28, 2020

This week a tribute to the great Nigeria drummer, percussionist and songwriter Tony Allen. One of the main collaborators, and musical director, of Fela Kuti's band Africa '70 from 1968 to 1979, he was a central figure in Afrobeat music. In later years he embraced a variety of musical styles, developed “Afrofunk" and worked with a ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Tony Allen, Hugh Masekela, Luciana Souza, Dave Douglas & Other New Releases

by Ludovico Granvassu
May 9, 2020

We may be in lock-down mode but oustading jazz releases keep coming out as if nothing were of the COVID and the social distancing, bringing us much needed relief. One more reason to pay tribute to today's artists and to encourage everyone to support the music scene by purchasing music directly from the musicians and labels ...

Article: Building a Jazz Library

Afrobeat: An Alternative Top Ten

by Chris May
May 5, 2020

It would be hard if not impossible to compile an Afrobeat Top Ten which was not wholly made up of Fela Anikulapo Kuti albums. Such was Kuti's centrality in the creation and development of Afrobeat, such was the productivity of his recording career--his catalogue totals more than fifty albums, not counting reissues and compilations--and such was ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Blue Note Review 2: Spirit & Time and More

by Marc Cohn
April 10, 2020

Lots of cool features this week. First, Side 2 of the new-music LP from 2nd limited-edition Blue Note Review box with drummers Tony Allen and Chris Dave reimagining Tony Williams compositions. Then, a deep dive into the Savoy vaults from 1947 with recreations of 78s by Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro and Dexter Gordon. Celebrating Sonny Rollins ...

About Tony Allen

Results for pages tagged "Tony Allen"...

Musician

Tony Allen

Born: October 6, 1938

Tony Oladipo Allen (born in Lagos, Nigeria) is a Nigerian drummer, composer and songwriter who currently lives and works in Paris. His career and life story have been documented in his 2013 autobiography Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat, co-written with author/musician Michael E. Veal who previously wrote a comprehensive biography of Fela Kuti. As drummer and musical director of Fela Anikulapo Kuti's band Africa 70 from 1968 to 1979, Allen was one of the primary co-founders of the genre of Afrobeat music. Fela once stated that, "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat." He has also been described by Brian Eno as "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived. A self-taught musician, Allen began to play drum-kit at the age of eighteen, while working as an engineer for a Nigerian radio station