africa speaks america answers

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

just seen an advertising for this book


the author speaking for himself:

has anyone read his biography of Thelonious Monk?

[Serial_Apologist]

just seen an advertising for this book


the author speaking for himself:

has anyone read his biography of Thelonious Monk?

Encouraging to note that the author includes Guy Warren of Ghana, who came to the Uk in the 60s, recorded "Afro-Jazz" on the Columbia Lansdowne series under Denis Preston's supervision and album cover design in '68, well worth having if you can get it, and joined the Rendell/Carr Quintet in its dying days. Before that Guy has been said to have been a friend and influence on Max Roach, re-introducing US bebop musicians to their semi-forgotten African-American wealth of rhythmic inheritance.

"Africa Speaks - India Answers" was the title of an Amancio d'Silva tune, featured on one of his albums. Whether coincidence or not, Amancio featured on "Afro-Jazz".

I haven't read that Monk biog.

[amateur51]

Encouraging to note that the author includes Guy Warren of Ghana, who came to the Uk in the 60s, recorded "Afro-Jazz" on the Columbia Lansdowne series under Denis Preston's supervision and album cover design in '68, well worth having if you can get it, and joined the Rendell/Carr Quintet in its dying days. Before that Guy has been said to have been a friend and influence on Max Roach, re-introducing US bebop musicians to their semi-forgotten African-American wealth of rhythmic inheritance.

I haven't read that Monk biog.

Neither have I and I know far less that most but I'm encouraged to read both by the way in which Robin D G Kelley speaks - very thoughtful. I wonder if there's a discography attached?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

[Serial_Apologist]

Neither have I and I know far less that most but I'm encouraged to read both by the way in which Robin D G Kelley speaks - very thoughtful. I wonder if there's a discography attached?

Indeed, Ams - and quite unusual to hear an African-American take on jazz that is not primordially a US-centred one!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I remember someone on this site highly recommending Kelly's Monk book...Jrook or Grippie? I think its also a useful source for anyone, like me, fascinated by the "economics" of jazz; Monk never made "big" money even in the Columbia days, and by Elmo Hope as they were close friends. As was Bud.

BN.

Guy Warren was also a big influence on Phil Seaman and Ginger Baker...where is Val Wilmer when she's needed. Not on R3 thats for sure.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Val Wilmer wrote these books:


Jazz People (London: Allison & Busby, 1970; Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1970).
The Face of Black Music (New York: Da Capo, 1976).
As Serious as Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (London: Allison & Busby, 1977).
Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This: My Life in the Jazz World (London: Women's Press, 1989).

interesting lrb review of mama said

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

[QUOTE=aka Calum Da Jazbo;313205]Val Wilmer wrote these books:


Jazz People (London: Allison & Busby, 1970; Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1970).
The Face of Black Music (New York: Da Capo, 1976).
As Serious as Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (London: Allison & Busby, 1977).
Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This: My Life in the Jazz World (London: Women's Press, 1989).




Val's obit for Guy Warren is still up on the Guardian website...7. 2. 2009.

BN.

[Alyn_Shipton]

Val's is not the only obit still on line for the late Mr Warren. Missing from what follows is what the members of the Rendell-Carr quintet told me about Warren's part in the dissolution of that fine band, but it's spelt out (particularly in detailed quotes from Trevor and Dave) in my bio of Ian Carr. Non-Times subscribers might have trouble finding this online:

Kofi Ghanaba: Ghanaian drummer and bandleader
Towards the end of the swinging Sixties, the Ghanaian drummer Kofi Ghanaba cut a memorable figure in London’s alternative music scene. At a time when the influence of Sgt Pepper was affecting the way almost all musicians dressed, Ghanaba took things somewhat farther — he wore a leopard-skin over his coat, and on his shaven head was a pith-helmet adorned with leather thongs to ward off invisible flies. Whatever the time of day or night, he wore dark glasses. Known at the time as Guy Warren of Ghana, he recorded several albums in London for the producer Denis Preston, of which the best known is Afro Jazz recorded in November 1968 with members of the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet plus the Indian guitarist Amancio D’Silva.
This disc was a fine showcase for Ghanaba’s mastery of traditional African percussion (notably the talking drum), but it also displayed his riotous sense of theatre, in a piece called Souls of the Departed: Have a Drink that depicts a traditional Ghanaian funeral in which — as Ghanaba put it — “many libations are consumed”. His appearances on stage were no less startling, and the band’s trumpeter Ian Carr recalls Ghanaba lying on the floor playing a traditional flute, beating time in the air with his feet before blowing a whistle, leaping to attention and shouting “Police coming!” in mid-solo.
In common with the Nigerian drummers Ambrose Campbell and Jimmy Scott, and Edmundo Ros’s featured conga player Ginger Johnson, Ghanaba was one of the influx of African percussionists to postwar Britain who opened up new tonal and rhythmic possibilities for local players, and presaged the world music movement in which the African origins of jazz and blues were emphasised. In the early 1950s Ghanaba was a seminal member of Kenny Graham’s band the Afro-Cubists, and he left his mark on the playing of many British percussionists from Phil Seamen and Trevor Tomkins to Ginger Baker (with whom Ghanaba played lively drum contests in concert).
But his British career was just one facet of a diverse musical career in which — as his legacy of recordings proves — Ghanaba was often ahead of his time. Born Kpakpo Akwei, he first heard jazz on gramophone records while growing up in Accra. He attended Achimota College and played as a teenager in the Accra Rhythmic Orchestra, doubling on traditional instruments and the western drum kit. During the Second World War he made his way as a seaman to the US and heard jazz at first hand in New York, sitting in with local bands. Back in Accra he was in on the ground floor of the immensely popular high-life movement, playing in the Tempos, which became E. T. Mensah’s groundbreaking band. However, just as that style began to grow in popularity, Ghanaba left for London, for his first stint with Kenny Graham, where his bongo playing made a big impact on British modern jazz players.
From late 1950 Ghanaba was back in Accra, this time alerting his African colleagues to the musical possibilities of the Caribbean calypso forms and instruments that he had encountered in London. As well as promoting the cause of Kwame Nkrumah’s nationalists in his home country through writing and performance, Ghanaba travelled to Lagos, once again as a member of the Tempos, and ended up in Liberia, where he was briefly the country’s first disc jockey. By now wanderlust had set in and Ghanaba wanted to return to the US. He travelled to Chicago and played with various jazz stars from Duke Ellington to Lester Young. In 1956 he made the album Africa Speaks, America Answers with the pianist Gene Esposito, which led to appearances in New York and to further recordings.
He adopted the name Guy Warren of Ghana for most of the 1960s and early 70s, leaving America to return to Ghana, then travelling to India to study local percussion, and arriving back in London where he was based for some years. He played often with the Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott and, among several other discs, recorded a solo drum album for Preston, exploring the rhythms and instruments of Congo pygmies.
On finally returning to Ghana, he appeared at local festivals and concerts (most memorably the 1971 Soul To Soul event in Accra, where African-American stars worked alongside Ghanaian counterparts). But he no longer had a record producer like Preston to champion his work and he gradually retreated into semi-retirement, becoming a Buddhist and living quietly near Accra in the village of Midie. He occasionally emerged for a concert until last year, but, notably, students of African drumming came to him to learn about instruments and techniques, and now, in a world environment that is arguably more prepared for his music than it was during his lifetime, his son Glen — also a percussionist — continues his musical legacy.
Kofi Ghanaba (Guy Warren of Ghana), drummer and bandleader, was born on May 4, 1923. He died on December 22, 2008, aged 85

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

good day to you and many thanks Alyn for your post; indeed the Murdoch shilling is an obstacle ...