PURE VIBES ‘n’ LIQUID LOVE: Gilles Peterson reflects on his four decade long journey with the man and the music of the ubiquitous Roy Ayers.

Posted on March 15, 2025 by Paul Brad

The first time I played Roy Ayers on the radio was March 2nd, 1982 from his ‘Feelin’ Good’ album… ‘Turn Me Loose”. I was 16 sharing the airwaves with my next-door neighbour and pirate buddy Ross Tinsley (aka Ross Travone to avoid recognition by the DTI). Our station was Civic Radio and used our recently acquired aerial and transmitter purchased from local boffin Stuart from who’s garden we broadcast as it had the highest elevation on our road. We never actually got busted by the DTI, but we were discovered by other curious pirates including Chris Phillips and Jeremy Vine with their tracking devices but that’s another story…

Let’s rewind back to my first introduction to Roy. Many would imagine ‘Running Away’ or ‘Love Will Bring Us Back Together’ as the entry point and indeed I would have heard those tunes on Invicta 92.4, Robbie Vincent’s show on Radio London or Greg Edwards’ Best Disco in Town on Capital. But the album that had a profound impact on me was ‘You Send Me’. Featuring an impeccably dressed Roy on the cover – wearing a rakish Panama hat and crushed linen jacket (perhaps subliminally channelling the sartorial excellence of Trevor Eve as Detective Shoestring from the TV show of the same name). And then I heard the entirety of Side A on repeat (remember those turntables that went back to the start of the record?) that night at Anne Marie’s house in Epsom in what was another seminal moment in my young life…


Roy Ayers – You Send Me (1978)

The fact is Roy Ayers – both the man and his music – became enduring companions throughout my entire life. No artist encapsulates the full spectrum of music flowing from jazz through funk, soul, disco into house, hip-hop and broken beat quite like he did.

From his heyday as a purveyor of West Coast vibrational cool, he cut his teeth playing with the likes of Curtis Amy and Jack Wilson under the wing of Bobby Hutcherson and following in the footsteps of Milt Jackson and Cal Tjader eventually joining forces with Herbie Mann who gave him a valuable lesson on the intersection of hip playing and commercial appeal.

From there he travelled East where his chilled elegance, fused with New York’s urban grit, helped define the core components of his musical DNA. His 3-album tenure with Atlantic saw him combine forces with new scene heavyweights such as Charles Tolliver and Gary Bartz as well as still young veterans like Joe Henderson and Ron Carter. This sequence of albums really highlights that moment in which acoustic jazz is going electric, when records like Max Roach’s ‘Members Don’t Get Weary’ or Herbie Hancock’s ‘Fat Albert Rotunda’ are bringing modal jazz, the Fender Rhodes and late 60s politics into the mix. To my ears this is one of the most important and exciting inflection points in the history of jazz and for Roy to be in the thick of it is a testament to his journey. What I wouldn’t give to travel back in time to that moment!

As that decade faded into the rear-view mirror, Roy made another major move signing to Polydor and deciding to leave the more conventional Roy Ayers Quartet name behind by baptising his group Ubiquity as a better descriptor of the fluidity, openness and universality he was exploring through his music.

At this point it’s really worth checking the ‘Live At The Montreux Festival’ album from his June 1971 date where this new group made up of Clint Houston on bass, David Lee on drums and a new young creative force on piano… Harry Whitaker…laid down a set for the ages. This line up also tells you how hip Roy was to finding the best emerging talent. Harry would go on to write several big tunes for Roy including ‘We live in Brooklyn’, as well as making major contributions for Roberta Flack, Eugene McDaniel’s and of course his own iconic Black Renaissance project…

The music on the Montreux album ranges from open ended jazz into an extra spaced out ‘In a silent way’ to the first known live recordings with Roy using his voice to bring his subtle funk to proceedings… another fascinating recording from the period is the ‘cut at 45’ 2 disc set recorded for Japan with Sonny Sharrock , Bruno Carr and Miroslav Vitous – check the stoner vibrazonic take of ‘Scarborough Fair’!

Nippon Columbia 45rpm Direct Cutting Series – 1969

From here an utterly mesmerising (indeed ubiquitous) sequence of 13 stone cold classic albums ensued that could easily constitute a life’s work for most. ‘Mystic Voyage’, ’Vibrations’, ‘Red Black and Green’, ‘A Tear to a Smile’, ‘Virgo Red’, ‘He’s Coming’, ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine’… on and on!! And the singers… Dee Dee, Carla Vaughn, Chicas… wow! And lets not forget the players… Philip Woo, James Mason, David Davis (before he left for Bowie and Young Americans) … arranger William Allen and percussionist Chano O’ Ferral who both came from the Latin jazz scene. -a secret ingredient into the mix.

As if this body of work wasn’t enough, in 2003 while still at Talkin’ Loud records I receive a call from Pete Adarkwah at BBE who tells me that he is with Roy in a warehouse in NYC going through boxfuls of unreleased Ubiquity treasures… The world stopped turning in this moment – a combination of envy and excitement – which ultimately resulted in the label releasing 2 LP’s under the title ‘Virgin Ubiquity’. But far from being the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped this find served up some incredible unheard gems and unearthed previously unknown collaborations with the likes of Merry Clayton, Terri Wells and more that would provide fuel for future hip hop classics notably the song ‘Liquid Love’ which was sampled by many from Knxwledge to Kali Uchis. One of Roy’s many Ninja moves was taking home the master tapes from his Polydor studio sessions without ever telling the label – a rare example of artistic expropriation. Meanwhile, Pete was kind enough to give me one of those tracks as an early taster which I released on my Worldwide Exclusives album… I don’t think Pete realised quite how spectacular ‘Reaching for the Highest Pleasure’ was when he passed it to me though… and finally released that track himself a few years ago! 

From 1977 while being adored by the disco movement and played in all the clubs from Studio 54 to Le Palace in Paris, his ‘disco adjacent’ sound continued to build his music edifice further demonstrating his hipness to sounds that could connect with new ears. But unlike many at the time, before he got lost in the mirror ball, he did two significant things that kept him fresh and relevant.

First,  he created his own independent label Uno Melodic where he developed new artists and created classics like Ethel Beatty ‘s ‘It’s your love’, Eighties Ladies’ ‘Turned On To You’, Sylvia Striplin’s ‘You Can’t Me Turn Away’ as well as producing the legendary RAMP (Roy Ayers Music Productions) album with what some consider an equally good version of ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’ – a debate that will run forever.

Second, he went to Nigeria where he found a new comrade in music adventurism – the mighty Fela Kuti – playing at the Kalakuta Republic which led to the 2 of them recording the song ‘Africa Center of the World’ on Fela’s ‘Music of Many Colours’ album. Roy then took that song home and made a whole album with his band based on his African experiences… a must have… in fact, I gave my copy to Thundercat for his birthday in the knowledge that they would inevitably work together some day…

Another memory I have connected to this period in Roy’s life was watching the film of that Kalakuta Republic concert with him on a dusty VHS at his NYC apartment and thinking about how it needed to find a wider audience! There is a great bit in the film where Fela’s band is performing, and you can make out Roy’s silhouette and vibes shimmering in time and space. Two further anecdotes about that apartment were that he had bought it from James Baldwin and that in the corridor there was the original painting of Virgo Red which I was sorely tempted to make an offer for…

And then – full circle to Epsom and the ‘You Send Me’ moment – to the first time I ever saw him live at Ronnie Scott’s around 81/82 with a band that I remember featured original member Philip Woo and the voice of Chicas. At the time bands used to do one-to-two-week residencies and I had my Ronnie Scott membership card which allowed me £2 entry Monday through Thursday – needless to say I went every night.

But this 80s period also corresponded with a shift in jazz listening tastes in America. Jazz radio had gone smooth and labels like GRP and Verve were championing a new saccharine version of the music which would be of great value to the musicians but would also consume them. From Jeff Lorber to Lonnie Liston Smith to Bobbi Humphrey to Roy Ayers. Smooth jazz was now the enemy for us bass and drum heads. 

It was at this point in 1985 when I first met him in person at the New York Jazz Explosion at the Hammersmith Odeon where I had been invited to present the concert as a Radio London DJ with my Mad On Jazz show.

And this is where the special role of the UK in making sense of his music and then helping “export” it back to the US comes into the story. That moment of British discovery of his old records arrived with the growth of the Rare Groove scene. Built around warehouse parties and back-room energy DJs like Jonathan Moore, Dez Parkes and Jazzy B – Roy’s music was foundational with ‘Life Is Just A Moment’ as its bedrock!

Roy and Janine “Dingwalls’ Neye

It was here that we were able – thanks to my dear friend and co-pilot of Dingwalls, Janine, with her enterprising spirit and convertible 2CV – to get Roy down to the club on his one Sunday off from a 2 week Ronnie’s residency. As soon as he entered and felt the energy, he immediately said he wanted to play there and so the following Sunday there he was and when I suggested he do one of our favourites ‘We Live In Brooklyn” he did and it became a staple in all his future sets.

Worth noting that Roy was taking a huge risk in playing for us as he was exclusively contracted to Ronnie’s so we had to promote in secret – no fliers, no web, just word of mouth and over 800 people turned up – but Ronnie’s had no clue and we got away with it. Props to Roy for doing it in the first place as we wouldn’t have been the only ones in trouble! 

Luckily for all of us, Roy realised through these visits to the UK that there was an audience desperate to hear the music that he was not being recognised for in America. And this rediscovery then led to his elevation in the ears of his home market as the nascent producers of the golden era of hip hop became aware of his extensive and highly sampleable back catalogue.

The earliest instance of this was A Tribe Called Quest – the first American group that dug deeper than the obvious using ‘Daylight ‘by RAMP for Bonita Applebum. The other key pioneers in this were Gangstarr – DJ Premier and Guru would come to Dingwalls when they were in London, often borrow records from me for remixes they were doing while over and with whom I forged a relationship in music leading to me advising as well as being at the recording sessions for Guru’s Jazzamatazz which featured both Roy and Donald Byrd.

Further cementing these trans-Atlantic connections, it was a source of great pride and pleasure to bring together the US and British scenes at the 1990 Jazz FM Weekender at Camber Sands which featured Roy, Pharoah Sanders, A Tribe Called Quest, Steve Williamson, Working Week, Galliano, Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Snowboy and a host of DJs. I suppose looking back on it, what seemed like a crazy idea made total sense and at the heart of it was Roy Ayers who gave it its meaning… I must confess there was another first for me in his presence which we will save for the memoir…

Through all these interactions, Roy became really close to us as a community and would often hang in the house on Brownswood Road. As I started the label Talkin’ Loud he was an artist I championed to the deaf ears of money men in an attempt to sign him, but we managed a golden moments on Galliano’s debut album ‘In Pursuit of the 13th Note’ where he guested on the track ‘57th minute of the 23rd Hour’ absolutely nailing the accompaniment to what is one of the high points of Rob G’s spoken word poetic output.  This also led to demos featuring him with the Young Disciples, Paul Weller and Dill Harris as well as an unreleased version of  ‘All I have In Me’ with playing vibes. Wow I had totally forgotten about that – raw to the floor – I’ll play it on my next radio show!

Over the years I went on to promote and book him for multiple gigs including the Montreux Miles Davis hall event in 2003 when I was able to get Jamiroquai to join him on stage. The deep relationship with Roy stuck to the very end and I was eventually able to put him into the studio with Thundercat and Ommas Keith as well as on stage with Bad Bad Not Good and Ed Motta on two separate occasions at the Worldwide Festival in Sete. I’ll never forget Ed using Roy’s ‘Searching’ to describing how his music was modernist and architectural on the same level as Miro or Mondrian.

We also got to work together on the Nuyorican Soul project. This concept record released in 1997 is up there as one of my most cherished releases and a vital node joining club culture with Jazz and Latin blood lines. A record helmed by Kenny Dope and Louie Vega -who remain to this day two of the most vital and impactful music producers in the game – this project was one of a kind and within it Roy delivered another key moment with an incredible version of ‘Sweet Tears’ bringing his voice, vibes and Vince Montana Jr’s string arrangement to the proceedings. I was talking to Orphy Robinson the other day and he made a good point about the sound of Roy Ayers throughout the Polydor years being the product recording at Electric Ladyland in NYC or Sigma Sound in Philadelphia. For Kenny and Louie to add that authentic Philly sound by recording the strings at Sigma was a master stroke. Even though it was a tune recorded by Roy on other occasions – this version took forcefully into the present.

Gilles talks to Roy: Straight No Chaser Vol 2 Issue 29 Spring 2004

This time also carries with it memories of seeing him with some of the titans of music like Tito Puente, George Benson, Eddie Palmieri , Jocelyn Brown and La India at an unforgettable launch party in Times Square’s ’Supper Club’ … what a night!  As well as going on a radio tour with him and being present for a special show he presented with Isaac Hayes on WRKS-FM 98.7… legends

Everything we ever did together was predicated on my deep desire to see him elevated to the level of giants such as James Brown, Donald Byrd and George Clinton – the plane on which he rightfully belonged.

So it was very moving to see such extensive coverage of his passing across the board and particularly to read Alexis Petridis’ article in the Guardian especially so soon after his piece on James Hamilton’s crucial Disco Pages which illustrated that peculiar alchemy that makes the UK such a unique and potent place for discovering and championing music regardless of fortune or fashion. In that spirit, I hope that this reflection on Roy’s life and work shows this – he was so important to us and in some way we were  for him.

Rest in peace Roy and thank you – been a pleasure travelling with you for the past 45 years.

Roy & GP. Respect. One Love.

Check : Gilles Peterson’s tribute to Roy Ayers on BBC 6 Music – 15th March 2025. Tremendous.

Words from @questlove @louievega @deedeebridgewater @femiydfem @orphyvibes @bigbirdkuti @bartzoyo @tone2679 

Tracklist

Roy Ayers – Love from the Sun
Roy Ayers – Fikisha (To Help Someone To Arrive)
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – The Black Five
Roy Ayers – Liquid Love feat. Sylvia Cox
Roy Ayers – Reaching For The Highest Pleasure
Roy Ayers – The Memory
Sylvia Striplin – You Can’t Turn Me Away 
Erykah Badu – Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)
Roy Ayers – Coffy Baby 
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – A Tear To A Smile
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – This Side of Sunshine
Vi Redd – Summertime
Roy Ayers – Ricardo’s Dilemma
Jack Wilson – Harbor Freeway (Blue Note Version)
Curtis Amy Featuring Victor Feldman – Liberia
Roy Ayers – Lil’s Paradise
Lionel Hampton – Rhythm, Rhythm (I Got Rhythm)
Bobby Hutcherson – Montara
Roy Ayers Quartet – Scarborough Fair
Claude Nobs – Introduction for Roy Ayers (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, June 20, 1971)
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – In A Silent Way (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, June 20, 1971)
Herbie Mann – Can You Dig It
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Searchin’
Eighties Ladies – Turned On To You
Rick Holmes – Remember to Remember
RAMP – Daylight
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Ain’t No Sunshine
Young Disciples – Fire Weaver feat. Roy Ayers (Unreleased)
Young Disciples – As We Come feat. Roy Ayers (Unreleased Demo)
Tyler, The Creator – Find Your Wings
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Mystic Voyage
The Roots with Roy Ayers – Proceed II
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – We Live in Brooklyn, Baby
Roy Ayers – Intro / The River Niger
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti & Roy Ayers – Africa, Center of the World
Roy Ayers – Chicago
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Running Away
Roy Ayers – Can’t You See Me (12″ Version)
Roy Ayers – Untitled
Roy Ayers – Our Time Is Coming
Roy Ayers – Don’t Stop The Feeling
Nuyorican Soul – Roy’s Scat
Nuyorican Soul – Sweet Tears feat. Roy Ayers Ubiquity
G. Keith Alexander – A Mother’s Blues
RAMP – Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Galliano – 57th Minute of the 23rd Hour
Buster Williams – Vibrations

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028rg1

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THE DON CHERRY TAPES & TRAVELATIONS

Posted on March 12, 2025 by Paul Brad

Eternal Rhythm : The Don Cherry Tapes & Travelations is a collection of priceless cassette taped interviews woven together by writer Graeme Ewens – a confidant, travel companion and friend of the late great trumpeter and visionary. It’s a project that began back in 1979 and it gives us an unfiltered insight into the evolution and the working life of a musician who is globally recognised as one of the most unique and innovative voices to have emerged from the Sixties free jazz movement.

While Don Cherry’s rep and status as a jazz musician might just be set in stone he was more than that. He was nomadic, free spirited, natural mystic whose openness and command of a universal musical language allowed him to travel and break bread with like-minded souls wherever he touched down. I have a vivid memory of a concert, at the Old Vic in South London, with Codona – the incredible trio that featured Don Cherry, Brazilian master percussionist Nana Vasconcelos and the brilliant Colin Walcott who had studied sitar under Ravi Shankar and tabla under All Rakha. The ECM recordings of Codona were fresh and spiritually charged and ensured that there was a serious sense of anticipation in the theatre. There was rumour that Don had not yet arrived. He was reputedly on the “Magic Bus” that travelled regularly between London and Amsterdam. Colin Walcott and Nana took to the stage and commenced playing. It was while we were immersed in the conversation between these two master musicians that Don stealthily arrived onstage, sat down cross legged and proceeded to unload his duffel bag which contained his pocket trumpet, his flutes and his beloved Doussn’gouni. As he hit that first note it was as if he’d been there from the very beginning leaving all of us with an indelible imprint of the man and the moment.

Don Cherry’s roots through his grandmother were in the native Choctaw people while his father was a free black man born of formerly formerly enslaved African people. His life began in Tulsa , Oklahoma but in 1940 the four year old moved California. It is in Los Angeles that the story truly begins. I love this part of the book. Don’s own words transport us into another time. Hard times for sure but in post WW2 LA music is every where. I would love to have seen footage of Don and his sister Lindy Hopping or doing the Texas Hop or the Shake It’s also great that Don is so specific about the tunes of the day. It set this reader off on a mission listening to Jimmy Rushing, Lester Young. Johnny Otis, the Coasters amongst others. Central Avenue in Watts was the epicentre of the LA jazz scene. His father was head barman at the Plantation Club and from experience, he was reluctant for his son to follow the way of jazz. Dope and jazz, in his mind, were synonymous.

Don’s first experience of racism was at school where the role of first trumpet was always given to a white kid. But once his mother bought him his own trumpet he was gone, there was no going back. It was the radio shows that satiated his musical appetite – Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker. The Shrine Auditorium was where he eventually got to hear, live and direct, giants like Pres, Bird, Illinois Jacquet and Johnny Hodges. Musically, it was all going on… R&B, vocal groups, devotional music / gospel and jazz. As high school kids they they were busy playing the “dozens” – which is the roots of rap.

Don Cherry playing in Ornette Coleman’s famous Free Jazz quartet, ca. 1959

Watts in the Fifties had its own thing going on in he same way that Compton had its own thing compared to the Bronx in the late Eighties. In Don’s own words we follow him as he meets alto toting genius Ornette Coleman and gets immersed in the radical concept of Harmolodics. He reflects on feel within the music and players who could and couldn’t read music. I was amazed to read that James Clay didn’t read, especially when I hear him playing alongside David ‘Fathead Newman or much later playing flute on ‘Pavanne’. Don playing in Ornette Coleman’s famous Free Jazz quartet, ca. 1959

As one would expect his arrival in NYC was a trail by fire. There are encounters with Miles and being firmly in Ornette’s orbit ensure he was inevitably drawn into musical controversy. That said, it was radical time and the gates had been kicked open and the recording sessionss followed. Once he secured a passport Don’s ‘travelations” began. There were tours with Sonny Rollins and the spiritually possessed Albert Ayler… and once they were done he opted to stay in Paris. From there it was a hop, skip and a jump to Turkey and North Africa… Tangiers where Randy Weston was resident, as were Beat generation writers like Bryon Gysin and William Burroughs. There were musical dialogues with Turkish drummer Okay Temiz, the Master Musicians of Joujouka, the Gnawa of Morocco, South African master musicians: Dollar Brand / Abdullah Ibrahim and bassist Johnnny Dyani and Camerounian supestar Manu Dibango. The way was open and without consciously knowingly it he pioneered what was to become known as “world music”.

The interviews in Eternal Rhythm are remarkably honest about the heroin habit which he developed in NYC and slipped in and out of for the rest of his life. It’s something he negotiated while travelling, playing and raising a family in Sweden, along with his partner Moki – an artist in her own right. As I said, this short book… 160 pages… shoots from the hip and remains un-cut when it comes to documenting what has been an extraordinary life. Whether travelling in India or playing with Ian Dury and The Blockheads or Rip Rig and Panic, there’s simply a sense that it’s all one continuum, which is there to be embraced. And in the end, it’s Don Cherry’s music which spans generations and like a river that follows its own course. It offers us a “multikulti” vision, that speaks to the future – a brighter future should we wish to embrace it. It doesn’t feel like 30 years have slipped by since Don Cheery left this world. Grab a copy of Graeme Ewens’ pocket size book. It’s funky. It’s peppered with graffix and pics. It’s a labour of love and a ‘Project’ for which the contact has now been fulfilled.

PB /

* Graeme Ewens’ Eternal Rhythm: The Don Cherry Tapes and Travelations is a slim 172 page volume packed with deep content and is available from bukupress@gmail.com – (UK p&p FREE)

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Andrée Blouin – Africa’s Pasionaria

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Paul Brad

The long awaited reprint of My Country, Africa: The Autobiography Of The Black Pasionaria by that late Andrée Blouin has arrived. If you saw the award winning documentary Soundtrack To A Coup D’Etat and came way wanting to know more about the woman in dark glasses who stood at Lumumba’s side before the Belgian’s, the CIA, the UN and Mobutu orchestrated his downfall and death, you need to read this book.

It was back in November that I penned a few words about an excellent documentary that did indeed provide a “soundtrack to a coup d’etat” which took place in 1961 in the capital of the fledgeling Democratic Republic of the Congo. It resulted in the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba who, along with his allies, had spearheaded the movement for decolonisation and independence from Belgium. At his side was an activist, a woman called Andrée Blouin, who had thrown herself into the struggle, campaigning and working tirelessly on the front line, in the countryside, in the villages, with the women, against tribalism and the psychological legacy of their Belgian overseers. Back in the metropolis of Kinshasa after victory was secured, she took her life in her hands and did everything in her power to unite the different movements to stave off a Belgian / US backed coup led by the Chief Of Staff Of The Army – Mobutu Sese Seko aka Mobutu. She travelled to other African nations to rally support for Lumumba and earned herself the title of the ‘Black Pasionaria’. Upon Lumumba’s arrest, she was placed under house arrest and was eventually expelled to Algiers while her children were initially held hostage in the Congo to ensure her silence.

It’s a riveting and nail biting story, that deserves a film in its own right. This book – My Country, Africa: The Autobiography Of The Black Pasionaria – delivers a deep dive into the colonial mind-set and the psychological damage inflicted on the African people by their colonizers, whether they were from Belgium, France , Portugal or Britain.

The book! Essential read.

The story begins in French Equitorial Africa, in the remote village of Bessou on the Oubangui river where her motherJosephine Wouasimba was married at 13 years old to a 26 year old Frenchman with an iron will to succeed. His name was Pierre Gerbillat. Their daughter, Andrée, was born in 1921 and at the age of three years old she was dropped off by her father and his Belgian wife, Henriette Poussart, at an orphanage run by brutal Catholic nuns in Brazzaville. She was to stay there for the next 14 years. Along with other “metisse” mixed heritage girls she was instructed, along racist lines, to stay away from the black girls in the orphanage. In the eyes of the nuns she embodied the wickedness of her father and the primitive nature of her mother. It was living hell. They were slapped and whipped. The food was vile and rotten – she preferred to eat clay! They learned to recite their prayers but were never taught to read and write. There was little contact with the outside world but one day, as a flow prisoners in chains passed the orphanage gates chanting , “We want French citizenship, while being whipped by their captors, it opened up a sense of injustice.

André Blouin (second from bottom right) lived at the Order of Saint Joseph Cluny convent in Brazzaville. Photograph: Blouin estate

At the age of 17, she and two others scaled the orphanage wall and fled. After being caught by the police Andrée made here case to the mayor Brazzaville offering up a detailed litany of the abuse they had suffered at the hands of the nuns. She was not to return and took up residence in the the district of Poto-Poto. The girl who’d lived on starvation rations loved the market.. the fruits , the vendors, the smell of cooking… it was “fabulous, fabulous, fabulous”. Sunday afternoon in the Grande Place was a feast for the ears and the eyes. Music, dancers, griots, vendors of all kinds. After a short stint with her father back in Bessou she returned to Brazzaville and earned her money on a sewing machine. It was hard. Exhausting ad pften humiliating. A chance encounter with a former inmate at the orphanage led to an enlightening trip up the Congo river and her meetingc a handsome Belgian of aristocratic birth. She was eager to LIVE… to live her life but she soon became painfully aware that she was repeating her mother’s humiliating history – that of the African concubine. Her first child was called Rita.

Ironically. her next relationship was with one Charles Greutz – a man from Alsace who had no love for the African race. WW2 was raging. During Greutz’s time away in South Africa it was Andrée who created an 800 acre plantation in the jungle. Quite a feat and testimony to her organisational and leadership skills which would come the fore in the future. Life was hard and it was the death of their son René from malaria that forced a radical shift in Andrée’s consciousness. René had been refused quinine because he was not white. He died while the son of a white neighbour survived. Her relationship with Greurz ended in divorce. Andée had already met the next love of her life – André Blouin a Frenchman man who seemed “to have escaped the colonial menatality”. They lived in Siguiri in north eastern Guinea on the river Niger for seven years where she gave birth to two children Patrick and Eve. It was during this time that Andrée became aware of the Reassemblent Democratique Africain (RDA) – a decolonialization, liberation movement led by the charismatic Sékou Touré. She had never heard anyone speak of rights for Africans as he did.

And so we enter Part II of the book. World War II is over and African’s who volunteered to assist their respective “mother” countries in the fight against fascism had returned home adding momentum to the independence movements. The Cold War between Russian “communism” and the “free world” had also kicked in and the western powers were desperate to ensure the newly independent countries in Africa and elswhere did not fall under the spell of Socialism and into the orbit of Kruschev’s Russia. The West sought – as they do today – to maintain a grip on the precious minerals and natural resources that Africa offered by any means necessary.

It was while browsing a small Guinean shop that Andée Blouin was mesmerised by a photo on the wall of Sékou Touré. At moment, she knew that her destiny was to join the African Liberation struggle. She thrived as an organizer for the Feminine Movement For African Solidarity whose charter outlined projects for women’s health, literacy, and their recognition as citizens of the emerging postcolonial nation. During 1960 Blouin joined the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) campaign for independence alongside activists Pierre Mulele and Antoine Gizenga in the fight for independence.

Ambroise Boimbo was a Congolese citizen who snatched the ceremonial sword of King Baudouin I of Belgium on June 29, 1960, in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) on the eve of the independence of the Belgian Congo.

Andrée Blouin’s biography delivers the inside story to a most significant moment in global history. It was a campaign that led to Patrice Lumumba, a charismatic Pan Africanist and socialist becoming DRC’s first Prime Minister. On becoming PM, Lumumba appointed Blouin as his “chief of protocol” and speechwriter — demonstrating how important she had been to the fight and eventual winning of independence. But despite a frenzy of action and calls for unity his party and his allies were unable to halt an anti-communist plot that was hatched between the Belgians who didn’t want to leave, the CIA and the UN. Mobutu and the army stepped in. Lumumba was captured and murdered. All that remained of him was a gold capped tooth.


Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa / Patrice Lumumba 1925 – 1961
Blouin with the Congolese revolutionary Pierre Mulele in 1959.Photograph: Blouin estate

Today, his name lives on, a martyr in the war against colonisation and the ongoing influence of outside forces. It’s a war that persists today. Hopefully, with the reprint of her book – My Country, Africa: The Autobiography Of The Black Pasionaria – and the praise heaped on Soundtrack To A Coup D’Etat we will see Andrée Blouin recognised as a groundbreaking pivotal political figure during the rise of the African liberation movements that flowered in the Sixties and Seventies. A luta continua.

My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria – Andrée Blouin (Verso’s Southern Questions) Paperback – 7 Jan. 2025

Note: “Pasionaria” refers to Isidora Dolores Ibarruri Gomez, a Spanish communist who fought on the side of the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939.

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Vivien Goldman: Rebel Musix – Scribe On A Vibe

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Paul Brad

Let’s take a deep dive into the ‘Collected Works’ of celebrated music journo, feminist, roots radic and professor of punk

The Professor Of Punk : Vivien Goldman 2024

First , let me say this, in the world of music journalism Vivien Goldman is a one-off. I myself entered the world of music journalism, as a cub reporter / scribbler, not long after Vivien made her debut in print. In the mid Seventies she was working for Island records and liaising with Bob Marley and The Wailers amongst others. Her writings initially entered our musical consciousness via Sounds – a music weekly launched in 1970 to rival the Melody Maker and NME. With Alan Lewis as editor, Sounds was quick of the mark with punk rock and Vivien locked down the role of features editor. However as one scans the credits for the excellent pieces chosen to represent her work in this book – ‘Rebel Musix: Scribe on the vibe’ – she clearly emerged as an in-demand journalistic gun for hire. Vivien was getting commissions from both the NME and the Melody Maker. That in itself was unique, as partisanship was serious when it came down to rivalry between the music papers. Vivien was – and still is – the original hot steppa. Her energy fuelled writings transport us back in time and are consistently illuminating and positively refreshing.

I got to know Vivien during that culturally volatile time. Our tastes in music definitely coincide. We both wrote for the NME when the paper was edited by Neil Spencer. It’s worth saying that the weekly circulation of the NME peaked under his guidance at 230,000 – we need to reflect on that!! The dots were being joined. Punk rock, Rock Against Racism, reggae, NYC new wave, P Funk, Go Go, hip hop, “world music”…. it was a radical time.

The first section of the book – The Sound Before The Storm – has our scribe engaging in conversations with icons like Eno, Robert Wyatt and Can before heading off to an all-nighter Wigan Casino – a classic encounter. She rounds it all off with a reflective piece on the futuristic funkateer Betty Davis, whose influence on the ‘Dark Prince’ is well documented and whose ‘Nasty Gal’ LP Vivien promoted while working for Island.

Viv{: Back In the day.

You can dip into this book or follow the editorial flow. It’s up to you. I definitely remember reading many of these pieces at the time. Vivien was always on it. As you read them you feel l like you are in the room. She’s a persistent, strong presence. She’s direct, she’s always got something to say and is not afraid to push the boundaries with whoever she’s talking to. She’s proud of her Jewish roots and she’s smart. Let’s face it there were very few women music journos at that time. There were pioneers like Val Wilmer, there was Caroline Coon. Cynthia Rose, Sheryl Garrett, Julie Burchill … but Vivien Goldman was culturally, the most expansive and a quick glance over the list of those interviewed in this book gives us a genuine sweep over the times: 1975 – 2024

Classic shot of Viv and Archie Poole from the Dirty Washing EP – Photography by Jean Bernard Sohiez RIP

Vivien was Grove-ite and a regulat at Weasel’s shebeen. Her flat often felt like the epicentre of punk. She was close to John Lydon, the Clash… Don Letts and Aswad… but it’s in Chapter 3: The Original She-Punk Sisterhood that she burns brightest. This is her posse – Neneh Cherry, Chrissie Hynde, The Raincoats, The Slits – I loved that piece. Viv and Ari Up in NYC. Magic.

As a reader, you are drawn to her orbit. She is mostly at one with those she writes about – except maybe Peter Tosh. Now there’s a classic ideological / Biblical clash, and there’s no way she gonna let the stepping razor off the hook. Similarly with Bob Marley, they were friends, good friends, but she is still game for a good reasoning. Other good friends leap off the pages of this book… Grace Jones, August Darnell, Ornette Coleman. A serious trio… n’est-ce pas?

Hip Hop is represented by Chuck D and Hank Shocklee being interviewed in the shadow of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing and Rodney King’s murder. Of course, Fela is is the mix, both at the Shrine and following a concert in Brixton, at the Country Club in Hampstead where his spiritual brother and sorcerer, Professor Hindi, cuts a man’s throat and then buries him in the cold January ground only for him to be “resurrected” the following night. True story.

Vivien has since spent decades living between New York City and Jamaica, with the occasional visit to London town. This is the cultural axis around which this collection is built. She is a documentarian and adjunct professor of punk and reggae at NYU and an adjunct professor of musical cultures and industry at Rutgers University. She continues to write songs and make music. In the late Seventies she was part of the Paris based duo Chantage with Eve Blouin and her ‘Dirty Washing’ EP (1981) has quietly fuelled her enduring cult status. 2024 saw her release an album of self penned songs – ‘Next Is Now’ – which was produced by the acclaimed producer and her long time friend, Youth. Her book, Revenge Of the She-Punks (2019), introduced her to a new generation of young women pursuing their own paths in today’s rapidly changing musical world and this most recent volume , Rebel Musix: Scribe on the Vibe is a valuable addition to that. A thoroughly entertaining and genuinely inspiring offering. It offers a taste, a glimpse into a window of time when writers like Vivien were given the freedom to pen a few thousand words to illuminate the music and thought processes of those who were boldly shaping a fresh, new culture.

Basically, Rebel Musix: Scribe on the Vibe deserves a place on your bookshelf, at your bedside or on your iphone. Dive into the words. Dig out the music and play it. Enjoy!

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Soundtrack to A Coup D’Etat

Posted on November 28, 2024 by Paul Brad

In this documentary, film maker Johan Grimonprez links the CIA’s use of Jazz in the Cold War against Russia with a deep dive into the divisive, murderous political machinations of Belgium and the USA which resulted in the 1961 assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.

A Congolese citizen seizes the sword of Belgian King Baudoin at the independence parade.

On Tuesday night we braved the wind and rain and headed to the ICA to take in Johan Grimonprez’s documentary, Soundtrack For A Coup D’Etat. Being a jazz-head and a staunch supporter of the post war anti-colonial , anti-imperialist African liberation movements, I was super keen to see this documentary on a big screen. 

Though I was aware of Patrice Lumumba’s assassination, after the Congo won its independence from Belgium in 1960, I was not prepared for the story this film delivered via interviews, archive film footage – from the UN and other news sources, along with written communications by politicians from Belgium, the USA and elsewhere.

Belgium has a deranged and deeply dark past in the Congo. In the late 1800’s, during the rule of King Leopold II, 15 million Congolese were murdered. This remains the highest known figure of genocide in world history. 

However, this film is concerned with a more recent chapter in Belgium’s colonial history and is located in the post WW2 era, when momentum was gathering in the African nations for an end to colonisation and independence. 

While Nkrumah was active in Ghana, so the independence movement in the Congo was also gaining traction. At the forefront of this movement emerged a young Pan Africanist, Patrice Lumumba. In1958 he became the leader of the Congolese National Movement and he was instrumental in leading the people to independence. He was elected the Congo’s first African Prime Minister.

Tragically, in the eyes of the USA and Belgium – and the British – he was branded a communist. In the shadow of the Cold War with Russia he was therefore a threat that needed to be dealt with, especially as the Congo was uranium rich. Even after independence, Belgium’s Union Minière controlled the strategically important Shinkolobwe mine – the uranium mined there was used in the Manhattan Project which produced the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War 2. 

The Congo could not go “Communist”. As such, every shadowy branch of the Western intelligence communities set to work with the intention of dividing and ruling the Congo. First the uranium rich state of Katanga declared independence from the Congo and then recruited Belgian backed, mostly South African mercenaries, to institute a reign of terror. It was then left to a Congolese army officer –  Mobutu Sese Soko – to deliver the coup and oversee the capture and assassination of Lumumba. 

It’s a complex tale with numerous pivotal players. At heart of it is the role played by the US controlled United Nations. It’s fascinating to see the Soviet Union’s Khrushchev in full anti-imperialst flight and thumping the table at the UN before heading off to Harlem to meet up with Fidel Castro and Malcolm X. 

Fidel meets Malcolm X at Hotel Theresa , Harlem 1960

This complex tale is intercut with footage of jazz musicians who, on the one hand aligned themselves with the Pan African struggle, and, on the other, were  recruited by the CIA to take America culture – Jazz – into the Soviet Union and beyond. This footage provided a fresh dynamic to the narrative. Along with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Melba Liston, Duke Ellington – all of whom were recruited for various tours – we also get footage of Art Blakey, Mingus, Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln (who took part in an invasion of the UN) which, I guess, is included to reflect the intensity of the Pan African and Civil Rights struggle on the home front. A good friend, with whom I watched the film, was not impressed with some of that footage, which appeared annoyingly whimsical in the context of the deeply disturbing Congo footage. She also felt it had been somewhat shoe-horned into the narrative.

My own sense of deja vu was eased when I recalled having seen Hugo Berkeley’s excellent, 2018, PBS documentary ‘Jazz Ambassadors’ – a film we reviewed in Straight No Chaser. In 1955, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. convinced President Eisenhower that jazz was the best way to intervene in the Cold War cultural conflict. It’s a documentary (now available on YouTube – https://youtu.be/u6wErAZkXEw?si=rjBMcIowELW6Zk06 – that provides a wealth of research combined with quality footage to give an insight into the Cold war clash between the Soviet’s  Bolshoi Ballet and New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong.

There are many enduring moments in Soundtrack For A Coup D’Etat. The story of Madame Andree Blouin is one. A writer, political and human rights activist, she remained a dynamic force behind the actions of Lumumba. It’s a story that comes to an end in the film when Mobutu’s soldiers arrive at her house. She is deported but forced to leave children behind in order to secure her silence. 

On reflection, I think if anyone asks me why, in the past, I was a communist, I would today say, ‘Go and see this film.”  

(My Fave track dedicated to Patrice Lumumba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbmIFedIGao )

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KUJENGA: THE GOLDEN WAKE

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Paul Brad

ON THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA CHILA NATHI AND TRC HOST THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF CAPE TOWN BASED ENSEMBLE, KUJENGA.

It’s a wintery night with a bright half moon and I am greeted at the door to the Total Refreshment Centre by two shadowy figures, well wrapped against the cold. One of the duo is Theo, the co-organiser of tonight’s Chila Nathi Special: In The Golden Wake. Three decades have passed since the defeat of the apartheid system In South Africa and tonight’s event asks its attendees to consider, “How do we memorialize an event that is still ongoing?”. It also plans to introduce London to Kujenga, a bold young ensemble described by one of their mentors  – Siya Mthembu of The Brother Moves On – as “the future”. 

As I am a touch late I ask Theo, “How’s it going?”. She happily informs me, “It’s packed”. Indeed, the room hosting the event is overflowing, spilling out into the corridor. As I edge my way in I am kindly offered a complimentary glass of wine which I readily accept and find a spot next to TRC’s Alexis Blondin and behind the night’s other co-ordinator, Teju Adeleye. 

Kujenga : Photo by Theo

There’s a conversation going down between two members of Kujenga – Owethu Siphiwo (piano / keys) and Zwide Ndwandwe (bass) – and  DemiMa, the granddaughter of late great pianist / composer Bheki Mseleku. It’s conversation that circles around tunes of their choice that have influenced them. It’s an intimate space and the audience response to the both the music and conversation clearly reflects the strong African presence in the room. 

It’s down to Teju to introduce the music – ‘Not Yet Uhuru’ – Letta Mbulu  / ‘Inhlupheko’ – The Soul Jazzmen  / ‘Remember Sophiatown’ – Miriam Makeba, The Skylarks  / ‘Idabi Labantu’ – iPhupho L’ka Biko /  ‘Celebration’  – Bheki Mseleku – / ‘Boom Shaka’ – Gcwala – to the gathering but it’s down to the panel to contextualise, to frame, what is being heard. Context is King when it comes to the rich cultural and musical history of communities like Sophiatown, Meadowlands or District Six that were flattened, erased by South Africa’s apartheid regime. Questions are raised that reflect the ongoing struggle in South Africa, especially for them, as young activists – culturally and politically. Parallels are aso drawn with the Iraeli / Gaza conflict. It’s no surprise that South Africa was a prime mover in getting the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Netentyahu and Galant. 

In 1995 I went to both Joburg and Cape Town as part of the Melt2000 project. It was a venture that united musicians from the London dance-jazz (acid jazz) scene alongside Brazilian master musicians, Airto Moreira and Jose Neto, with a host of brilliant South African musicians. There was an air of positivity and optimism about the future. The intense local struggle, led by the ANC, combined with consistent international pressure against apartheid had finally broken the system. A  new dawn was declared. It was joy to sit and reason with veteran musicians like Pops Mohamed, Busi Mhlongo, Sipho Gumede, Fana Zulu, Dizu Platjes, Madala Kunene and Mabi Thobejane plus new generation dons like Moses Molelekwa and Max Ngcobo. It was also a privilege to encounter the belief systems of the  traditional healers, the Sangomas, and others, like the members of the Inthelelo Yabalazwane Choir.

Thirty years have gone by since then and the ‘Rainbow Nation’ is still dealing with the shackles of global capitalism combined with the legacy and collective trauma of colonialism and a brutal, racist, South African regime. On this night at TRC the audience is drawn into the reflections of a generation who weren’t even born when apartheid was formally abolished. Their reflections embody a continuum that necessarily reflects a musical history which has all but been erased in their homeland, when it needs to be celebrated as part of the people’s modern identity.

When DemiMa chose to play Bheki Mseleku’s wonderful ‘Celebration’ we got a taste of the longstanding links between London’s jazz community and the South African musicians like Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Louis Moholo, and Bheki Mseleku who were forced into exile during the apartheid era.

Kujenga : Photo by Theo

After a piano / poetry interlude featuring DemiMa, Kujenga filed into the room, picked up their instruments and treated us to a selection drawn mostly from their ‘In The Wake’ album. Electric bass, drums and piano are supplemented by a three piece horn section and a sublime electric guitarist – Thane Smith. You have to love Zwide Ndwandwe’s crystal clear bass lines and the slightly mournful but sonically uplifting combination of trombone was trumpet courtesy of Tamzyn Freeks and Bonga Tandekile Mosola. 

Between songs, Zwide illuminates the story behind the composition and places us, the listeners in their shoes, during the isolation of the Covid pandemic and their need for community. ‘Remembrance’ draws us in with a  spacey guitar and piano before the horns weigh in. The crowd are completely at one with the ensemble and as the set evolves it’s punctuated by shouts of approval. As they deliver compositions like ‘A World Within, A World Without’ and ‘It Was Wonder’ there’s a sea of arms in the air.

An encore consist of an unrecorded tribute to Fela Kuti and Tony Allen. What is initially, a breezy and chilled interpretation of Afrobeat suddenly explodes. The drummer, Keno Careise, gets his chance to lift the crowd and shine, as does tenor-man, Matthew Rightford. The room kicks off as bodies swoop and rise to the challenge of the music. The vibe is ecstatic and Zujenga – their name means “ to build” in Swahili – have, on their very first international gig, clearly proved they are an ensemble to be reckoned with. Zujenga are here to stay. 

CHECK: https://kujenga.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-wake

The night was organised by Teju and Theo along with their good friends Dexter, Retha and Nancy as part of a series called Chila Nathi: a colloquialism meaning ‘come chill with us’.  In July they hosted Sky Dladla, Zolani Moholo, Eddie Hicks, Sekuru, Mrisi, and Aron Halevi to explore culture and spirituality. 

https://www.instagram.com/chilanathisundays?igsh=M2NndTg0czlyNzM4

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LITTLE MISS STAR

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Paul Brad

DJ Paulette’s Welcome To The Club is an enlightening journey through the highs and lows of a life in electronic dance music that spans three decades. Written from a Black woman’s perspective it provides a rallying call for future generations.

Photography : Lee Baxter

Paulette hails from the North and in 2024 it remains her home. The city of Manchester has long had a thriving club culture and it’s there that Paulette discovered her true identity as a DJ. The recollection of those early days is told in sometimes harsh but glorious detail in the Finders Keepers: In the Beginning chapter. After a stint of go-go dancing at the famed Number 1 Club Paulette commenced her transition from a “naive, twenty-four-year-old unhappily married wife in suburban Stockport …” to become a face on the Manchester clubbing and gay scene and, eventually, a name DJ.

As she maintains, back in the early Nineties, there were no Red Bull Academies or mentors – no YouTube tutorials – where you could learn the craft of Dj’ing. You simply bought and hustled the vinyl and honed your skills. Paulette’s passion and love for the music and clubbing was what she took to the party. She landed a gig at Flesh at the Hacienda and found a welcoming community, a fresh vibrant rebellious family with a lineage linked to Queer Nation and Kinky Gerlinky. Flesh ran for five years. The club elevated women DJs and had a profound impact on Manchester’s LBGTQ+ arts and culture scene and DJ Paulette was at the heart of the action.

Predictably, she had to deal with male DJs or record shop bods who refused to take her seriously but she was undeterred. Paulette took the next step of moving to London. She found a job in the music industry and sought out like minded souls and allies in clubs like Gilles Peterson’s Monday night session, That’s How It Is – a club night close to my own heart.

Welcome To The Club takes us a wild ride that follows the global evolution of electronic dance music. It takes us to Paris and Ibiza. We get to experience “the death of a DJ” and her re-birth. In the book she channels her fierce positivity, love of the music and combines it with a dynamic intelligence that allows her to review and extract lessons based on the misogyny, racism and homophobia that she experienced over three cyclical decades.

The result is Paulette recognising her current role as an “elder” within her community and enjoying a positive and exciting alignment with the rising tide of younger Black women DJs who found fresh momentum and purpose during the dark, forced isolation of the COVID times. Paulette introduces her readers to the talents and missions of Jaguar, Jamz Supernova, Erica McCoy, Nia Archives, Anz, Sherelle and Nadine Noor alongside the works of BEMA (Black Electronic Music Association) and the Black Artist Database. There are tectonic shifts ahead.

Her journey from pre internet to the modern day metaverse has been radical. After rallying her will to fight back the crippling depression of the COVID years DJ Paulette’s energy has been reignited The positive impact of the BLM movement along with a renewed sense of freedom reveals a DJ Paulette who appears more fired up and more resilient and militant than ever. She uses the closing sections of the book to celebrate her community and offers up a rallying cry to her sisters and allies, in clubland and beyond, that calls for more unity, for no more silence and a resolve to push ever forward. Speaking from the heart of the Black electronic dancefloor Paulette declares, “Long may my work and ministry continue.” And with that I concur… ‘Welcome to the club! ‘

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Jon Akomfrah’s Mimesis: African Soldier in Bristol

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Paul Brad

First screened in 2019 at the Imperial war Museum as part of the First World War centenary, John Akomfah’s Mimesis: African Soldier is currently showing at the Bristol Museum and uncovers the largely ignored story of the Commonwealth soldiers who volunteered to fight in World War I: the war of their colonial masters.

During a recent trip to Bristol I stumbled across an immersive and powerful John Akomfrah installation that was showing at the Bristol Museum. Mimesis: African Soldier is delivered via three large screens in a dark room and lasts 73 minutes. The artwork combines a powerful score that mixes African and Indian song with new compositions, introduces amazing historic footage and combines newly created film, shot by Akomfrah in locations around the world that speak to the African and Asian experience of leaving loved ones for the harsh realities the First World War. Its impact has continued to resonate with me long after experiencing the screening.

Between 1914 and 1918, millions of dedicated and enthusiastic African soldiers served in long, colonial campaigns that spanned the whole of the African continent, contributing to victories throughout WWI. In addition to this fighting, African soldiers from British, French and Dutch African territories were brought to Europe’s western front, where they lost their lives alongside unknown, unheralded and undocumented African carriers. The footage is a amazing.

“The most important thing for me, the takeaway, is that African soldiers fought in this war, that they played a variety of roles in the war as foot soldiers, as carriers. Every facet, every avenue, every job in the war, if you look long enough, you will see someone of either Asian or African origin/heritage in that role.” – John Akomfrah

Since founding the influential Black Audio Film Collective in 1982 John Akomfrah’s has delivered his works via his Smoking Dogs production company. He has taken on an immersive, often meditative, multi-layered visual style. He is best known for his multi-screen installations, such as Purple (2017), Precarity (2017), Vertigo Sea (2015),  The Unintended Beauty of Disaster (2021) and Five Murmurations (2021). His Unfinished Conversations (2012) was shown at Tate Britain’s Life Between Islands and a brand new work planned to be shown in the at the Sharjah Biennial in 2023

The installation is on to the 8th January 2023 … so, there’s still time to catch it if you’re in Bristol over the holiday season. You can enter the gallery at any time but the film will start from the beginning at the following approximate times: 10.30am, 11.43am, 12.56pm, 2.09pm, 3.22pm (Timings are subject to some variation.)

Here’s a little podcast with John to go a bit deeper into the man’s work!! https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/10/05/a-brush-with-john-akomfrah-podcast

Above. John Akomfrah.

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NCO meets Joni & Mingus @ The Dome

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Paul Brad

Led by Peter Edwards, the New Civilisation Orchestra took on the music from Joni Mitchell’s classic ‘Hejira’ LP and the singer-songwriter’s collaboration with master bassist and composer Charles Mingus.

Jihad Imroel-Quays Darwish & ESKA

It was hard to say whether the audience at the Brighton Dome were Joni Mitchell fans or Mingus fans or both. Basically, this was a gathering of people who had clearly grown up the the music of both and there was a genuine sense of anticipation in the hall.

It’s only a few months ago that I penned a piece on the NCO and their excellent interpretation of Duke Ellington’s ‘The Queen’s Suite’ so it feels a little bit weird to be here again so quickly. That said, I was intrigued that the NCO had opted to take on ‘Hejira’ and ‘Mingus’ as a source of inspiration for their nineteen-piece ensemble. It seems that that great minds think alike. Shortly after the Chaser Productions’ re-envisioning of John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’ I got together with my good friend Colm Carty to produce a similar event based on Joni’s ‘Hejira’. Sadly, it was not the right moment and it never came to pass so I was definitely curious to see where the NCO would take it.

On the the night, I have to say that combining compositions from ‘Mingus’ and ‘Hejira’ was inspired. They kicked off with an instrumental version of ‘Chair In The Sky’ paving the way for the ensemble to be joined by lead vocalist ESKA for the instantly recognisable ‘Coyote’. The wonderfully titled, Mingus composition, ‘Dry Cleaner From Des Moines’ followed. The original recording featured Jaco Pastorious and showcased Joni’s dazzling ability to write and sing within a big band, jazz arrangement. Eska rose majestically to the challenge.

Joni Mitchell & Charles Mingus

An instrumental rendition of ‘Blue Motel Room’ allowed the NCO to flex. Alongside the solid rhythm section – Eddie Hick on the drums – the ensemble boasted a string section and a five-piece horn section that included Denys Baptist on tenor and Rosie Turton on Trombone. Sarah Tandy featured on piano while the elegant conduction of Peter Edwards allowed to the music to rise and fall. As the ensemble delivered three more songs from ‘Hejira’ you could feel Eska relaxing into the nuances of Joni’s distinctive delivery ably supported by the three backing vocalists.

‘Pork Pie Hat’ is a Mingus classic and Joni’s lyric’s are rooted in the harsh realities of the jazz life and the darker times that Mingus illuminated in his book, ‘Beneath The Underdog’. There was tension in the NCO’s delivery. It’s a serious song. The bluesy ‘A Strange Boy’ was followed by the ‘Musings On Haitian Fight Song’ – a minor departure that dipped into a muscular bass and trombone led Mingus gem from the late 50’s. ‘The Wolf That Live On Lindsey’ remains a compelling, visual song that builds in intensity and was the perfect segue for the final song of the night – ‘Black Crow’.

The polite but enthusiastic audience deserved an encore and an uplifting ‘God Must Be A Boogie Man’ was the perfect end to the NCO’s ambitious and deftly crafted set. It’s a venture that’s had me revisiting both albums and also had me seriously reflecting on how we would have approached this music had our own re-imagining come to fruition. Definitely a challenge.

PB 29/11/22

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A World Without Worldwide FM

Posted on November 15, 2022 by Paul Brad

On Sunday October 30 the WWFM crew gathered at the Brownswood studio to celebrate the last six years before signing off at midnight leaving the station on hiatus until a new era beckons.

It took a few days to gather up the courage to listen back to my short, somewhat slurred, slightly inebriated contribution to the final WWFM broadcast. The studio was packed, there was a lot of love in the house for Straight No Chaser. but on reflection, beyond the humour of the moment, I can’t help but feel that going down in history as WWFM’s “drunken master” was, essentially, not a good look.

That said, I did have my jazz notes and a bass driven jazz tune courtesy of the Silt Trio at the ready. As a rule, it’s never good to dwell on past events so, moving on… in fact, what left this scribe most bereft was sitting down at my desk the morning after the party and having no WWFM to tune into… No Morning Mari and Shipping Forecast. No Balearic Breakfast. No Breakfast Club Coco. The silence was deafening and it immediately brought home to this listener both what I was missing and what had been achieved in that relatively short but turbulent six years.

My “jazz notes”….
GP under the watchful eye of the much missed Sean Rollins aka DJ Brownswood

Worldwide FM is the digital radio station pioneered by DJ, record producer and broadcaster Gilles Peterson. As I see it WWFM was GP’s legal pirate radio station – an extension through time of the pirate radio station that he had set up in his garden as a teenager. It’s always been a battle to get the music that we love onto the airwaves. As a long time associate and friend of Gilles we have consistently been fellow travellers in the struggle to enlighten people around the world to a host of brilliant but often underground artists…. players of instruments, singers, wordsmiths…. purveyors of the culture.

Back in the day we operated to the maxim -“Jazz is the teacher. Funk is the preacher” and in many respects that sentiment still underpins our musical world view. Music has a genuine function in our daily lives – it can make you happy or it can make you cry, it can make you move, it can educate, it can uplift you and transport you into another dimension. It can be mundane but it can be deeply spiritual and touch the soul….maybe that’s the root of my mission… the quest of going that bit deeper.

For a brief moment in time, in the early days of Jazz FM, I was regarded as a persona non grata at their studio for insisting that, as a “jazz” station, they needed to play Sun Ra in the daytime. That was weird! Around the same time , Gilles was sacked from Jazz FM for playing “Peace Jazz” … (‘Peace’ – Bobby McFerrin / Leon Thomas – ‘ The Creators Got a Masterplan’)… in response to the outbreak of the Gulf War. Basically, Jazz FM wanted the expertise and the audience that followed Gilles Peterson, Chris Phillips and Jez Nelson but as DJs/presenters they were still subject to the power of the gatekeepers and the money men who were afraid they would alienate their listeners by exploring the more challenging side of the music. In time honoured fashion anything vaguely radical was moved to the late night slots.

Gradually over the years there were slight shifts of consciousness but the arrival of digital radio provided the opportunity to break free of the gatekeepers and gave a station like WWFM an opportunity to unite a host of knowledgeable people across generations and across continents. The potential to elevate the curation to another level was thrilling.

Obviously WWFM was not alone. NTS pioneered the space and others followed. WWFM refined the musical curation of the station based on Gilles’ experience of travelling the world and playing alongside like-minded – seasoned or up ‘n’ coming – club DJs, musicians and producers. Like Straight No Chaser – the magazine – WWFM was actively focussed on building a community… a diverse, global, forward thinking, progressive community.

under t
The final WWFM session – Thristian BPM lets off!
Selectors Assemble: IG, Oliver Night, Alex Phounzi, Allysha Joy, Cengiz in the house!

There was breadth to the programming. In the early days there was Boko Boko’s Tash LC, Ezra’s Femi Koleoso, “ascending soulstress” Muva Of Earth, EZH’s Tina Edwards and Rome based afro futurist Khalab. WWFM LA with Jeremy Sol and Jimetta Rose was pioneered by Jonathan Rudnick and over time it led to Adrian Younge’s Artform crew with Marcus Moore, Nelson George, Moni Vargas et al,. The vision was in place. It expanded, shifted and morphed over the next few years to embrace regular offerings from Coco Maria, Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy, Mari Kimura, Erica McCoy, Emma Warren, Tom Skinner, Esa, Toshio Matsuura, Thristian BPM, Shuya Okino, Pete On The Corner, Louie Vega, Osunlade, Francois K, Luke Unabomber, Debra Richards, Leanne Wright, Alannah Henry, Papoul, Haseeb Iqbal, Leanne Wright, DJ Paulette, Lex Blondin, Ouska, Kassin, Tim Garcia, Charley Dark, Ceylan, IG Culture & Selectors Assemble, Channel One … the list goes on!

Centre: Coco Maria, Haseeb Iqbal, Mari Kimura
Mera Bhai of Flamingods & First Word’s Aly Gilani
WWFM.. some of the production posse!

Jazz may be the foundation of WWFM but as you can see from the list of presenters above all corners were covered. The music on WWFM reflected the evolution of contemporary club culture as it spread worldwide and the presenters were all ready and able to dig deeper. Along with DJ culture WWFM readily absorbed the live scene that evolved London around Total Refreshment, Church Of Sound, Jazz Refreshed and Steamdown. Apologies for being so London-centric but that was the case at that time but maybe the impact of WWFM has helped boost scenes in other cities like Leeds and Bristol, as well as globally. WWFM was able to generate a unified live musical front that embraced the diversity of Alabaster De Plume, Shabaka Hutchings & The Ancestors, Cassie Kinoshi’s Seed Ensemble, Rosie Turton, Emma-Jean Thakray, Yussef Dayes, Comet Is Coming, Kokoroko, Da Lata, Makaya McCraven, Ashley Henry, Ben Le Mar Gay, Greentea Peng, Jaime Branch, Jeff Parker, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Lonnie Holley, Ezra Collective, Secret Night Gang, Wildflower, Tenderlonious, Tori Handsley, Steve Williamson, Okumu, Herbert & Skinner and the New Regency Orchestra.

It was the ability of WWFM to blend the dynamic potential of the live scene with the club scene that makes the station unique and that perspective fed directly into the We Out Here Festival and the Worldwide Festival in Sete. In my opinion, the impact that WWFM has had in promoting a new generation of musicians onto the local and international music scene has been profound and ought to have been recognised by those who fund the arts in this country. Interestingly, a quick scan of the current line up of forthcoming Arts Council festivals like the prestigious London Jazz Festival reveals they have fully embraced the emergence of this new generation of artists and the fans who have followed their evolution. Though periods of recession have in the past led to a flowering of the culture, the nature of the digital world feels like smoke and mirrors. Though the digital stations have relied on covert financial sponsorship, keeping them free of invasive advertising, it seems like it was only a matter of time before the financial pressures kick in. We have all prayed for the emergence of a philanthropic institution or visionary with a ready supply of cash but sadly, a period of dark austerity looms and much of the music scene will undoubtedly be forced back underground. 

#SNC98 – Summer 2017 + #SNC100

Back in 2007 I was forced stop Straight No Chaser due to the impact of the internet on our advertising revenue. Shorty after that someone suggested I approach the fledging NTS re. a Straight No Chaser show. Basically you had to pay to do a show and I was told that I’d easily make make the money back from the DJ sessions I’d get. As I had no interest in being a DJ I decided to pass on the idea. Fortunately, WWFM came along around the time I’d decided to relaunch Chaser /#SNC98. I was offered a show and readily accepted.

For my part, I would say that putting together my monthly Straight No Chaser show was always a revelation. The content was always dictated by whatever was new or re-issued. Rarely did I fall back on my own archive. Discovering nu-skool US players like Irreversible Entanglements,  Damon Locks & The Black Monument Ensemble, ,Kamasi Washington, Jeff Parker, Angel Bat Dawid, Heroes Are Gang Leaders, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Tomeka Reid and Mazz Swift, James Brandon Lewis, Luke Stewart. Moor Mother, Chad Fowler…. that was a real buzz. Plus I was able to give serious props to elders like Wadada Leo Smith and Kahil El’Zabar who both continue to make amazing music. On a global tip there was Ife from Puerto Rico, who I first heard playing in an arch in Haggerston and there was David Idaduola. the final guest on my SNC show, who had no idea what WWFM was or what it represented but had created the ‘Lucumi Suite’ – an amazing fusion of Afrobeat and steel pan music. I give thanks that I was able to interview pioneering journalist and photographer Val Wilmer, reggaematical don and novelist Penny Reel before he passed away, Liverpudlian poet/author Malik Al Nasir, Black Top’s Orphy Robinson, award winning Trinidadian born poet Anthony Joseph and bring into the studio Trevor Herman and Dave Hucker to talk about the legendary Jumbo Vanrenen.

PB & Val Wilmer 14 / 02 / 18

WWFM – 25 / 01/ 17 : PB & Peter Simon aka Penny Reel RIP

Straight No Chaser’s by-line was “Interplanetary sounds:Ancient to Future” and that was the basis of the WWFM show. Never once was I asked to tone it down for those listeners who boldly logged in to savour one of those afternoon sessions or delved into it on catch up. It was what it was… mistakes ‘n’ all. It could be a little rough but it was live and direct. We could travel from Kingston JA to Cape Town to Helsinki to Accra to Recife to Chicago and back to London in a couple of hours. We could celebrate the elders and pay our respect to those who left us… Greg Tate, Pharoah Sanders, Jaime Branch… we lost too many.

Final session: Hugh Miller – Art Director Lockdown FM / L FM

I give thanks to GP, to all the presenters / DJs and to all the peeps who made the station run like clockwork. Six years flew by… with COVID in the middle. GP’s lockdown broadcasts provided me the opportunity to put my editorial skills to good use and work with Gilles and typographic don Hugh Miller on a book – Lockdown FM: Broadcasting in a Pandemic . It you are familiar with WWFM or not… you need this tome. It’s a 600 page hardback that goes directly to the heart of what defines WWFM and illuminates exactly why WWFM will be missed worldwide. Word has it there’s a few left in the WWFM shop, so don’t sleep on them.

Final day: Erica McCoy & Dante in the basement

OK, on a positive tip, Gilles is continuing with his Thursday morning jams… so who knows where that will take us! Also, the WWFM archive remains. There are hundreds of excellent shows to listen to. You can’t possibly have checked them all so, why not dive in, dream of the future and plot with your allies to create the next stage of the revolution. It might not be televised but it will undoubtedly be broadcast.

Final Tune: Laani let’s off!

PS: Also a positive tip: The final WWFM day raised £3000 for the Steve Reid foundation!! Respect is due to Ayian and the WW FAM!

https://worldwidefm.net/

#SNC Back issues – https://straightnochaser.bigcartel.com/

Words: Paul Bradshaw 15/11/22

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