Recommend Me Some Good Afro Jazz Albums, Plz

yeah it's a good one

One of my favourite albums of the year.

it's Your Queen smdh

I like this recent reissue, Mulatu Astatke & His Ethiopian Quintet ‎– Afro-Latin Soul Vols 1 & 2---going back to '66, and a few tracks seem redundant or undercooked, but unmistakably he's already in bloom, playing vibes, keys, percussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCxFDt4xSXA

This is a brilliant album...

https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/product/yakhal-inkomo

if you dig Sons of Kemet, then the Shabaka and the Ancestors album from a couple of years ago is key.

One of the members of Shabaka and the Ancestors, keyboardist Nduduzo Makhathini, has several albums out as a leader. His music is spiritual Afro-jazz that kind of combines Coltrane circa '64 with Pharoah Sanders circa '71-'72; lots of modal grooves, some vocal ensembles, etc. They're hard to find as physical objects or even paid downloads, but they're all on Spotify (at least in the US).

someone should've recommended dizzy's Afro here cause it's fantastic

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Afro_%28album%29.jpg

haven't heard this whole thing, but the samples are nice:
https://yuseflateef.bandcamp.com/album/hikima-creativity

(maybe bc it's more afro-cuban than straight forward afro jazz?)

so many of the new london jazz ppl belong itt too

love the new theon cross album. and the new comet is coming. and the new ezra collective. and the new cykada.

Yeah, the new Ezra Collective has a cover of Fela's "Shakara" with Kokoroko on it - it's great.

2016's The Rough Guide To Ethiopian Jazz took a couple of spins, but soon became and remains one of my fave albums of this century. Subject for further study" Mongo Santamaria's Afro-Cuban Jazz, a familiar tag at the time, esp. late 50s-early 60s, when he was employing Chick Corea, and the live "Afro Blue" I heard again the other night on the radio seems a likely gateway for the nascent Allman Brothers Band, despite lack of guitars (also I think one of their early Florida-Alabama club circuit associates told me that). He seems pretty commercial, but a distinctive stylist ( "Afro Blue" was my gateway to Trane, via T.'s version). The back-and-forth of African, Latin, El Norte jazz and adjacent genres can have very varied results, but has always been engaging (oh yeah we haven't mentioned the Jazz Epistles here yet right)

Another fave: Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, of Dahomey, esp.Echos Hypnotiques, Vol. 2. although I haven't heard them all.
Seems like Denardo Coleman (or somebody else who should know) said somewhere that there is a lot (or some) more Ornette w Master Musicians of Jajouka than what we got on Dancing In Your Head. He's only on one track here, but whole thing looks appealing: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-road-to-jajouka-ornette-coleman-the-master-musicians-of-jajouka-howe-records-review-by-chris-may.php

Lots of good suggestions earlier in the thread. Two albums I love that I don't think have shown up yet are Makaya Ntshoko's "Makaya & the Tsotsis" (very much in the spiritual jazz vein) and, if you can find it, Pat Matshikiza and Kippie Moeketsi's "Tshona" (I think this would appeal to all fans of Abdullah Ibrahim or of South African jazz in general, but it's got a really unique sound to it).

If you like the Makaya Ntshoko album, he's also the drummer on Hugh Masekela's "Home Is Where the Music Is," better known than a lot of the stuff in this thread so far but definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWas-Aug5bo

more in fela vein but it's great

(not that fela isn't great obv just that i'm not 100% sure fela should be in this thread's remit but i wanted to share good music)

Since there's been lots of talk about Khan Jamal, worth mentioning the Sounds of Liberation record, too?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZw4XE7G4kM&t=1597s

i also want to heartily rec one of my favorite records, period, and that is The WELS Concert by Brotzmann/Gania/Drake... think it fits the parameters, but i remain somewhat of a dabbler in the jazz scene, so feel free to correct me.

anyway, this is the record that made me really "get" jazz of a certain type, and i still blast it all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaPnidEujwM

He was briefly mentioned by the late great upthread, but Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids' "An Angel Fell" from last year is highly recommended

This is one of my all time favorite albums: Pharoah Sanders and Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, Trance of the Seven Colors. North African Gnawa music with face-ripping free jazz sax on top.

https://billlaswell.bandcamp.com/album/the-trance-of-seven-colors

― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, July 27, 2017 2:37 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

recently got into this via a reissue by a german label that popped up on maybe the forced exposure e-letter or something similar.

love the record, which you can stream on youtube anyway, but this vinyl is dog shit

This is one of my all time favorite albums: Pharoah Sanders and Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, Trance of the Seven Colors. North African Gnawa music with face-ripping free jazz sax on top.

https://billlaswell.bandcamp.com/album/the-trance-of-seven-colors🕸

― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, July 27, 2017 2:37 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

recently got into this via a reissue by a german label that popped up on maybe the forced exposure e-letter or something similar.

love the record, which you can stream on youtube anyway, but this vinyl is dog shit

This is new to me and pretty great: Beaver Harris (Shepp's drummer, amongst others) with Grachan Moncur on trombone.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61xInX7T%2BZL._SX342_QL70_ML2_.jpg

Can't find the killer opening track on YouTube, but it is on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7KmCzaCqmRyZCvBUyZI11i?si=FmVNEWmiSb-EDwVipKaVRg

Shocked this was bumped but not to note how dope the new Shabaka and the ancestors album is

xp zehra sent me a replacement copy, which indeed sounds amazing. i’m not sure what the issue was with my copy. but yeah it sounds like they put a lot of effort into the mastering / pressing, everyone i know who has a copy loves it, i take back what i said

xp

it sounds quite angry and dope as fuck on my first listen. the London Jazz/Shabaka thread was bumped this morning!

Just got my copy of the Shabaka disc in the mail. They're supposed to play NYC on 3/30; no idea if it's still happening or not.

Shabaka/Ancestors album is great and I was going to see them at Big Ears in two weeks and now I'm even more bummed than before that that's not happening.

Shabaka record is really good, London jazz is one of my big listens atm.

There's a new Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids album coming in July or August; it's called Shaman! (punctuation in original). Good stuff as always.

I recently bought some South African jazz on Bandcamp. I particularly recommend two big band albums by Marcus Wyatt & the ZAR Jazz Orchestra - One Night in the Sun and Into Dust/Waltz for Jozi. They feature African instruments (a banjo-like thing in particular) mixed with big band, and a singer who switches back and forth between English and Xhosa.

https://zarjazzorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/marcus-wyatt-the-zar-jazz-orchestra-one-night-in-the-sun

https://zarjazzorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/marcus-wyatt-the-zar-jazz-orchestra-into-dust-waltz-for-jozi

pretty excited for that Ackamoor. I just picked up the "Music of Idris Ackamoor" comp on bandcamp today

so i found this a few days ago. some e-digging led me to this, which i ordered immediately. am presently awaiting its' arrival with much enthusiasm.

This morning, when I went to start the car, I had forgotten that the first seven or so minutes of Pharaoh Sanders' "Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt" had played in the car yesterday, and the iPod started in the middle of the track.

This meant that I really started cruising as the piano's melodic line comes in. The sun was shining. I turned it up way too loud and people on the street were staring at me, but one guy yelled, "PHARAOH! YES!" as I went by.

Bandcamp had this on their best reissues list. South African (lightly funky) jazz:
https://wearebusybodies.bandcamp.com/album/heshoo-beshoo-group-armitage-road

Really enjoying it

Ah, I just realized I already know one of these songs, "Emakhaya," from the Next Stop Soweto comp

ah i just saw the reissue lp in the shop the other day, but grabbed this other south african jazz reissue instead. maybe i'll go back and see if it's still there!

https://outernationalsounds.bandcamp.com/album/habiba

ah ah ah xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umH2fPYpk_8

That looks great, tlg, thanks! Gonna queue that up next.
I am definitely ordering this Heshoo Beshoo, I can't resist the thrill of paying in Canadian dollars

There's a new Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids album coming in July or August; it's called Shaman! (punctuation in original). Good stuff as always.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, June 19, 2020 9:28 AM (five months ago)

This was good! Ackamoor's trio of 21st-century albums is an extremely impressive late-career run, though I'd suggest newbies start with We Be All Africans

I've been listening to a South African saxophonist named Teaspoon Ndelu - mostly stuff from the 1970s and 80s. Nice jazz-funk with some disco elements. This album, from 1988, is solid, but the reissue (which is what you get here) also includes his first album, Magic Man, from 1973, and that's the good shit.

https://teaspoon-ndelu.bandcamp.com/album/new-horizons-1988

I found the song I will be listening to on my porch every night this summer. Unfortunately not on YouTube.
Thembe Mkhize, Emakhuzeni (stimela sase msawawa)

https://open.spotify.com/track/2kNlUZLurTIKoA7mT8fJ5q?si=lJSnz3v9SJyTsSR4a9sswQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Plxz3pC3ms

ty

man that's stunning, thanks for sharing

Yes, thanks!
Some notes from last year's Top 20:
Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela, Rejoice: some tracks a little too much like lesser or style-sound reliant variants of others? Maybe a couple, but overall groove and style-sound (what they do and how it's produced, lightning in a shapely bottle) hooks abound between the twin leads of flugelhorn (mellowness netted and pushed and pulled and slid through) the loping, splattering, slinking, stinking, whatever's right for drums, with bits of tenor sax, keys, vibes at times hang-fly (to steal an ancient Village Voice-quoted term of Steve Coleman's) Calm and tireless, enough space in there, none wasted.

Felt lousy all morning---then I heard this! Legendary vibraphonist and "Father of Ethio-jazz", Mulatu Astatke joins forces with Melbourne-based eight-piece Black Jesus Experience on their latest album To Know Without Knowing, an absorbing nine-track assembly of majestic Ethiopian melodies and hip-hop-infused jazz and funk grooves. Also: Latin, reggae extrapolations, 16-bar blues (as a bed for much else), instrumental inflections from at least five different countries of origin, cool but committed female voices, incisive rap, psychedelic guitar (one trip, but that's enough, for "Living On Stolen Land" (Ain't it graaand"): Its moody 6/8 vamp in D is a gateway, yes.) And they've got wedding song, a send-off to the afterlife, other serious fun---that flugelhorn omg:https://mulatuastatkeblackjesusexperience.bandcamp.com/album/to-know-without-knowing

Asher Gamedze, Dialectic Soul--->AG: "Fundamentally, it is about the reclamation of the historical imperative. It is about the dialect of the soul & the spirit while it moves through history. The soul is dialectic. Motion is imperative. We keep moving." For instance, in the opening "Emergence Suite," tenor sax and trumpet can seize on moments all they like or or must, while bass & drums are like,"Yeah, yeah, that's good, that's good, come on now, mind your head, good." Also perfectly supportive of, never submissive to horn comments and slender, strong singing in "Siyabulela." Then a witty, fabulistic stroll through enormity in "Interregnum," where "the hopscotch ended much as it began" along the way (Don't worry, that's almost all for the voices). "Eternality" is more work-out than bliss-out, but good between the couch potato headphones. "Hope In Azania" is adrenaline afterglow in second wind, not too hopeful, but reasonably so it seems; oh yeah Speculative Fourth" does eventually let a human sing along some more with the horns, for a little while, sorry anti-voxxers*. https://ashergamedze.bandcamp.com/album/dialectic-soul

*Some people on Rolling Jazz really aren't into vocals

Also, speaking what Tipsy Mothra said upthread, ouis Moholo and Dudu Pukwana are mentioned above, but the whole universe of music that came out of The Blue Notes and their coterie is amazing. The Blue Notes recordings themselves are basically mid-60s Afro bop, and they're great, but after they moved to England they all did so many different things: Brotherhood of Breath, Spear, Assagai, Harry Miller's Isipingo and the totally essential "Blue Notess for Mongezi." Just a remarkable constellation of players, exploring a wide range of stuff and bringing South African influences into all kinds of settings., this is a very intriguing roadmap:
How South Africa’s Blue Notes Helped Invent European Free Jazz
By Piotr Orlov · September 16, 2020
https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/blue-notes-south-african-jazz-guide?utm_source=footer

lol at "anti-voxxers"

had never heard of Tlokwe Sehume & Medu from South Africa but this kept popping up while i was listening to random Eddie Harris tracks on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPBh-2tE21o

I see Johnny Dyani was mentioned upthread but not this particular album (which was on a lot over the summer). Whole album is great but this track in particular is pure gold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ4DiS6Vc3Y