Brass bands have featured in World Beat many times over the years, most recently The Klezmer Brass Allstars created by Frank London (of The Klezmatics band).
Brass bands were an important conduit for the introduction of Western music to Asia. Here in Thailand, it was used not only for military marching and drills but also to advertise and accompany silent films in the early 20th century. It was in brass bands that Thai musicians learned to play Western tunes.
New Orleans' brass bands, as we all know, are one of the key elements in the development of jazz music, and my favourite of all the current brass bands in the "Big Easy", would have to be The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which I saw perform in Bangkok many years ago.
But there is another brass band that is pretty unique, The Gangbe Brass Band from Benin. This six-to-10-member ensemble has spent the past 30 years travelling the globe to thrill music fans with their all action blend of traditional Vodou music with US jazz and big band, Afrobeat and funk. The band's unusual instrumentation includes brass (trumpet, trombone, sax and sousaphone) and West African percussion.
I saw the band at their Asian debut at the then Miri Jazz Festival in Sarawak, Borneo, in the 2000s (now renamed the Borneo Jazz Festival, one of the longest running jazz festivals in Asia). They were spectacularly good.
The band has released a number of albums since their debut Gangbe in 1998. I really like Wendo from 2004 and the tracks they did with New York's wonderful blues outfit Hazmat Modine on the latter's 2011 Cicada album (lookout for the two bands' tribute to Afrobeat on the Fela track).
The band recently released From Ouidah To Another World on the Salt'N'Ginger music label.
Ouidah was one of the major hubs for transporting slaves from West and Central Africa to the Americas, and is the spiritual home of Vodou religion (the root of the word Voodoo).
Gangbe use the traditional rhythms of the religion in their music (with the blessing of spiritual leaders). The story of being enslaved and sent to "another world" is beautifully captured in the track Complainte Pour En Deporte; elsewhere, the standout tracks on an album full of great tunes are the funk and sax-driven Pani Pwoblem and the Afrobeat workout C'est Ma Vie.
The two collaborations on the album feature a beautiful gospel song, Ouidah Spritual with jazz guitarist Lionel Loueke, and the final storming track Aye, with Benin's most famous singer Angelique Kidjo. Highly recommended.
Saxophonist and composer Girma Woldemichael was one of the most loved saxophonists of the golden era of Ethio-Jazz from Ethiopia. Like his illustrious compatriots, the father of Ethio-Jazz Mulatu Astatke, and Hailu Mergia, he was a key player in the "Swinging Addis" era during the 60s and early 70s. He followed both stars overseas in 1991, moving to Canada and working as a taxi driver (which Mergia also did for many years).
His "dreamy" sax sound can be heard on many of the hits of that era from big singing stars like Mahmoud Ahmed.
From his base in Toronto, Girma has supported such Ethiopian stars as Aster Aweke and has released several albums, including his latest, Nagqote (My Longing) which as he explains in the liner notes features songs from his youth and songs "that trace life's milestones".
I really liked my first listen to this album, it is so calming and reflective. Highly recommended.
The South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand) has died at the age of 91. He was widely regarded as one of the great jazz pianists of the mid-21st century, especially known for his long-form jazz "concerto" Mannenburg which he recorded first in 1974 and which became an anti-apartheid anthem.
Born in Cape Town, he made his professional debut at 15 and was able to play local genres like marabi and mbaqanga; he was a key creator in the multicultural jazz sub-genre, Cape Jazz, and a member of the legendary Jazz Epistles (with trumpeter Hugh Masekela).
He later moved to New York and over the next decades performed on international stages with many jazz legends. He also performed solo, showcasing a style that blended his South African roots with his musical idols -- Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Fats Waller. He eventually returned to South Africa, and established the 18-piece big band, Cape Town Jazz Orchestra. RIP
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
