New collaboration with Kologbo (Fela's Afrika 70) & Pat Thomas
A while back in Paris one thing led to another and I found myself in the studio with my elder and old friend Oghene Kologbo, guitarist of Fela Anikulapo Kuti's Afrika 70 band and performer on so many of the classic recordings.
Kologbo's solo album "Africa is the Future" is finally out via the ParisDJs label. They've just revealed the fourth track from the album "You No Lie" featuring Ghanaian funk/highlife legend Pat Thomas and me on flute.
Preview/preorder/support the album below:
Misc Projects and Collaborations Summer 2017
Besides Antibalas stuff I have been doing a lot of writing and recording for the next Ocote Soul Sounds album.
In June I went to perform at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee with Angelique Kidjo's Remain in Light project. It was hot, muggy, and intense. U2's bassist Adam Clayton was there on the side of the stage digging the show. This was a big nerd moment for me as the first concert I attended was the U2 Joshua Tree Tour at JFK Stadium, Philly in 1987. (That's Adam of U2 front left, Angélique Kidjo center stage and me on the far right with the big saxophone).
Last week I was at Studio G in Brooklyn with Lyrics Born, the Antibalas horns, and Grammy nominated producer Joel Hamilton recording a Lyrics Born's "Don't Change," for a special livestreamed session using the amazing gear that Universal Audio makes. You can watch the whole session below:
A few weeks before that I was at Good Child Studios in Brooklyn working with producer Lawson White and Balún, an amazing electro-acoustic band from Puerto Rico. They wrote a beautiful song that featured the Antibalas horns.
When I'm not driving or sitting in a van on the highway, I have been doing lots of vegetable gardening--tomatos, kale, peppers, salad greens, eggplant, herbs, flowers, apples) (pics forthcoming) and building out my studio on the side of a mountain in Appalachian Pennsylvania.
New Antibalas Album out 9/15 on Daptone - PREORDER & Tour Dates
Antibalas announces release of 6th studio album, 2017-2018 tour dates.
That's right. We've made another album, our sixth full-length record in 19 (!) years.
This one is called "Where the Gods Are In Peace." Daptone will be releasing it 9/15/2017. Click HERE or on the cover image below to pre-order the album.
We'll be on tour in the fall throughout the US and beyond. Confirmed tour dates below:
5/5 Carnegie Hall with Angelique Kidjo: Remain in Light
I'm honored to play at Carnegie Hall for the sixth time in my career, this Friday with Angelique Kidjo, her band, and the Antibalas horns, doing a radical reinterpretation of the classic Talking Heads "Remain In Light" album.
I will be playing flute and baritone saxophone and did a lot of the writing/arranging of the horn parts that you'll hear onstage and on the album of the same name.
Tickets: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2017/5/5/0800/PM/Angelique-Kidjo-and-Friends/
5/4/2017: World Premiere of Garden of the Peaceful Dragon @ Harlem Intl. Film Fest
"Garden of the Peaceful Dragon" (dir. Daniel Peddle, prod/editing Karim Lopez) premieres at the Harlem International Film Festival in Harlem, NYC on May 4. I did some original music for the film and contributed some recordings by Ocote Soul Sounds. I can't say enough about the magic and the spirit of this film...the protagonist is one of a kind.
Tickets: http://afro-punksci-ficinema.brownpapertickets.com/
Description, from the Harlem Intl. Film Fest site:
"Opening Night, Thursday, May 4, marks the debut of Daniel Peddle’s GARDEN OF THE PEACEFUL DRAGON, which profiles Burley Luvell Benford III, an elderly African-American veteran who occupies an abandoned piece of government property by the beach in Kauai, Hawaii. After being discharged from the Marines, Benford became one of the first employees of IBM and neighbor to Timothy Leary.
A single acid trip changed his life over-night. Ditching his “suit,” he moved to San Francisco where he fell in with the Beat Poets and witnessed the birth of The Grateful Dead. Legendary music promoter Bill Graham hired him to be a bodyguard for his artists and he spent the better part of a decade jet-setting and hobnobbing with stars.
Looking for another dramatic change of lifestyle, he repaired a schooner and sailed it all the way to Hawaii. Three divorces and four children later, we find Luvell homeless, living out of his pick-up truck on the beach. A man whose incredible life story may have been lost to time is vividly rediscovered in this final chapter of his life.
Preceding the screening of GARDEN OF THE PEACEFUL DRAGON will be the U.S. Premiere of Anneta Lauffer’s short film, AFRO PUNK GIRL, and Eileen Byrne’s short film IRIDESCENCE.
Thursday, May 4
7:30 PM (doors open at 7pm)
Kids Against Malaria: Winner of Pulitzer/CUGH Global Health Advocacy Video Award
I am proud to announce a song/video I collaborated last year on was co-winner of the Global Health Advocacy award from the Pulitzer Center/ Consortium of Universities for Global Health.
Collaborators include:
- Unicef / US State Department / Peace Corps
- CIAMO (Center for Music and Art-Ouidah), music director Sim de Souza and CIAMO
- Filmmakers Jon Fine, Sarah DuPont
- Musicians from Antibalas
- Dah Kidjo
- Logozo (Beninese rapper)
- Angelique Kidjo
- Gangbe Brass Band
Here's the video (English / Fongbe) : (Version Français / Fongbe LINK)
Here's the behind the scenes / making of:
Aretha Carnegie Hall Show Photos / Video
I was blessed with the role of musical director (and flutist/baritone saxophonist) for this show at Carnegie Hall last Monday, putting together charts and arrangements for Antibalas, the ace house band for 18 of the 22 songs performed onstage that evening, among them:
- Living Colour "Rock Steady"
- Kenny Loggins "Until you come back to me"
- Melissa Etheridge "I Never Loved a Man"
- Ceelo Green "The Night Time is the Right Time"
- Taj Mahal and Deva Mahal "Chain of Fools"
- Ledisi "Daydreaming"
- Ruthie Foster "Natural Woman"
- Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) "Don't Play That Song"
- Don Bryant (Hi Records songwriter/singer) "Drown in My Own Tears"
- Bettye Lavette "Ain't No Way
- G-Love "Think"
- Todd Rundgren "Since You've Been Gone"
- Sarah Dash (of Labelle) "Dr. Feelgood"
- Naomi Shelton "A Change is Gonna Come"
- Little Kids Rock "Respect"
- Rodney Crowell "The Weight"
- Antibalas "Who's Zoomin' Who"
- Full ensemble with Living Colour: "Respect" (Reprise
Here are some of photos collected from the roving eyes of the Internet.
Antibalas with vocalist Courtney Trice at City Winery NYC 3-7-2017 / Music of Aretha Franklin Afterparty
New Music / Collaboration // "Gracias" by La Banda Bastön
New collaboration with La Banda Bastön (Mexico) and members of Antibalas (NYC) for their latest album "Luces Fantasmas"
This past spring, Antibalas performed at the Bahidora Festival in Morelos, Mexico. The festival was beautiful and amazing, and we made a lot of new friends, including La Banda Bastön, a hip hop group from Mexico City. A few of us stuck around to DJ/perform at a party in Cholula and then we spent some time at the Bastön studios in Mexico City, working on their new record.
The result: the song "Gracias," from their brand new album "Luces Fantasmas."
Check it here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/luces-fantasmas/id1207376131
Nov. 1 "Words Without Borders" Event in NYC
Words Without Borders translates literature and writing from all around the world. They're doing a party/fundraiser to continue their noble efforts in New York City on November 1 at Three Sixty, 10 Desbrosses St. NY NY at 8:30PM. Click on the image above for the event's Facebook link.
I'll be spinning records-- all vinyl -- lots of new, wild wonderful stuff from all of my excursions.
Please come, dance, and support.
TICKETS / INFO: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-wwb-globe-trot-tickets-27776880397