Ebo Taylor
Cutting a pasting a comment I left over There
New (as in brand new music, not a reissue) Ebo Taylor from Strut.
You can get a free MP3 of the "Love and Death" track in return for email address here.
From the Strut website:
Strut link up with one of the true greats of Ghanaian music, Ebo Taylor, for his first ever internationally released studio album.
Following the wartime big band highlife pioneers like E.T. Mensah, Taylor became a major figure in Ghanaian highlife during the 1950s and 60s as highlife exploded. Cutting his teeth with leading big bands like Stargazers and Broadway Dance Band, Ebo Taylor quickly rose through the ranks and became a prolific composer and frontman. Taylor moved to London in 1962 to study. I had the Black Star Highlife Band sponsored by the Ghanaian High Commission, mainly comprising music students. We tried to incorporate jazz into highlife and progressed through talking and through jam sessions, trying to develop our skills and ideas.
Back in Ghana, Taylor became an in-house arranger and producer for labels like Essiebons, working with other leading Ghanaian stars including C.K. Mann and Pat Thomas. I was paid to write for them and we made some great records. People were trying new things I always loved C.K. Manns Funky Highlife. It was fresh. Through the mid-70s and into the 80s, Taylor then recorded a number of solo projects, exploring unique fusions and borrowing elements from traditional Ghanaian sounds, Felas Afrobeat, jazz, soul and funk. Tracks like Heaven now stand as among the best Ghanaian Afrobeat of the era.
Interest in Ebo Taylors music has grown in recent years with a series of Ghanaian compilations on Soundway Records and Analog Africa and an unexpected sample as Usher lifted a riff from Heaven for his hit with Ludacris, She Dont Know. A new Ebo Taylor album was a natural progression. For new album, I wanted to advance the cause of Afrobeat music. Fela started it and we shouldnt just abandon it. We should push it so it is a standard form of music. The result is a firing new set backed by Afrobeat Academy, a Berlin-based collective of international musicians. Tracks include new versions of Taylor classics Victory and Love And Death and a selection of new compositions including Kwame, celebrating Ghanas late, lamented leader Kwame Nkrumah.
New (as in brand new music, not a reissue) Ebo Taylor from Strut.
You can get a free MP3 of the "Love and Death" track in return for email address here.
From the Strut website:
Strut link up with one of the true greats of Ghanaian music, Ebo Taylor, for his first ever internationally released studio album.
Following the wartime big band highlife pioneers like E.T. Mensah, Taylor became a major figure in Ghanaian highlife during the 1950s and 60s as highlife exploded. Cutting his teeth with leading big bands like Stargazers and Broadway Dance Band, Ebo Taylor quickly rose through the ranks and became a prolific composer and frontman. Taylor moved to London in 1962 to study. I had the Black Star Highlife Band sponsored by the Ghanaian High Commission, mainly comprising music students. We tried to incorporate jazz into highlife and progressed through talking and through jam sessions, trying to develop our skills and ideas.
Back in Ghana, Taylor became an in-house arranger and producer for labels like Essiebons, working with other leading Ghanaian stars including C.K. Mann and Pat Thomas. I was paid to write for them and we made some great records. People were trying new things I always loved C.K. Manns Funky Highlife. It was fresh. Through the mid-70s and into the 80s, Taylor then recorded a number of solo projects, exploring unique fusions and borrowing elements from traditional Ghanaian sounds, Felas Afrobeat, jazz, soul and funk. Tracks like Heaven now stand as among the best Ghanaian Afrobeat of the era.
Interest in Ebo Taylors music has grown in recent years with a series of Ghanaian compilations on Soundway Records and Analog Africa and an unexpected sample as Usher lifted a riff from Heaven for his hit with Ludacris, She Dont Know. A new Ebo Taylor album was a natural progression. For new album, I wanted to advance the cause of Afrobeat music. Fela started it and we shouldnt just abandon it. We should push it so it is a standard form of music. The result is a firing new set backed by Afrobeat Academy, a Berlin-based collective of international musicians. Tracks include new versions of Taylor classics Victory and Love And Death and a selection of new compositions including Kwame, celebrating Ghanas late, lamented leader Kwame Nkrumah.
Comments
edit: *Whoops,* scratch that, the new album at eMusic is a re-release comp titled Life Stories: Highlife and Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980. Was trying to avoid dupe Ebo Taylor threads. Still looks awesome, esp at that price for 99 minutes of music.
will check. brb.