African Jazz

Art Blakey recognized the jazz potential of such master African drummers as Guy Warren and Chief Bey. While his early explorations of African rhythms and chants with Sabu Martinez are phenomenal, The African Beat (with Chief Bey, Montego Joe, Yusef Lateef, and others) is the first major, full-length marriage of African drumming and jazz. The standout is "Love, the Mystery of," a cover of Warren's tune from Themes for African Drums (covered also but without attribution by Olatunji).

A BBC disc jockey, Warren arrived from Ghana in 1955 to play with Charlie Parker. His ground-breaking tenure at New York City's African Room, which led Blakey to infuse jazz with African drums, is reflected in the great Africa Speaks -- America Answers! and Themes for African Drums LPs. Like Thurston Knudson, Warren labored to bring African drums to other continents. He was the first major artist to combine jazz with Africa's exotic themes, rhythms, and instruments, particularly the talking drum. And he was part of jazz modernist Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists, which were considered England's only worthy Latin group. Late Warren efforts include a high-life album and an appearance with Fela and Ginger Baker.

At the end of the 1960s and in the early 1970s, African jazz flourished as part of a general fascination with "all things African" among jazz and funk musicians. Cross-cultural trips by James Brown, Fela, and Mohammed Ali affirmed broad new international ties resulting from civil-rights developments, the influence of the Nation of Islam, and African-heritage productions in theater, film, and television. Dashikis replaced suits and skinny ties. If there is one entirely trend-resistant notion in jazz, however, it is that rhythm dervied from Africa makes it swing ("and if it ain't got that swing...").