THE HISTORY OF JAZZ IN NIGERIA

ORIGINS

The earliest form of Western Music introduced into Nigeria were

choral chants and hymnals introduced by Portuguese Missionaries

In the 15th and 16th century. This was followed by more conventional

Choral music

This was then followed by classical music introduced in the mid nineteenth

Century. At the same time Martial music, such as marching bands had been

Introduced by Colonial Forces. The latter was to have the greatest influence

Brass bands were introduced in consequence and local variations were

Introduced, the most popular being the Lagos Mozart Orchestra

AKA The Calabar Brass Band. These Combined Brass Band music with

indigenous languages.

THE SILENT BROWNE REVOLUTION

• Born in Lagos in 1895, he stowed away on a ship and travelled to Poland

In 1922, where he initially worked as a labourer.

• He soon found his way to Poland’s vibrant entertainment scene and

attached himself with a Jazz band in the city. Learning the drums and

later Joining a Jazz ensemble at the famous Ziemanska Club in Warsaw

• He was soon to become one of the most notable Jazz Musicians in the

city, eventually recording and releasing an album in 1928. This was the

first Jazz album ever to be recorded by a Nigerian

• He continued to play in various venues till the Second World War, when he

joined the Polish resistance Army, fighting till the very end of the war. He

was later recognised as a hero of the Polish resistance

• He moved to Britain in 1956, where he died in 1976.

THE ORIGINAL DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND

WHO RECORDED THE FIRST JAZZ ALBUM EVER IN 1917

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ

Eddie Lang Lennie JohnsonLouis Armstrong

FURTHER EXTERNAL INFLUENCE

WEST AFRICA LISTENED AND LEARNED….

BUT SPOKE IN ITS OWN LANGUAGE

Domingo Justus George Williams Aingo

Benny Goodman Glenn Miller

THE BIG BAND BOSSES

Duke Ellington Count Basie

• Two of the biggest influences on Big Band and Swing Jazz were Clarinettist Benny Goodman

And Trombonist Glen Miller, who actually played together as part of Ben Pollack’s Band and later,

the Allstars Orchestra, alongside other greats Bix Beiderbecke, Tommy Dorsey and Coleman Hawkins.

Miller wrote the classic Room 1411 with Goodman in 1928.Goodman performed at a sold out concert

in Carnegie Hall in 1938, which signalled the gentrification of Jazz music. Miller was to form a parallel

but similar path recording a number of classics, such as Tuxedo Junction, In the mood etc before his

death in 1944 in a plane crah

• On the parallel, Duke Ellington started his career in 1919, playing at small functions and slowly growing

His popularity till his signing on by New York’s Cotton Club, which signalled his trajectory into a global

Jazz legend performing all over the world with some of the world’s greatest and releasing several

renowned works Creole Love Call, Black and Tan, It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing to

name a few.

• Count Basie started his career in 1920 in New Jersey, playing with several bands before setting up his band

In 1935. He innovated with two Tenor Saxophonists, introduction of the Flute and recorded several classics

including Honeysuckle Rose, Cherokee, April in Paris etc

E.T MENSAH + GUY WARREN PIONEERS

OF BIG BAND AND AFRO-JAZZ

E.T MENSAH GUY WARREN

E.T Mensah launched his band in 1931 playing in the Accra Orchestra, starting with the

Piccollo and later playing the Trumpet, Piano, Alto and Tenor Saxophone. He joined the

Accra Rhythm Orchestra Band In 1946 playing Swing Jazz alongside British, American and

West Indian Soldiers

In 1946, Mensah, Guy Warren and others joined the Tempos was a full scale Swing Orchestra,

Experimenting with Afro-Cuban and Caribbean rhythms, Swing and African Rhythms- Highlife.

The Tempos which released a string of hits, once performing with Louis Armstrong during his

visit to Ghana in 1956.

The Tempos became the model of Big Bands all through West Africa, including Nigeria. This

Established the linkage between the Highlife and Swing Jazz.

NIGERIAN SWING JAZZ REVOLUTION

THE BOBBY BENSON JAM SESSION ORCHESTRA

• The return of expatriate Nigerian stars like as Bobby Benson, Tunde Amuwo, Bob

Edwards, Willy Payne, Soji Lijadu, among others from Europe. These pioneers

started out mimicking the big band sounds of Glen Miller and Benny Goodman.

The Guitar style of Charlie Christian and the Saxophone sounds of Coleman

Hawkins and Earl Bostic.

• They played a mixed bag that included calypso, Latin – American stuff, jive,

dance and ball room styles such as waltz, quickstep, tango, fox trot and even

highlife. However, to underscore the fascination they had for jazz, almost all these

early bands adopted jazz tunes for self identification:

• The Bobby Benson Jam Session had Benny Goodman’s standard, Soft Winds as its

signature tune while Tunde Amuwo adopted the Charlie Christian classic, Seven

Eleven

• REF: Benson Idonije Jazz Music in Nigeria

THE LEGENDS OF THE 1950’S

THE NBC ORCHESTRA

In the 1950’s, the Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Dance Orchestra, emerged as the

leading big band Orchestra in Nigeria.

• It was directed at various times by the legendary Musicologists- Fela Sowande and

Steve Rhodes and became the rallying point for serious Jazz musicians. Aside from

Jazz,the band played dance music of different types.

• It featured such individualists and soloists as trumpeters Mike Falana and E.C.

Arinze, Upright-Bassist Ayo Vaughan, tenor saxophonist Chris Ajilo, guitarist Stan

Plange Fela among others.

• Ajilo in particular was to record what became the first Afro-Beat Track – Ariwo. He

also

• Collaborated in a number of avant-garde compositions with Fela, notably “Ara

Ijesha gbe nu iya”

ELDER STEVE RHODES

1960’s THE RISE OF THE TITANS

THE FELA RANSOME-KUTI QUINTET

• The Fela Ransome - Kuti Quintet, was founded in 1963 by Fela Ransome-

Kuti). He has earlier recorded his debut album a year earlier.

• He had been encouraged to form a Jazz Quintet during an Interview on

the Radio Nigeria, weekly jazz programme (anchored by Benson

Idonije), upon his arrival from the UK in 1963.

• The quintet found him doubling on trumpet and piano, with Don

Amaechi on guitar; Emmanuel Ngomalio, on bass; John Bull, on drums

and Sid Moss on piano, with BENSON Idonije as Manager.

• The band played regularly on Monday nights at the iconic Cool Cats

Inn, Ebute Meta, a magnet for jazz enthusiasts. The band attracted guest

stars like trumpeter Zeal Onyia; saxophonist Taiwo Okupe; Steve

Rhodes; pianist Art Alade among others.

• Its fare consisted of covers of modern jazz standards, such as Charlie

Parker’s Billie’s Bounce, Miles Davies Bags groove, Gershwin’s But not for

me and Errol Garner’s Misty, which were identified with contemporary

times.

• The Quintet, which also recorded and performed as the Highlife Rakers,

later became the Koola Lobitoes in April 1965 and the Afrika 70 in 1970.

1960’s THE RISE OF THE TITANS

THE FELA RANSOME-KUTI QUINTET

1960’s THE RISE OF THE TITANS

THE JAZZ PREACHERS

The Afro-Jazz Quartet 1962

The other influential force in the spread of modern Jazz at the time was the Afro-Jazz

ensemble, formed in 1962, which later became the Jazz Preachers in 1964.

It’s personnel was a quartet initially including Zeal Onyia on trumpet; Bayo Martins on

drums, Chris Ajilo on tenor saxophone and Ayo Vaughan on bass. It later expanded into a

quintet, with the inclusion of pianist and singer Art Alade.

Benson Idonije describes the Preachers as a more mainstream jazz ensemble, with more

bias to Swing Jazz, playing standards like Ellington’s Perdido, C-Jam Blues etc

Mention must also be made of the quiet but consistent work of the scion of a great legacy,

Tony Benson, who could best be described as one of Nigeria’s finest Jazz Organists, with

His decterity on show at Caban Bamboo from the late 1960’s. His style was in the mould

Of the great Jimmy Smith and Benson often had Smith’s “The Cat” as his signature tune.

Tony Benson

SPECIAL TRIBUTE

MAUD MEYER

THE SECOND GENERATION OF NIGERIAN JAZZ EXPORTS

Ambrose Campbell

THE SECOND GENERATION OF NIGERIAN JAZZ EXPORTS

MIKE FALANA+ SAMMY DAVIS JR

Solomon Ilori

The first Nigerian to be signed by Blue Note Records

Bayo Martins + Art Blakey

THE SECOND GENERATION OF NIGERIAN JAZZ EXPORTS

Mary-Afi Usuah

THE SECOND GENERATION OF NIGERIAN JAZZ EXPORTS

FELA RANSOME-KUTI

THE SECOND GENERATION OF NIGERIAN JAZZ EXPORTS

MICHAEL OLATUNJI

JAZZ OUTSIDE LAGOS

THE NORTHERN SCENE

BALA MILLER AND THE PIRAMEEDS

• Bala Miller started his music career at the CMS Grammar School Lagos, where he

Was encouraged by Chief TOS Benson, also an old boy.

• He began his professional career by joining the Lagos Mozart Orchestra/Calabar

Brass Brand, where he learnt to play a variety of Instruments, including his favoured

Instrument, the Trumpet.

• After a career as a Manager with Nigeria Breweries as a Manager, he formed Northern

Nigeria’s foremost Big Band Orchestra, playing Swing Jazz, with one of his most popular

Signature tunes being Louis Armstrong’s version of ‘When the Saints go marching in’.

• The Pirameeds later became a huge cross-over phenomenon, performing a range of

Genre, from Swing Jazz, through Highlife to Afrobeat.

JAZZ OUTSIDE LAGOS

THE EASTERN SCENE

As in the North, Swing Jazz was the dominant form of Jazz prevalent in Eastern Nigeria in the

1950’s and 1960’s. Bands would play a combinationOf Swing Jazz and Highlife standards,

largely at a variety of events, ranging from Ballroom to Community Dances.

Some of the biggest players in the Eastern Big Band scene in this period included The great Chief

Bill Friday, Akunwata Stephen Amechi and E.C.Arinze, who trained a generation of stars who

Were to make their mark in years to come, such Stephen Osadebe, Rex Williams and many more

Wiliams in particular was to attract the attention of Louis Armstrong, during his visit to Nigeria, when

He marked the young man as having a bright musical future.

The standard fare of these bands were as said Swing Jazz classics by Benny Goodman, Glen Miller

And Louis Armstrong. However unlike Lagos, there was no immediate transition to Modern Jazz, in

Fact it may even be said that these bands merely performed Swing Jazz as add-on’s to their main

Repertoire- Highlife. However it may also be said that at the early stage of Big Band Highlife, the

Lines of difference between Jazz and Highlife were in many ways blurred.

SPECIAL MENTION

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE MEN OF THE FORCE

NIGERIAN POLICE BAND LED BY TOMMY OBEY

At the onset of this presentation, the contributions of the Army Brass Band’s to the

Nascent origins of Jazz was mentioned. This contribution was to continue through the

Evolution of Nigerian Jazz, through the efforts of the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police

Band’s (later the Nigerian Navy and Airforce from 1964 onwards).

These Band’s would characteristically provide entertainment at formal functions, especially

Ballroom Dances. The standard fare being cover versions of Swing Jazz hits, of the now

Ubiquitous Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glen Miller and others.

The Nigerian Police Band was however to gain greater fame, with its high quality personnel

Including the highly talented Saxophonist Tommy Obey and the better known Bernard

Odiase, who arranged the music to Nigeria’s fiorst National anthem.

THE 1970’S- 1980’S

The 1970’s and 1980’switnessed the emergence of a new generation of highly talented Nigerian

Jazz Instrumentalists, many of whom plied their trade in the diaspora. Prime examples

Of this category included Saxophonists Lasisi Amao and Peter King. Amao and King played

in some Of Europe’s finest Jazz venues and ensembles. King had been part of the African Messengers

alongside Bayo Martins and Mike Falana, who oured the UK in 1961. The key innovation of the period was

Experimentation by Nigerian Jazzists with the new phenomenon of Jazz Funk

Keyboardist Gboyega Adelaja after travelling to the USA for studies, launched himself into

The Jazz scene, grounded in the Piano from his days at the CMS Grammar School. He toured

And recorded with the great Hugh Masekela. His debut album titled Colourful environment was

One of the finest Jazz-Funk albums ever recorded in Nigeria.

Also in the USA, Percussionist Aleke Kanonu Performed as a super session man with a wide variety of top

acts. He however made a name For himself with hiseponymously named solo Jazz-Funk album,

featuring a young Wynton Marsalis and another joint album with Tolbert the Miracle Man.

In Nigeria the Jazz scene was relatively quiet in he 1970;s, Jazz revolution occurred with the opening

of three important Jazz venues in Lagos, the first being Fran and Tunde Kuboye’s Jazz 38, in Ikoyi, Lagos;

Veteran Pianist and impresario Art Alade’s Art’s Place, in Yaba. The last being Muyiwa Majekodunmi’s

Jazzville, also at Yaba

In the 1980’s Jazz 38 in particular became Nigeria’s most important Jazz venue, with

the standing band being the Extended Family Band, fronted by vocalist Fran

Kuboye,. Others being Tunde Kuboye on Bass and Emmanuel Ngomalio and Duro

Ikujenyo on Piano, at different times. Guests like Fela and Femi Anikulapo-Kuti

would grace the club periodically. Likewise the club became a favourite haunt of

visiting expatriate Jazz musicians.

Art’s Place featured Art Alade and his coterie of high quality Jazz veterans such as

his previous co-travellers, Bayo Martins, Wole Bucknor, Sunmi Smart-Cole, Sid Moss

and many others, performing a range of evergreen Jazz and Highlife standards.

Muyiwa Majekodunmi’s Jazzville on the other than catered for a younger more

bohemian audience. The standing band consisted of some excellent amateur and

Professional musicians, such as Eric Mann, Willie Bestmann, Ayo Bankole Jr, Tunde

Ajijedidun, Dele Sosimi, Femi Elias and many others. There were also notable guest

appearances from the aforementioned Fela and Femi Anikulapo-Kuti. The musical

Offerings ranged from Traditional to Avant-garde and Fusion, in short any and

everything was on offer in an iconoclastic environment.

One of the biggest International concert tours of the 1980’s was that by Bebop

legend Dizzy Gillespie, organised by the Jazz Club of Nigeria, headed by Alaba

Okupe. He toured Lagos and Port Harcourt, in fact receiving a Chieftaincy title the

Basheere of Iperu-Remo.

ALEKE KANONU

PETER KING GBOYEGA ADELAJA

TUNDE KUBOYEFRAN KUBOYE

1990- PRESENT JAZZ RENAISSANCE

The 1990’s saw a renaissance in Jazz music awareness, spurred by the growth of a

Number of live Music venues, providing receptive hubs for Jazz music fans. This in

Turn provided for a for serious Jazz Musicians to ply their trade and earn a living. The result being

That Jazz increased its mass appeal. Some of these clubs being the aforementioned, Jazz 38,

Run by the Kuboye’s, Muyiwa Majekodunmi’s Jazzville, Jazz et al, featuring Bisade Ologunde

Pinto’s, owned by Funmi and late Segun Onabolu, which played host to an excellent array of soon

To be Superstars like Kayode Olajide, Biodun Batik, Agboola Shadare , Mike Aremu etc Ibadan’s Segi

And Benin’s Prest Club also provided vibrant venues for Jazz expression at the time.

A new generation of excellent musicians emerged in this wave, aside from those mentioned, others such

As Funsho Ogundipe and Laitan Adeniji emerged with varied genre influences, ranging from Smooth

To Afro-Jazz. The 90’s also saw the emergence of the Gospel Jazz phenomenon, with acts like Kunle

Ajayi, Mike Aremu, Kunle Odutayo, Bright Gain and more. The 90’s also saw the emergence of older

Veterans who now gained prominence, such as Greek-Nigerian Jazz Guitarist, Sotirios Papadopoulos,

Fronting the band Spice, Afro-beat super sideman, Duro Ikujenyo and Jazz Express (later Excite Band)

featuring of ex-Steve Rhodes Voices sidemen Willie Bestmann and Nik Abel. Also female vocal power

Was on display with the likes of powerhouse talents- Yinka Davies, Ayinke Martins, Maya, Thelma

Okorie and more.

There were featured events hosted by a number of organisations, such as Alliance Francaise, The Goethe

Institut and British Council, which featured both foreign and local artistes either individually or on the

Same stage.

Femi Kuti, Biodun Batik Sotirios Papadopoulos and Excite

FELA and Dede Mabiaku at Jazzville

The new millennium saw the continued upward mobility of the Nigerian Jazz

renaissance with a tradition of musicianship established. A new culture of

Formal musical training had arisen in the previous decade and grew

exponentially with growth in the number of institutions, notably the Muson

School and Peter King school’s of Music amongst other, which provided

Training modules in Jazz Music, alongside the formal training available in

Tertiary institutions

The new generation of performers include Saxophonist Yemi Sax, Drummer

Daniel Isele, singer Diana Bada and many more emerged. Confidently

asserting their artistic originality and skills to a generally receptive audience.

A new generation of large Jazz Concerts emerged, such as the Lagos

International Jazz Festival, run by Ayo Shadare’s Inspiro, The Lagos Jazz Series

Concert, run by Oti Bazunu, the Bayelsa and Calabar Jazz Festibvals and

Gospel Jazz Festivals, which all attracted a powerful array of International and

local stars

The Diasporan Dominators

Femi Temowo

He learnt his craft in Church in the UK, studied Music and has worked with some of

The world’s finest, such as Amy Winehouse, George Benson, Soweto Kinch, Courtney Pine

Andrea Bocelli etc. Released his debut album “Orin meta” in 2011.

DELE SOSIMIEarly tutelage under Fela, and later played with Femi Kuti. He moved to

The UK and founded his Afrobeat Orcestra, performing Afrobeat and Jazz. Performed

At such venues as the Jazz Café, WOMAD, Royal Albert Hall, Joe Zawinul;s Birdland,

Montreux Jazz Festival and many more.

Lekan BabalolaPercussionist, who started out with Fela and expanded His trajectory, eventually performing

with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers Ernest Ranglin, Branford Marsalis, Roy Ayers, Damon Albarn,

Tony Allen. He won two Grammy awards, for work on Ali Farka Toure and Cassandra Wilson’s

Album’s in 2006 and 2009

Michael Olatuja

Bassist, born in the UK to Nigerian parents, he studied music and became

A popular session man, working with Stevie Wonder, Terence Blanchard, Chaka Khan

andThe Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, amongst many others. He however performs solo

as a Jazz Musician alongside his wife Alicia Olatuja

Tunde JegedeBorn in the UK to a Nigerian artiste father, he learnt the Kora under the tutelage of one

Of the world’s greatest Kora Masters. He studied Music at the Purcell and Guildhall Schools

Specialising in the Cello. As part of his quest for discovery of his African Classical Music roots,

He delved into improvisational Jazz, founding the Jazz Griots and experimenting deeply into

The linkages between both spaces. His art straddles two complex and formal worlds of music

And he has worked with some of the world’s finest in both fields. Currently Creative Director at

MUSON.

FIN