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The Bahia Band is a project that developed after visiting
Salvador (Bahia) Brazil several times during the recording
and mixing of the Speak in Tones “Subaro” project
(2003-2004). I fell in love with it’s people and it’s
music. I have now come to make it one of my homes. This
band is basically a continuation of what I’ve been
doing along with artists like Graham Haynes, Brice Wassy,
Cheick Tidiane Seck, Antoine Roney, Steve Coleman, Lonnie
Plaxico, Santi DiBriano, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Roy Hardgrove,
Wallace Roney, Leon Parker, Sam Newsome, Cassandra Wilson,
Gino Sitson, Elizabeth Kotomonou, Daniel Moreno and Jorge
Amorim for more than 10 years now, which is something I
like to call “World Jazz”. This is by no means
a new concept, groups and artists like Weather Report, Mwandishi,
Codona*, Hermeto Pascoal, Okay Temiz, Don Cherry, Ornette
Coleman, Wayne Shorter, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Barretto, Mongo
Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, Jerry Gonzalez, Jack DeJohnette,
the Miles Davis electric bands and many more have preceded
us and loom over us as huge influences and a continuous
source of inspiration; they were the true innovators. Everybody
talks about “World” music these days which can
mean anything from Siberian throat singing to Afro-Brazilian
music and everything in between; what it means to me is
universal musical folklore conciousness.
“Jazz” is a word which in my opinion fundamentally
means improvisation, and more specifically improvisation
stemming from the Afro-American tradition. There are of
course other great improvisational traditions, such as Flamenco,
and Indian music. I claim all of the above and much more
as my influences.
Every combination of influences leads to new aural textures
and flavors, and thus a seemingly limitless realm of “multi-kulti”**
possibilities opens up to us, allowing everyone an original
voice. “World Jazz” is not so much a tradition
in and of itself, but rather a genre that is defined by
the melding of an arbitrary diversity of musical traditions
with the world of improvisation.
Aestetically speaking percussion is an integral and equal
part of the music along with melody and harmony, and not
just ornamentation or background. There is of course a distinct
organic “Bahiano” flavor to this project due
to the 4 piece percussion section in addition to the drums
and the fact that all the musicians are from Salvador. I
have chosen to use 2 electric guitars as opposed to keyboards
on this project to emphasize once again the organic and
rhythmic aspects of the music.
Ensemble wise I would say that the horns are the icing on
the cake, punctuating the music with strong solo statements
and simple thematic material.
Thanks and praise go to multi-instrumentalist/composer Bira
Reis, who introduced me to all the musicians in town, and
who contributed greatly both musically and conceptually
to this project, and to Jorge Amorim who put his heart,
time and wonderfull compositional ability into the project;
Mou and Jorge Brasil’s on going encouragement have
been crucial to the band’s developement.
- Mike Ellis
*Codona stands for Colin Walcott, Don Cherry,
and Nana Vasconcelos
** An expression coined by Don Cherry
meaning multi-cultural.
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