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Olu Dara

Olu Dara is a multi-talented entertainer who has been performing since he was eight years old. Born (1941) in Natchez, Miss, Olu landed in New York in 1963 after a stint in the US Navy which took him all over the world.

"Stranded in Brooklyn" (as Olu sings in his tune, Neighborhoods), Olu turned to music to survive. During the 1970s and '80s, he gained a reputation as a trumpet/cornet player who could handle all aspects of jazz. On the one hand he could perform with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1973- 74), but he could also handle the demands of the free- flowing avant-garde style which formed the basis of the New York Loft scene of that period. But jazz was not the only musical style he was involved with, and gradually he turned away from it as increasingly he began to lead his own ensembles.

In the 1980s Olu put together two ensembles: Okra Orchestra, a 7-plus-member band, and the Natchezsippi Dance Band, a 5-piece unit.

Since then this has been Olu's preferred musical environment for creating the roots-based musical style that the audience now hears. In Olu's current repertoire, you will find a true fusion based on the Blues, but containing elements of African, Caribbean, R'n'B, and yes, even Jazz (but he won't admit to that) musical styles. In performance he plays the trumpet (pocket trumpet, and a wooden aboriginal instrument that he picked up on his travels), the guitar, harmonica, sings, and tells stories. Think of him as a modern equivalent of the itinerant traveling musician/historian of years past. As he puts it," I sing about women, food, and life in general".

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Extended Analysis

The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony

Read "The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


Che trionfo per Julius Hemphill! A dispetto delle poche pagine--o righe--che le recenti storie del jazz dedicano al maestro di Fort Worth, Hemphill emerge da questo cofanetto di inediti come sassofonista-improvvisatore-compositore tra i più profondi della musica afroamericana nei decenni compresi tra gli anni '70 e '90. E questa preziosa edizione non solo torna a far luce su repertori e organici già conosciuti dai cultori, ma porta in superficie una gran mole di musica fresca, sorprendente, che ...

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Album Review

Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony

Read "The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony" reviewed by Mark Corroto


There is something inherently objectionable when a billionaire acquires an artistic masterpiece by say, Leonardo DaVinci or Claude Monet, only to sequester it from public view. You might feel the same about Julius Hemphill's recordings Dogon A.D. (Mbari, 1972) and 'Coon Bid'ness (Arista/Freedom, 1975). Both five star recordings, now out of print, cost a small fortune to acquire. Years ago saxophonist Tim Berne, a disciple of Hemphill, endeavored to rescue the saxophonist's Blue Boyé (Mbari, 1977) by rereleasing it in ...

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Event

Harlem Is... Music - The Spirit of Community Honoring Jazz Icon Olu Dara

Harlem Is... Music - The Spirit of Community Honoring Jazz Icon Olu Dara

Source: All About Jazz

New York, NY (February 2008) - On Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 7 pm, Community Works, a leading city-wide non-profit arts organization, will present a special invitation-only gala inaugurating the newest exhibition of its harlem is...MUSIC series. Entitled The Spirit of Community, this newest display of Harlem musical excellence honors jazz icon Olu Dara, along with the late master jazz percussionist Max Roach, and the legendary Harlem nightclubs The Cotton Club, Lenox Lounge, Minton's Playhouse, St. Nick's Pub and Showman's. ...

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Recording

Harlem Experiment Featuring Olu Dara, Don Byron, Taj Mahal, James Hunter & More

Harlem Experiment Featuring Olu Dara, Don Byron, Taj Mahal, James Hunter & More

Source: Calabro Music

Brooklyn, NY - It started in 2001 with a simple premise from the groundbreaking indie record label Ropeadope: take acclaimed musicians from a shared hometown, but with vastly different musical backgrounds, put them together in a recording studio and have them create spontaneous art inspired by that city's musical lineage. From this humble thought came Philadelphia Experiment and, hot on its heels, the underground classic Detroit Experiment. Now after four years of deliberation, Ropeadope has broken out its lab coats ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz Museum Announces Back-to-Back Dates Olu Dara June 8 + Gene Bertoncini, Guitar, at RMA June 9

Jazz Museum Announces Back-to-Back Dates Olu Dara June 8 + Gene Bertoncini, Guitar, at RMA June 9

Source: All About Jazz

The Jazz Museum in Harlem 104 East 126th Street New York, NY 10035 212 348-8300 http://www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org/

Jazz Museum Announces Back-to-Back Dates

June 8, 2006 Olu Dara discussion for Harlem Speaks

June 9, 2006 Gene Bertoncini, Guitar, at RMA

Join the Jazz Museum in Harlem on Thursday, June 8, 2006 for a free interview uptown, and then come to the Rubin Museum of Art (RMA) in Chelsea on Friday, ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Boyé...

New World Records
2021

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Herbman (DJ Logic...

Atlantic Records
2001

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Neighborhoods

Atlantic Records
2001

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Videos

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