Lee Morgan's Afreaka is characteristic of his pop-oriented 1960s compositions. Like boogaloo music, Afreaka, Cornbread, Sidewinder and several other compositions of Morgan were bluesy and had Latin-influenced rhythms. Of course the widespread success of The Sidewinder among R&B aficionados (that is, mostly African-Americans) made Lee Morgan quite popular for the soul-jazz and funk-oriented style. Blue Note Records pressured Morgan to keep releasing songs like The Sidewinder in a vain attempt to capitalize on records sales again, but the formula failed. Morgan's post-Sidewinder songs were just that: deliberate commercial attempts to reach the R&B market. Of course Lee Morgan released records that weren't just obvious attempts at commercial success but representations of the pursuit of art for art's sake. Afreaka is sort of a funky soul-jazz number with Latin-influenced percussion.
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers' 'The Egyptian' is another Africa-inspired piece, featuring the legendary tenor saxman John Gilmore, mostly known for his work in Sun Ra's Arkestra. This piece is an interesting song that doesn't sound very Egyptian, but has dark themes and at times sounds Latin. The exchanges between the horns and Gilmore's solo often reminds me of animal-like voices, such as elephants. After the following live rendition, listen to the studio recording below it. John Gilmore's tenor sax on the live rendition really highlights his skills as a player and the influence of John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Eric Dolphy on Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. This song is leaning toward the avant-garde modal jazz movements...although Lee Morgan's playing seems more rooted in hard bop than it should be for this composition. Of course Blakey's drumming is amazing.
Duke Ellington's "Fleurette Africaine" featuring Max Roach and Charles Mingus is the highlight of his Money Jungle LP. A dark, brooding piece, I can only visualize a single flower deep in the heart of an African rainforest. Duke's piano playing is brilliant and Mingus's floating bassline is a constant delight. This song is hauntingly beautiful.
Fat's Waller's African Ripples is an old favorite. A great example of his proficiency in the stride school of piano and although it doesn't sound exactly "African," it's an interesting example of a complex song. The tempo changes and the song shifts in mood from light to dark, and bluesy elements are prevalent.
Max Roach's Tears for Johannesburg is an obvious tribute to those South Africans who lost their lives for resisting apartheid. The congas, Roach's drumming, the ostinato bassline, and Julian Priester's trombone (Priester had played with Sun Ra, who composed several songs dedicated to Africa or influenced by African music) capture feelings of melancholy.
K'Naan's 'The African Way' is an intersting example of a hip-hop beat built solely on African percussion. He also raps with a Kenyan rapper, an expression of Pan-African solidarity (at least that's what I think).
Alice Coltrane's 'Ptah the El Daoud' is an interesting mix of Eastern and African influences. Like her husband, John Coltrane, she was profoundly influenced by the spirituality and musical scales associated with Eastern and African cultures. Ptah, a god from Egyptian mythology, sounds like an ancient Egyptian chant. Her other composition on the same album, 'Blue Nile,' features her harp playing and is an obvious reference to the Blue Nile, which flows from Ethiopia to the Sudan, where it joins the White Nile before flowing north to the Egyptian Nile Valley.
Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia" is an obvious homage to Africa, or specifically, the North African nation of Tunisia (which, was the "Africa" to the Romans and Arabs, hence the Arabic name for Tunisia, Ifriqiya, or Africa). I really like Art Blakey's versions of the song in addition to Bud Powell's.
Art Blakey's album, The African Beat, is a collection of recordings inspired by African folk music. They Mystery of Love features Yusef Lateef playing in a North African-inspired way alongside hard African rhythms from Blakey and African percussionists. Ayiko, Ayiko is another song from the album worth listening to as well.
Horace Silver's African Queen is a tribute to his father's Cape Verdean origins. Strong drumming.
Nas and Damian Marley's Africa Must Wake Up is a stirring tribute to the African past and the necessity for immediate change in the horrible living conditions for the current peoples of the African continent and Diaspora. Nice drumming and guitar playing.
Pharaoh Sanders' Upper and Lower Egypt' begins as a dark, free jazz song before turning into something quite different in the second half. For some reason I really like this song despite how terrifying the first half is, which sounds like someone breaking into a pharaoh's tomb and fleeing before the dead arise. The second half, Lower Egypt, has a repetitive theme and what sounds like a marimba to me, very African.
Bob Marley's 400 Years is written in honor of the past centuries of slave trading and slavery that resulted in the creation of the African Diaspora. Marley relates the terrible past to the still-terrible present for people of African descent. It's a call for militancy to improve our lives and become truly free.
John Coltrane's "Africa" is an epic tribute to the African continent. Inspired by his research in African music as well as other non-Western music traditions, Coltrane assembles a big band to accompany his quartet for his song. The haunting dual basses and the plethora of horns capture the majesty of the African continent.
Coltrane's saxophone is a call to freedom and through Eric Dolphy's arrangements for the larger orchestra, creates something one must experience. Despite the length of the song, every minute is worth it. This is where A Love Supreme began. Where My Favorite Things started. Epic, noble, extended recordings that mix African and Eastern spirituality and music to forge something quite different. Sheets of sound. Elvin Jones' drum solo is also a treat. Coltrane's Afro Blue and Tunji (referring to Coltrane's friend, Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji) also represent tributes to Africa, his spiritual, cultural, and biological homeland.
Mongo Santamaria's Afro Blue can't be excluded here either. Drawing on Afro-Cuban religious rhythms and instrumentation, this beautiful song praises the African heritage of Cuba.
Karl Hector and the Malcoun's Sahara Swing is another interesting example of mixing African and African-American music. Drawing on American funk and African Afrobeat and folk music, Sahara Swing is both a fascinating song and album
Ali Hassan Kuban is a famous Nubian singer. Just had to include an example of his music. Very upbeat example of contemporary Nubian music.
Jingo Lo Ba, a song by Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, is usually associated with Carlos Santana's cover version. I prefer the more authentic Olatunji version which is entirely drums and chants.
Big Daddy Kane's Word to the Mother (Land) is quite Afrocentric and needs no further explanation upon hearing the lyrics. Young, Gifted and Black is another no-brainer. The title refers to Nina Simone's Civil Rights-era anthem for black youth.
Gil Scott-Heron's anti-apartheid song, Johannesburg, is one of my favorites. Rivers from My Fathers is a jazzy tribute to our forefathers and Langston Hughes poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. The Nile, Niger, Congo, Senegal, Zambezi and various other rivers that have supported life in the African continent.
The Heliocentrics and Mulatu Astatke have composed and collaborated on music dedicated to Ethiopia and Africa. The song, Blue Nile, is one obvious example. Not as funky as one would expect for an avant-garde funk band, The Heliocentrics. Anglo Ethio Suite is more jazzy and exotic, fusing Jazz and Ethopian music in a fully jazzy manner.
Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man from his critically-acclaimed Headhunters album features in the introduction, a member of the band blowing onto a bottle. This was meant to emulate a similar practice among some African ethnic group. Thus, the beginning of the song sounds interesting and quite distinct from most jazz and funk music.
The J.B.'s Blessed Blackness is more about African-American racial pride, like Brown's Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud). A very jazzy number dedicated to racial pride, it's still inspired by African-American transnational nationalism and solidarity with the rest of the African diaspora.
Drummer Joe Chambers has two songs dedicated to Africa, The Almoravid and Gazelle Suite.
John Coltrane's Dakar refers to the capitol of the West African nation of Senegal. Rhythms are quite Latin-infused. The bluesy Dahomey Dance also refers to West Africa, this time the ancient kingdom of Dahomey.
Julius Hemphill's avant-garde acoustic funk number, Dogon A.D. refers to the Malian ethnic group, Dogon.
K'naan's Hoobale is sung in Somali and features the oud, an ancient Middle Eastern instrument.
Blues for the Horn obviously refers to the Horn of Africa and Somalia, his homeland.
Kanye West's Diamonds from Sierra Leone really isn't about Africa. He raps the contradictory message that he'll keep on buying blood diamonds even though he knows they fuel conflicts within Sierra Leone and other African nations. Still, it spread the message of the horrors of the diamond industry.
K'naan's Somalia
K'naan's Fire in Freetown refers to Sierra Leone
Lee Morgan's Mr. Kenyatta is a tribute to the anti-colonial freedom fighter of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta.
Louis Armstrong's King of the Zulus is sort of a racist song that earned a lot of criticism from the black community. This is part of the reason later generations of African-Americans began to see Louis Armstrong as an Uncle Tom who would do anything to entertain whites...
McCoy Tyner's epic Sahara is also worth checking out.
Michael Jackson's Liberian Girl
Michael Jackson's Remember the Time stands out for its portrayal of black Egypt in the music video
Miles Davis Pharaoh's Dance
Nas's One Love for the sample of an mbira
Heath Brothers who werei sampled for the mbira and bassline by Q-Tip for Nas's One Love
Peter Gabriel's tribute to Steven Biko
Peter Gabriel's Shaking the Tree
Salif Keita's Mandjou and Ignadjidje are two of my favorites from the Malian master. I love koras and other West African instruments
Santogold, MIA, Radioclit. Gotta love the drums and chants on this
Sun Ra has several Africa-inspired songs. Nubia, Africa, Ancient Aethiopia, Watusa, Tiny Pyramids, Moon Dance, Adventure-Equation, The Beginning, etc.
The Philadelphia Experiment's Ile Ife refers to the Yoruba ancient city of Ife in the modern nation of Nigeria.
Questlove on drums! Unfortunately the only video I could fine has some fool tap dancing...
Catalyst, the band whose song Ile Ife was covered by the above group, has a complete version of their song on youtube.
TV on the Radio has a few Afrobeat influenced songs, such as Red Dress. Very funky!
Vampire Weekend's Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa is clearly influenced by Congolese music.
Azouke Legba, Haitian Vodou song I love
Wayne Shorter's Juju. Juju was the word used by Europeans to describe ritual objects in African religions.It also has short, hypnotic phrases that are repeated throughout that highlight its African theme.
The Cowboy Bebop soundtrack song, The Egg and I, is a great example of African-inspired music. The drumming sounds Caribbean...But the rest of the song sounds bluesy or like zydeco
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