Description
Cat#:
FORMAT: 150g LP / Limited 250 copies
LABEL: NIMBUS WEST RECORDS (U.S.A.)
CAT#: NS3035 (REISSUE)
ARTIST: DADISI KOMOLAFE
TITLE: HASSAN’S WALK
Originally released as: NIMBUS WEST RECORDS NS3035 (1983, U.S.A.)
JAN: 4560312319420
Lineup:
Dadisi Komolafe (as, fl)
Roberto Miranda (b)
Sunship Theus (dms)
Eric Tillman (p)
Rickey Kelly (vib)
Tracks:
A1. Hassan’s Walk
A2. Speak No Evil
B1. Calvary
B2. Round Midnight
Notes:
Recent years has seen much increased attention placed on Nimbus West Records, a jazz label that, unlike some other independent jazz labels like Strata East , Black Jazz and Tribe, had stayed somewhat under the radar to all but a few mindful collectors and aficionados. Fortunately, the label has undergone a long overdue reappraisal in which the music and philosophy of its key artistic fulcrum figure, Horace Tapscott, has been recognised as a crucial moment in the development of the black creative experience in America over the last 40 years. Under his guidance, Tapscott encouraged and schooled many leading musicians of the Los Angeles jazz scene ad fostered an environment in which some amazing talent flourished.
Among Tapscott’s protégés was a young flautist and saxophonist, Dadisi Komolafe. Born Arthur Wells, Komolafe regarded Tapscott as his mentor and became involved with the Cross Roads Art Academy, sponsored by the UGAMA (Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension) Foundation, both established by Tapscott, and a vanguard to a crucial community-centred black arts movement in Los Angeles.
From the various community based musicians workshops and educational exchange opportunities, Komolafe had the good fortune to record with members of Tapscott’s Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, a collective of similarly minded souls founded in 1961 that over the years hosted such names as Arthur Blythe, David Murray and Jimmy Woods. From the late 70s to the mid-80s, Komolafe appeared on many of the key albums that appeared on the Nimbus West label, a label ostensibly started to promote recordings by Tapscott: the Creative Arts Ensemble’s ‘One Step Out’, Nate Morgan’s ‘Journey to Nigritia’ and Tapscott’s own ‘The Call’. As impressive as his contributions to these amazing albums are, it’s Komolafe’s own solo effort, ‘Hassan’s Walk’, recorded in 1983, that sets him out as a true talent, albeit a criminally under-recorded one.
‘Hassan’s Walk’ is a confident, declarative statement of intent; musically, it’s an expression of a post-Coltrane Africa-American heritage set within the fallout from the black experience in Vietnam, alongside the arrival of the Regan era and the rise of the American evangelical right. Staying strong to Tapscott’s recurring themes of cultural unity, historical knowledge and emotional intelligence, Komolafe’s album is a synthesis of past traditions, as played out in the regular drumming circles in LA’s Leimert Park, as well as future hopes and aspirations for the next generation; a soundtrack to an open mind and body. It’s fierce but fun; free yet focussed, and displays a finely tuned balance and luxuriant tonal range from a superb ensemble of musicians: Roberto Miranda on bass, Sunship Theus on drums, Eric Tillman on piano, Rikcy Kelly on vibes and Komolafe on flute and alto saxophone. There are two covers on the album: a version of Wayne Shorter’s ‘See no Evil’, considered by many to be the album’s centrepiece, powered along by Sunship’s effervescent percussion, and a lush reading of Monk’s ‘’Round Midnight’. The title track, written by Komolafe, features, a strong solo from Tillman’s piano and ebullient vibes from Kelly and the traditional song, ‘Calvary’, receives an impressive arrangement, building to a crescendo with Komolafe’s horn screaming for air before finding respite in Kelly’s shimmering vibes.
‘Hassan’s Walk’ is a jewel in the crown of Nimbus West, a crown already replete with gems, polished to perfection. – Tony Higgins, October 2015
