The special guests on this recording have either employed Olatuja as a sideman or became friends with him along the way. “Lionel and Angelique are like my big brother and sister,” Olatuja says. “I toured with him, and we just hit it off. His mum speaks Yoruba. I met Angelique two years ago and have toured with her since. She’s always been one of my heroes. She’s Mama Africa: She’s the queen! Dianne Reeves has been an inspiration and supporter for years. She’s been my hero since my teenage years. I was doing a show with Brandee Younger in DC at the Kennedy Center and on the way back, she jokingly said ‘oh, I see you finished your album, but you didn’t ask me to play a song [laughs]. So, I asked her to do it, and she said yes. And I know Joe Lovano loves African music, because I’m in one of his bands called The Village Rhythms.”
The title takes its name from a spicy, West African meal, with lyrics mostly in Yoruba and English, and recorded between London and New York over the course of five years. This is Michael Olatuja’s most comprehensive and compelling album to date. While the bassist’s first two albums – Speak (2009) and The Promise (2011) – displayed his skills as more of a composer and producer than an instrumentalist, these twelve compositions showcase not only his ebullient and bone-deep bass tones but a breadth of compositions heretofore unseen from Olatuji. The London-born, Lagos, Nigeria-raised, New York-based electric and acoustic bassist is supported by an impressive, international and accomplished core band consisting of keyboardists Aaron Parks and Etienne Stadwijk (a native of Suriname), saxophonist/vocalist Camille Thurman, drummer Terreon Gully and Senegalese percussionist Magatte Sow – praised for his work on the Black Panther soundtrack.
“The themes are hope, inspiration, and new beginnings,” Olatuja says. “This recording started at a very tough time in my life, and it’s cathartic and healing. I had to separate myself into two people: my older self, and my younger self, as if the older me were speaking to the younger me, encouraging me, and thus, encouraging whoever’s listening. That was the motivation for how this album happened. Most of my recordings are like that: Whatever season or journey I’m going through in my life the music speaks to myself [and] others.”
The catalyst for the orchestral compositions trace to Olatuji’s playing in the orchestra for the Broadway musical Frozen, which is arranged by Dave Metzger, and separately, the orchestral backing when Olatuji was touring with trumpeter Chris Botti. These experiences led him to intentionally create the meshing of West African sounds with a “Hollywood soundtrack.” “The Hero’s Journey,” conducted by Joseph Joubert, is, in Olatuja words the most “cinematic.” It is enhanced by Metzger’s arrangement and features violinist Regina Carter’s vivid solo. “Soki,” arranged by Jason Michael Webb, is propelled by a popular Nigerian rhythm genre in 6/8 entitled woro. “A lot of African countries have their own version of it,” Olatuja says. “And what I love about “Soki” is that it [also] features woro styles from Mali, Cameroon, and Senegal. It’s more like a Pan-African 6/8.” Joubert’s arrangement of “Brighter Day,” co-written by Olatuja and Kate Kelsey-Sugg, showcases vocalist Laura Mvula’s stately vocals, while the heartwarming tribute to Olatuja’s mother, “Bola’s Song,” is laced with Gregoire Maret’s luscious harmonica.
The remaining tracks feature small ensembles. The opening opus, “Even Now Prayer,” sounds like a collaboration between Jaco Pastorius and Fela Kuti. The title track is another shout-out to the leader’s mother, featuring the Beninese duo of Kidjo and Loueke, propelled by an anthemic Tony Allen-like Afrobeat. Loueke’s “Mivakpola,” originally released on his 2005 album, in a Trance is recast with an infectious drum-n-bass arrangement, reminiscent of Weather Report. “Ma Foya” was originally recorded on Speak, and is rendered here, in a hi-life beat with Brandee Younger’s evocative and ethereal harp playing. Vocalist Onaje Jefferson, who was also featured on Speak, returns for an impassioned performance on “Shadows Fade” (co-written by Jefferson and Olatuja). Joe Lovano’s towering tenor saxophone commands “Leye’s Dance,” which is pulsed by a Nigerian musical genre called Fuji. Becca Steven’s pithy vocals weave through the complex rhythms of “Home True,” composed by U.K. pianist Robert Mitchell. “I heard this song when I played in his trio when I was a teenager,” Olatuja says, “and I said to myself if I ever have the opportunity to record it, I would have him on the [track]. It’s got odd meters: some of it is in 11/4, some of it is in 17/4. There’s a lot happening, rhythmically.”
The album’s final track, the plaintive postlude, “Grace,” concludes this animated recording. “Thinking as a producer, I wanted different textures,” Olatuja says. “That’s why I had “Ma Foya” stripped down, with me and Brandee Younger on harp, and then another [track] would feature an orchestra. So, I was very conscious of dynamics. I really wanted some songs to sound epic, and the small ensembles to sound like a whisper. So, I ended with “Grace” because it sounds like a benediction. This recording aurally illustrates the places and spaces Michael Olatuja has been, and it forecasts the shape of his Afrocentric jazz to come. The tapestries he weaves are beautiful, complex, and inspiring, demanding repeat listens.
