Olu Dara is the father of rapper Nas - you can hear him on Nas’s tremendous song Bridging The Gap, which samples Muddy Waters: “You see I come from Mississippi/I was young and runnin' wild/Ended up in New York City/Where I had my first child/I named the boy Nasir/All the boys call him Nas/I told him as a youngster/He'll be the greatest man alive.” I don’t know whether that’s good parenting or not, and I have no idea whether Nas is indeed the greatest man alive, although he did get into a spat with Bill O’Reilly, which seems promising.
After a long career in jazz he made his first solo record, aged fifty-seven. It wasn’t the album you might have expected from a jazzer: it’s a vocal album, for a start, with Dara declaiming from the middle of a glorious soup of blues, funk and Afro-Caribbean music. It stands on its own in time and space - it could have been made yesterday or fifty years ago - and whenever I play it, people want to know what it is. There certainly isn’t much like it, even though you will be familiar with the soup’s ingredients. Dara is a trumpet player, and From Natchez To New York is full of glorious, soaring solos, both moody (Harlem Country Girl) and joyous (Your Lips). I am not too sure what you like yet, but I am positive that if you have any tolerance for popular music, it will brighten your day. You’re welcome.
wow that is a lovely listen, never heard of it, just great. thank you
Thank you for the recommendation. This is outrageously cool.