Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) – Takuta (1973)
This hypnotic jazz-funk jam from Olatunji's Soul Makossa LP featured Joe Henderson on sax and Reggie Lucas on guitar.
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Babatunde Olatunji was a drummer and activist who helped popularize world music in America.
Michael Babatunde Olatunji was born in Lagos State in southwestern Nigeria, two months after his father Zannu Olatunji passed away. His name Bàbátúndé means “father has returned,” since he was believed to be the reincarnation of Zannu.
He was introduced to traditional African music at an early age while being groomed to become a chieftain in his village, a rank his father had been preparing to ascend to before his death. As a teenager, he realized he did not want to become a chief. He eventually applied for a scholarship to study in the United States and arrived in Atlanta in 1950, where he attended Morehouse College. After graduating, he studied at New York University, where he formed a small percussion group.
After performing with the Radio City Music Hall orchestra, he was signed to Columbia Records in 1957. He released his debut LP in 1959, Drums Of Passion, which became a major hit and helped establish world music as a commercially viable genre in America.
Olatunji was an early supporter of the civil rights movement, touring the South with Martin Luther King Jr. and joining the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he was one of the first international artists to perform in Prague, Czechoslovakia at the invitation of President Václav Havel.
In 1973, Olatunji released his Soul Makossa LP on Paramount Records. Its title track was a cover of Manu Dibango’s international hit released the previous year in 1972. The original version of “Soul Makossa” went to #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was covered by dozens of artists, largely thanks to DJ’s David Mancuso of the Loft and Frankie Crocker of WBLS who both helped it blow up in New York City.
Olatunji’s Soul Makossa album contained several solid tracks, but its masterpiece was arguably the hypnotic jazz-funk jam “Takuta,” which was also released as a single.
The track featured Joe Henderson on sax, Eddie Bert on trombone, Marvin Stamm on trumpet, Stacy Edwards on bells, Gordon Edwards on bass (one of the co-founders of the jazz-funk band Stuff), and future superstar producer Reggie Lucas on guitar.
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