Orlando Julius with the Heliocentrics - Jaiyede Afro

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 1 / 10 / 2014




Orlando Julius with the Heliocentrics - Jaiyede Afro


Label: Strut Records
Format: CD
Energetic collaborative recording between pioneering Nigerian tenor saxophonist, Orlando Julius, and London-based afro funk musicians, the Heliocentrics



Review

The London-based master musicians of afro funk, the Heliocentrics, invited the grand old Nigerian from Ibadan and tenor saxophonist, Orlando Julius, to record this album. Performing strutting afro soul and funk indeed then and now, Orlando Julius rates amongst the first to blend US and Nigerian music. This collaboration came as its logical consequence. 'Jaiyede Afro' leaves room for experimentation, for example on the hypnotic and eerie psychedelia on the album's closing track, 'Alafia'. Imagine Isaac Hayes on a Nigerian holiday. Included are recordings of classic songs from when he fused highlife music with American jazz and funk forty to fifty years ago in the Modern Aces, plus more abstract tryouts with greater emphasis on freeform. Orlando Julius has lived The American Dream but, bearing in mind that after all Strut Records is a shoot-off from the DJ label !K7 in Germany, don't expect to find any 1970's West Coast disco here. One of the highlights on 'Jaiyede Afro' is the re-recorded 'Be Counted'. The title track is a particularly affectionate song, which puts the album on an exhilirating course. Graced with echo effects like dubmaster King Tubby's, 'Omo Oba Blues' marks another highlight. The hallmark tribute to the tenor saxophonist comes on 'In the Middle', the final track. 'Jaiyede Afro' goes from funk to jazz in a natural way; afro-funkadelic.



Track Listing:-

1 Buje Buje
2 Love Thy Neighbour
3 Aseni
4 Sangodele
5 Jaiyede Afro
6 Omo Oba Blues
7 Be Counted
8 In the Middle
9 Alafia


Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Hel
https://www.facebook.com/OrlandoJulius


Label Links:-

https://instagram.com/strutrecords/
https://twitter.com/strutrecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/strutreco
https://www.facebook.com/StrutRecords
http://www.strut-records.com/



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