In Memoriam Ebo Taylor
Come along
Ebo Taylor passed away on 7 February. He was a guitarist, composer, bandleader, record producer and arranger who influenced African music for over six decades. “Deroy Ebow Taylor was born on Jan. 6, 1936, in Cape Coast, the capital of the British Gold Coast colony, the future Ghana. He was the son of Samuel Taylor, the choirmaster at St. Augustine’s College in Cape Coast, and Sarah Taylor. Ebo, as he was called, started playing the piano at 6 and the organ at 9.” (The New York Times) He learned to play the guitar at St. Augustine, joined ever bigger local groups until, in Ghana, he broke through with the Stargazers. His career included partnerships with Fela Kuti, Ludacris, Black-Eyed Peas and many others. Ebo Taylor’s love of highlight and afrobeats defied set terms.(SGG)
Essiebons
Harry Styles
Aperture
Harry Styles will release his fourth album on March 6, my birthday. Thanks. The advance track presented here is well done and contains some nice surprises. Not bad for someone who entered the music scene via The X Factor and joined the boy band One Direction in 2010. Styles’ career has been meteoric. He has a clear baritone singing voice and has been compared with the young Sinatra or David Bowie. His videos regularly win prizes and charm audiences worldwide. Harry Styles is also an impressive art collector, someone who seems to know what he’s doing. Welcome back! (SGS)
Columbia
Gorillaz
The Mountain
Gorillaz, the virtual British band founded by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewett, has made its long-awaited comeback. Their new record stands out for its immersive music. Gorillaz live in a universe represented in media such as music videos, interviews, comic strips and short cartoons. Gorillaz’s projects have included collaborations with a wide range of musicians and featured artists, with Albarn as the only permanent musical contributor. Gorillaz has presented itself live in a variety of different ways throughout its history and received a number of important awards.
Parlophone
Barbican Quartet
Poem for String Quartet
Amarins Wierdsma, violin, Kate Maloney, violin, Christoph Slenczka (viola), Yoanna Prodanova, Cello – the Barbican Quartet is an original voice on the international chamber music scene. Praised for their unique sound and character, as well as for intensely personal and intelligent performances, the Barbican Quartet celebrates the individual strengths of its members and at the same forges these into a homogenous entity, exploring with fervour both the great string quartet repertoire as well as contemporary music.
Genuin
Immanuel Wilkins
Emanation /Don’t Break – from the album The 7th Hand
“The music of saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins is filled with empathy and conviction, bonding acts of melody and lamentation to gestures of space and breath, Listeners were introduced to this riveting sound with his acclaimed debut album Omega, which was named the number one jazz album of 2020 by the New York Times. The album also introduced his remarkable quartet with Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass, and Kweku Sumry on drums: a tight-knit unit that Wilkins features once again on his stunning sophomore album, The Seventh Hand.”
Blue Note Records