Lagos Pepper Soup

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A thorough command of hard-hitting afrobeat, jazz and funk enables Olatuja to make appealing music that draws a coherent line from the rhythmically and metrically complex to ballads with a soulful... — Jazzwise, July 2020, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 26th Jun 2020
Catalogue No: WR4754
Label: Whirlwind Recordings
Length: 62 minutes

Jazzwise

Editor's Choice

July 2020

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

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Michael Olatuja

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"The entire project comes off like an intricate sequence of events celebrating life, love, joy and hope it's the type of vision that forever emphasises the importance of a fully-realised album." ????? UK Vibe Michael Olatuja's musical development has taken place across three continents, in the heart of three of the world's greatest cities. After a childhood in Lagos absorbing the Yoruba culture of his Nigerian family, followed by teenage years performing and studying on the booming London jazz scene, Michael's talent bloomed when he arrived in New York to study at the Manhattan School of Music. His unique breadth of talent, grounded in the strong musical traditions of his homeland, has earned him first-call status across a range of genres from pop to gospel to Broadway to top-flight jazz, and along the way he's filled his contacts book with a impressive and eclectic range of talent.

For Lagos Pepper Soup, his second solo release, Michael picked a core band of Terreon Gully, Aaron Parks and Etienne Stadwijk, and then enlisted the talents of Angelique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves, Regina Carter, Joe Lovano, Laura Mvula, Lionel Loueke, Grgoire Maret, Becca Stevens, Brandee Younger, Robert Mitchell, Onaje Jefferson, and top studio arrangers David Metzger, Joseph Joubert and Jason Michael Webb to realise his vision of what he calls Cinematic Afrobeat - "What you hear is a blend of three major cities: it's a celebration of life, and I wanted to make it sound like a soundtrack for a movie that hasn't been made yet - maybe the next Black Panther movie."

Michael has integrated all of his diverse musical influences, incorporating his guests' talents while allowing his own personality to clearly shape the overall direction. His own virtuoso melodic bass playing shines throughout - "I wanted Lagos Pepper Soup to feature my own playing, as well as songwriting and production - all my influences are here, all my favourite musicians, and I feel there's an element of divine favour in how amazingly it's turned out."

Reviews

July 2020

A thorough command of hard-hitting afrobeat, jazz and funk enables Olatuja to make appealing music that draws a coherent line from the rhythmically and metrically complex to ballads with a soulful or folkish beauty. As befits the title this is a rich, heady stew, but it has the kind of clear narrative and depth of emotion to make it digestible amid the sizzling rises in temperature.

Lagos Pepper Soup

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