April 10, 2011

Ebo Taylor | Life Stories

ARTIST:  Ebo Taylor
TITLE:  Life Stories: Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980
LABEL:  Strut
REVIEW:  Ebo Taylor is one of the greatest musicians of independence-era West Africa.  He studied jazz in London in the 1960’s with Fela Kuti and thereafter spent his entire career in Ghana as a guitarist, bandleader, composer, arranger and producer.  He’s still working and put out a fine new album last year on Strut.  He came to the attention of a new generation through his inclusion on Soundway Records’ Ghana Soundz compilations (disc 1, tracks 1 and 2 are the songs from those comps).  Taylor is frequently called an Afrobeat musician, but his style is lighter and jazzier than Fela’s Africa 70, and the sound of classic Ghanaian highlife echoes in his music as well.  Believe it or not, none of Taylor’s classic recordings have been released in Europe or Africa except on multi-artist compilations, so this 2-disc retrospective is both long overdue and a real eye-opener for African music fans.  Strut has done a great service to Taylor and to listeners -- this album is a must-have for lovers of West African music and will be a strong contender for best reissue of 2011.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
TOP TRACKS:    1-1    1-2    1-3    1-6    1-8    2-4    2-6
ALSO RECOMMENDED:    All the rest of them

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