African High Life

Solomon Ilori | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: June 6, 2006
• Release Date: June 6, 2006
• Label: BLUE NOTE
• Copyright: (C) 2006 Blue Note Records
• Total Length: 1:14:06
• Genres: Jazz/Traditional Jazz & Ragtime
• ASIN: B000TEVF8I
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,733 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More informational than a review., July 14, 2006

By 

greg taylor (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: African High Life (Audio CD)

I haven't recieved my copy of this yet so I cannot speak to the music. But I thought I would provide others with a little more info than Amazon has. This is a Connoisseur reissue of a unusual and legendary Blue Note session. Nigerian percussionist Ilori's original release featured his great highlife band of six drummers, bass, guitar, alto sax and flute. Ilori played the talking drum and did vocals.
But what is exciting about this reissue (for me at least) is that it includes three longish (12-14 minutes each) cuts from a later session that was never released. A session with the likes of Donald Byrd, Hubert Laws, Elvin Jones and Chief Bey. Yikes. You really have to wonder about Blue Note sometimes. How much more unreleased music is in their vaults? Unreleased because it simply didn't meet their idea of what was commercial at the time.
In any case, I am sure that the usual Blue Note reviewers will be all over this release soon enough and will let us know just how great it all is. In the meantime, I thought I would whet your appetites a bit and encourage to check out the sound samples.

4.0 out of 5 stars West African get down, September 4, 2008

By 

d.nice "d.real" (richmond,va) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: African High Life (Audio CD)

Solomon Ilori recorded this record in 1964-65 an odd selection for Bluenote at the time,who were still pushing hard bop jazz. The disc has traditional high life styled songs with Ilori performing alongside his ensemble on various drums and handling the vocal duties. The music is typical Nigerian high life music from that era reminiscent of percussionist/vocalist the late Babba Olutunji,however the final three tracks heat up with the addition of Hubert Laws on flute and performing on tenor sax(yes Hubert ..not Ronnie on Tenor sax and,and brother he burns!!) also Donald Byrd is feature on trumpet and fluglehorn while Elvin Jones jams alongside on drums for a free jazz/african high life party...impressive gem from the BlueNote vaults.