Juma Santos

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Juma Santos , also Jumma Santos and Jim Riley (born December 27, 1947 in Massachusetts as James Reginald Riley , † September 10, 2007 in Chicago ) was a percussionist who dealt intensively with African music and brought it into the jazz and fusion sector .

Live and act

Santos grew up in Boston . Since 1967 he has explored numerous musical traditions with Afro-American rhythms on extensive journeys in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East. He worked as a studio musician, belonged to the circle around Babatunde Olatunji , played conga in the last concert of John Coltrane ( The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording ) in 1967 and allegedly played as Juma Sultan at the Woodstock Festival in the band of Jimi Hendrix . On the recommendation of Don Alias , he was involved in the recording of Miles Davis ' Bitches Brew and was part of his band occasionally in the following year. In 1971 he founded the fusion band Compost with Bob Moses , Harold Vick , Jack Gregg and Jack DeJohnette . He then traveled through Africa, where between 1973 and 1975 he was artist in residence in the Masters in African Music Program at the University of Ghana , directed by JH Kwabena Nketia . In 1976 he participated in the Wildflowers Sessions and led his own groups such as the Rosewater Foundation (with David S. Ware ), Afro Jazz Messengers , The Pan-African Drum Ensemble , The Juma Society and Sounds of the Urban Forest . In Cuba from 1996 to 1998 he took part in an ethnomusical research program of the Escuela Nacional de Arte . In 2003 he became a lecturer in the music department of the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana.

Santos has also recorded with musicians of the jazz avant-garde such as Larry Young , Noah Howard , Marion Brown , Dave Liebman and Hamiet Bluiett and has been involved in recordings by Nina Simone , David Sanborn , Taj Mahal , Michael Gibbs , Paul Pena and Tom Jones . He also worked with Ahmad Jamal , Pee Wee Ellis , Harvey Brooks and Don Moye .

In September 2007 he died in Chicago, where he conducted a workshop with the Art Ensemble of Chicago .

Discographic notes

  • Miles Davis Bitches Brew (1969)
  • Compost, Compost (1971)
  • Roy Ayers , He's Coming (1972)
  • Compost, Life is Round (with Jeanne Lee , Roland Prince, Ed Finney, Lou Courntey, 1973).
  • Chico Freeman , Beyond the Rain (1978)
  • Freddie Hubbard , The Love Connection (1979)
  • Taj Mahal and the International Rhythm Band Live & Direct (1979)
  • Ghasem Batamuntu and the Nu Nova Compound A Gift From Trane (2009)

literature

  • David Coplan Notes on New and Old World African Drumming: Just Playing It like You Mean It Is Not Playing

African Music 1991, pp. 105ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Discogs, real name and birthday three weeks later
  2. ^ Todd S. Jenkins Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: An Encyclopedia , Volume 1, p. 110
  3. ↑ See Philip Freeman Running the Voodoo Down: The Electric Music of Miles Davis 2006, p. 68; this is probably a mix-up
  4. ↑ Jazztimes 5/2001, p. 49
  5. ^ Todd S. Jenkins Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: An Encyclopedia , Volume 1, p. 112
personal data
SURNAME Santos, Juma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Riley, James Reginald; Riley, Jim; Santos, Jumma; Santos Ayanto, Juma
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American percussionist
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 2007
Place of death Chicago