In incorporating the "Sum-total of his experiences" into his music to present his sound, Robin Kenyatta reflects the "New Breed" of aspiring musicians/composers who are moving into another direction in contemporary music, for his compositions are attempting to eliminate the classification which has been an identification to determine and analyze the validity of a music-form.
Kenyatta first came to attention of U.S. writers and critics when he appeared with Bill Dixon - a founder of the Jazz Composers Guild - at a Judson Hall concert in 1964 and then worked with the Jazz Composers Orchestra and in groups led by Sunny Murray, Barry Miles, Andrew Hill and Roswell Rudd. With this initial experience he formed quintets and sextets (Kenyatta's Free State Band) which appeared at the 5th and 6th Avant-Garde Festivals, "Kenyatta in Concert at Judson Hall", and at the Village Vanguard where he presented "A Further Exploration in African Contemporary Music". The Latter concert was the first indication of Kenyatta's music-direction and examination of his music in relation to other contemporary music; the localization of his earlier experiences with blues bands; the post-incubatory period of the New Music and his brief stay on the R. & B. Circuit. "In 1969 I worked with the Isley Brothers before I came to Paris" he explains. "There was a lot to be learnt during that period for the structure of the music was very basic. Like any soulful idiom".
In Paris, Kenyatta reestablished his Free State Band and during his travels throughout Europe and North Africa, assimilated his knowledge and dues in his compositions with newly-acquired concepts of contemporary African and West Indian music. On this album, he includes a distinct "feel" from one 0f these fields through the Congolese guitarist François Nyombo. The Absence of drum-rhythms in Congolese contemporary music has caused the guitarist to achieve rhythmic-melodic rolas for vocals and saxophone solos. Nyombo includes these theories into the music while blending with the rhythm section of Keino Spellar, congos and bongos; Kent Carter, bass and Aldo Romano, drums.
Kenyatta reiterates that his music is still in the infancy of a transient phase. The compositions are still formed on the theme-variation pattern, for as he says "It is the most affective way to write as my compositions do not contain many modal changes. Few modal changes are more effective in my efforts to make the music...happier". - Pat Griffith
Tracks
1. Angela
2. Zulu Princess
3. Gun the Honeydripper
4. If She Can't Do It, Pt. 1
5. If She Can't Do It, Pt. 2
6. Calling on You
KENT CARTER bass
ALDO ROMANO drums
FRANÇOIS NYOMBO guitar
ROBIN KENYATTA reeds
KEINO SPELLAR congo rhythms
All music composed by Robin Kenyatta
America Records - 30 AM 6123 / MUSIDISC 500572 France