Search - Guy Warren :: Divine Drummer

Divine Drummer
Guy Warren
Divine Drummer
Genres: International Music, Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (15) - Disc #1


     
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CD Details

All Artists: Guy Warren
Title: Divine Drummer
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Retroafric
Release Date: 6/11/2002
Genres: International Music, Jazz, Pop
Style: Africa
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 740042991620
 

CD Reviews

Interesting Document- Rerelease
12/04/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)

"The man who preceeded Babtunde Olatunji in introducing America to African drumming! A rerelease of a 30+ year old album. It's still fresh & interesting with skillful & creative use of donno, atumpan, kpanlogo/conga and fontomfrom. Warren (now called Ghanaba) uses a mix of African drums (from the Ashanti, Dogomba, and Ga peoples of Ghana) arranged & played like a jazz drumset. He incorporates bastardized African rhythms in the context of African-esque and dated Western-sounding song forms. About 1/2 of the album is of great interest (inspring subsequent listenings) & 1/2 is trite. A lovely document of a jazz pioneer that is too often forgotten. Hopefully they'll release Ghanaba's earlier & more recent albums as well!"
Alice Coltrane, watch out...
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 07/24/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)

"These kooky, free-jazz/world beat percussive explorations probably are not for everyone, but they are kinda weird and unique. Ghanaian drummer Guy Warren (aka Kofi Ghanaba) is one of the more elusive figures in the jazz world, as well as the African pop scene. He did a lot of work with a lot of great African bands in the '40s and '50s, founding the Tempos band that later made E.T. Mensah famous, and later got into the hard bop and free jazz scenes of the 1960s, gigging with some of the greats of the style. Then he kinda wigged out and got super-experimental, as these 1969-70 sessions amply demonstrate. It's weird stuff, Max Roach meets the rainforest, recorded with minimal instrumentation and a trance-y overall vibe, though also fairly artsy and irritating, in a way that might be familiar to folks who have heard Alice Coltrane or Pharoah Sanders."