Wazobia - Club Afrique 1989.10.07

Play all tracks, or select a track: 1. Ado Africa (6:19) 2. Take Me to Africa (5:13) 3. Milk & Honey(5:38) 4. Tolongo (7:07) 5. No Unity (11:20) 6. Sound From the Air (6:11) 7. Free Mandela {It worked!} (7:06) 8. Long Time Ago (6:23) 9. Groove Da Funk (4:16) 10. I Got Life (13:36)

Wazobia was a 12-piece Afro-Funk band out of Oakland. We played all over Northern California. The leader, Geoffrey Omadabe, had been in the record business in Nigeria. If I have the story correct, he came to the U. S. with Babatunde Olatunji's band. Wazobia's sound was anchored by a great drummer and two talented guitarists. One of them, Bruce Buchanan (2nd from left) contributed a tune and played on Music for the Inner Film. A BAM (Bay Area Music Magazine) ad got me their cassette and audition. It didn't hurt when they broke into a funky improv in E that I had a store of Zawinul- and Hancock-based riffs on hand. But Geoffrey told me later that he had decided to hire me even before I played: that he was impressed by "the love for your instruments" shown during setup. Good lesson there.

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