Today is the day Nigerian-British bass player Michael Olatuja unfurls his very first album Speak onto the world, but this isn’t the kind of record you’d might expect from a master bassist his first time out. But Olatuja is not an orthodox musician. If he was, I’d most likely would be writing the post about someone else. But this cat, who’s come seemingly out of nowhere made a record that reveals a talent far beyond merely being able to pluck a four-stringed instrument.
Olajuta didn’t actually come “from nowhere,” of course. Growing up in both London and Lagos (Nigeria), Olajuta cut his teeth recording and touring with a slew of soul and jazz superstars: Lisa Stansfield, Terence Blanchard, Chaka Khan, Patti Austin and The Great Stevie Wonder, to count a few. When Olatuja was ready to make his first record about five and a half years ago, he soaked up all of these influences, and made a disc that put his bass in a sideman role, but he produced and arranged the record, and wrote or co-wrote every song except for one. The style of music is a spicy soup of neo-soul, gospel, jazz and African music.
What’s more, he co-mingles these flavors so deftly to create something a little unique that it defies his status as a rookie to this whole record-making game.
The “African” part of his music is refreshingly more than a nod to a style, it’s actually used to create something new. That’s most obvious on the opening track “Ma Foya,” with it’s heavy African percussion and lyrics in Yoruba as well as English, and contemporary Western touches tastefully coexisting amongst the vintage Nigerian ones. But there’s subtler examples of these touches throughout this record.
Melodies seem to be built around lyrics and rich, call-and-response choruses, evident in the way the various guest vocalists sing the phrases in an unconventional, almost fractured meter. It’s more akin to reciting street poetry to music than simply singing a song. And not matter who is handling the singing chores, it’s taken very seriously. Lynden David Hall turns in a velvet lead vocal after-hours ballad of “Hold On,” but later on the same song Andrew Roachford adds some wordless vocals that calls to mind Wonder. Terri Walker supplies a little bit of that Erykah Badu sass on “Little Sister.”
Like those two songs, much of the rest of the album sticks to a slow-to-medium tempo, adhering to the mission of head-nodding chill out grooves, not move-your-booty breakbeats. But no two songs sound the same (and using a revolving cast of lead singers helps). Thus, the rich harmonies of the neo-soul “Altar Call” (video of live rendition below) is in the same collection of songs as the quiet storm of “Le Jardin” and the Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 rhythm and vocals of “Yi Yipada.”
The vibe stays intact even when Olatuja strays outside the template he’s established elsewhere. The traditional spiritual “Walk With Me” is all-acoustic, including the leader’s bass, and well interpreted by his wife Alicia (who also lends her vocal talents to the warm, soulful groove of “Unconditional.”) Olatuja finally performs an instrumental on the last track, “Mama Ola.” Even here, he cedes the floor to others; this time, it’s Jason Rebello on piano and Jean Toussaint on soprano sax. But again, Olatjua doesn’t do what you might expect and generate a by-the-numbers smooth jazz tune. Instead, he composed a lovely, intricate number that swings gently, but has a modern construction to it all the same. And like the gospel tune, it’s unplugged.
Olatuja’s keeps his sound smooth and serves a deep groove, avoiding much of the bleeding edge of R&B in favor of a more timeless sound. You won’t find samples or much programming in this handmade soul music, and his only gesture toward hip-hop comes on the title number “Speak.”
So what about this bass player’s bass playing? Even though he takes no solos that I can recall, he’s got a very tasteful style and a big sound, especially when he plays acoustic. But the electric playing is very precise and polished, too. I can see why he’s performed alongside some big names.
Speak is the kind of debut by a musician who has not only been around some of the best in the business, but by a guy who took really good notes. It’s worth keeping tabs on Mr. Olatuja to see what he will do for an encore.
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