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RICHARD HOWELL
Tenor Saxaphone - Vocals |
| BABATUNDE LEA - Drums |
| MINGO LEWIS - Percussion |
| CHARNETT MOFFITT - Bass |
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THE Quintessential American art-form, Jazz. Richard Howell's collection of attitudes and expression of attitude about the world is offered on his new compact disc "Outlyer". Outlyer is a celebration of this art form and a celebration of the African American experience. Expressing jazz attitude and delivering it more to the forefront , carrying Jazz over the African sound in a contemporary setting. Richard unifies an all-star band to blend African and American music in a more immediate way… Richard Howell presents simple melodic songs with complicated developments that transport you on a jubilant passage.
In the mid seventeenth century, as the slave ships unloaded their cargo of African captives onto the shores of North America, laws were enacted which instituted slavery and repression. African ritual, religious practice, languages, dancing and drumming were outlawed. Many Africans resisted and did not submit peaceably to enslavement. They did not accept colonial laws of imprisonment and, upon reaching the shores of America, engaged in outward rebellion before breaking free. They lived outside the laws of slavery as "illegal" free men and women creating hidden societies. These hidden groups of feared Africans in America were known as the "OUTLYER".
It is my hope the music on this CD recaptures the spirit awakened by the OUTLYER and that their spirit of resistance continues within us.
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