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| Essiet Okon Essiet at the Bobby Hutcherson Memorial Concert in Nov 2016 Photo credit: Antonio Porcar Cano. All Rights Reserved |
It is surprising how few interviews the eminent bassist ESSIET OKON ESSIET has given. In the course of a distinguished career he has played in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, as regular bassist in Abdullah Ibrahim’s trio, and been a first call sideman in New York for more than two decades, playing with Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin, James Moody, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, Sam Rivers, Pat Martino, Kenny Burrell, Jackie McLean, Kenny Barron,Louis Hayes, Billy Higgins, Art Farmer, Abbey Lincoln, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Steve Turre, Bobby Watson, Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller, Jeff “Tain” Watts…
In this short interview in a noisy Upstairs Club in Montreal during the 2017 Jazz Festival, where he was about to take the stage with the George Cables Trio, he talked to Sebastian about formative influences – notably Ron Carter, about the phases of his career, and some of the albums he has made which he – in his very modest way – looks back on with pride. Audio Production by Kim Macari:
Essiet Essiet Interview by LondonJazz
MUSIC EXTRACTS [START TIMES]:
[0:00] INTRODUCTORY MUSIC: Extract: Iza-Ne Zembe Gawuale from the Abdullah Ibrahim album South Africa (Enja 1986)
[3:02] – MUSIC: Can’t Help Loving Dat Man from Clifford Brown with Strings (1955)
[6:55] MUSIC: B Flat Tune from Dave Kikoski (Sony 1994)
[11:44] MUSIC: Ekpokut from Essiet Okon Essiet’s album Shona (Space Time 2105)- more detail about this release
[14:38] MUSIC: Iza-Ne Zembe Gawuale from the Abdullah Ibrahim album South Africa (Enja 1986)
Categories: Podcasts
So good to hear from EOE on his life in music. 🙂