In The Tradition
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In The Tradition

Detroit, Michigan, United States | INDIE

Detroit, Michigan, United States | INDIE
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"Recent Recordings By Area Musicians"

Eight of the ten tracks were composed by the leader of the group Tafataona, and the remaining two are well-known standards "A Beautiful Friendship," featuring Hopkins' mellophone, as well as solos by the rhythm section, and "Alone Together." Both are played in the standard modern jazz idiom; the remainder has more of a lilting soul jazz feel with elements of African and Afro-Cuban percussion, while "Yurugu" features a strong recitation by Aurora Harris.

The soloists all acquit themselves well on this recital; it is sad to realize that this was Vicki Alexander's last recording. - SEMJA (South Eastern Michigan Jazz Assoc.)


"IN THE TRADITION CD Review"

A Detroit group, IN THE TRADITION, which has spent the last decade playing a simmering style of straight ahead jazz with African percussion and modernist large group ideas.

Their first self titled CD "IN THE TRADITION" (afj1901) present the group in a set that sets the tone for future releases.Original compositions by Olujimi Tafataons, with an older pop or jazz piece mixed in, here Lee Morgan’s “Soft Blue”. The basic sound of the group here is mellow and affective main stream jazz with a hint of African sound and rhythmic grooves reminiscent of early Sun Ra or Horace Tapscott

The groups 2007 CD, “FAKARI” (AFJ1902) has a few personal changes and a wider palette of styles that includes more overt African sound, wailing vocals, and even some funked up hip hop in addition to the straight ahead jazz of ”The End Of A Love Affair” and Horace Silvers “Mother Nature”.

Their most recent CD, THE TRADITION CONTINUES! (AFJ1904), broadens their sound even more. In addition to the “frisky Swinging” and African based band shouting, the set also features “Yurugu”, a 13 minute reading by Aurora Harris of her poem on jazz and the African American Experience. Accompanied by an incessant beat and various band members soloing. - Cadence Magazine


"All That Jazz"

By Salah Ahmed
The Michigan Citizen

Where else but in Detroit could a band that no one had ever heard of come in and give the stunning performance that we just saw? local music historian Jim Gallert asked rhetorically after witnessing In The Tradition do their thing at Detroit’s recent International Jazz Festival.

The group’s name might not be on the tips of everyone’s lips, nor can one just walk into any store and pick up their CD right now it’s available at Black Star, Street Corner Music and the Shrine of the Black Madonna but it’s not because the music isn’t good.

Just the opposite; it does what good jazz is supposed to do, tell a story.

Jazz as a whole doesn’t have the audience it used to. People have moved on to other music, much of it shallow by comparison.

Local jazz has an even harder time getting attention, which is why most people won’t immediately recognize the names of Olujimi Tafataona, In The Tradition’s sax player, or the group’s other members: Charles Hopkins (trumpet, flugelhorn and mellophone), Kefentse Chike (Djembe and congas), Robert Allen (bass), Roland Hamilton (piano), Brandon Parker (drums), Samana Ture aka Otis Lockheart (trombone), and Wayne Wardlow (guitar).

Sadly, Allen, who is featured on their debut CD, passed away recently just as he was about to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival this past Labor Day.

Allen, who was battling lung cancer, was well known in jazz circles for decades, and this album, whose title matches the group’s name, is a rare opportunity to catch his final riffs.

He played the funkiest bass that you’d ever hear and it was beautiful, just beautiful, Felton Jones said about Allen.

Each of the album’s five songs weaves its own tale. Telling tales is what jazz does, though to most people it’s not as palatable as it once was. That probably has less to do with the music than with people’s generally diminishing attention spans.

In many ways jazz is ahead of its time. Take Johann Sebastian Bach’s music for comparison. When his organ music first came out, it sounded like space music and seemed to bear no relation to other music being produced around him.

Similarly, the introduction of jazz took the world by storm when it emerged in its modern form, at about the turn of the 20th century, carrying a sound that seemed to follow new rules, rules that were harder to define than almost anything that had come before.

There is no denying the African roots of jazz (and, for that matter, the African roots of almost any modern American music). In fact, the purpose of the recording, according to the CD insert, was to let loose the indomitable creativity that dwells in the Afrikan Spirit.?

Syncopation, one of the genre’s defining characteristics, developed on the Continent. Long before it showed up in Ragtime, syncopation marked the music used by enslaved people to keep the evil of slavery, at least psychologically, at bay. Enslaved people were mostly prohibited from using drums, so people used hand clapping and foot stomping to do the trick.

Jazz has its roots in Africa, to be sure, but it was African people’s troubled experience in this country that helped shape jazz into something distinctly African American.
- The Michigan Citizen


Discography

2009 "The Tradition Continues!"
2007 Release: "Fakira"
2003 Release: "In The Tradition"

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Bio

“In The Tradition” began as the Christopher James / Charles Hopkins Quintet. At its inception the band was recognized as a formidable Hard-swinging Bebop ensemble that was faithful to the classic Bebop tradition and also featured unique originals.

The band was re-named “IN THE TRADITION” and began to focus more on the music of the African Diaspora yet remaining true to the Bebop tradition, creating a unique mixture of Jazz and African Rhythms. For 2011, the band will begin a new "educational piece" to their performances whenever posible (depending on venues ability to accommodate)

Each member of "In The Tradition" are seasoned musicians, band members have performed individually with other artists such as Dizzie Gallespie, Grant Greene, Mose Allison, BB King, Milt Jackson, Marcus Bellgrave, Johnny O'neal, Hugh Lawson, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Martha Reeves, and many others.

The band has performed throughout S.E. Michigan.
Notable performances include; The Detroit International Jazz Festival, Arts-Beats & Eats Festival in Pontiac Michigan, the “Black Star Community Festival” in Detroit, The African World Festival, C. H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit CitiFest, Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, and countless engagements around Metro Detroit & S.E. Michigan causing reactions and comments from Jazz Critics such as:

Jim Gallert - “Stunning Performance!”,

“For REAL In Your Face Jazz catch In The Tradition whenever & wherever you can!” - The Michigan Citizen,

Jazzbo Johnson - “Solid Stuff, Real Earthy and Groove oriented but with those great bop forms”.

Their latest CD release, (The Tradition Continues! - 12/09) received National and International AirPlay in over 75 jazz markets such as Costa Rica, Barbados, England, Canada, Switzerland, and numerous cities across the USA. Setting the stage for future performances outside of S.E. Michigan.

The most common response from DJ's, Program Directors, and call in listeners has been, "WE NEED/WANT MORE MUSIC LIKE THIS!!!"