(Yusufu) Quanti Bomani (born May 26, 1956), is an American jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist, composer, lyricist, and the leader of the band Urban Insight Group. His primary instrument is the saxophone (tenor, soprano, alto, and baritone). He is also a member of Prodigal Posse, an Eastern Caribbean diaspora band in Dominica that performs worldwide. He is the son of son of Luqman Abdul-Malik and Nana Bomani. [1]
Born and educated in Harlem and Queens bouroughs of New York City, he received his college education in Virginia. [2] He was influenced by his mother to play jazz and later in his life embraced the Afro-Caribbean influence and sound.
Bomani was influenced to play saxophone by British saxophonist Gary Windo in New York. Early in his career, Bomani was a saxophonist with Maurice Miller, playing straight-ahead jazz. In the 1980s he performed with Ahmed Abdul-Malik's East meets West ensemble. He has performed at the World Creole Music Festival and Creole in the Park with Delmance "Ras Mo" Moses and the Mo n' Mo Music Project. [3] Quanti Bomani with Urban Insight Group has performed throughout the U.S. and in international venues. His trip to India in 2005 and to Vietnam influenced his 2011 album Africans on the Rooftop.
His song "Candy Bar" criticizes war and its impact on individuals, children, and families. His song "Don't Let Nobody Put the Big Britches on You" is about media deception and war propaganda. The song "We're Falling" decries drug violence and violence used for profit of natural resources. His concerts contain much political commentary. He participated in the 2010 fundraiser sponsored by the California Jazz Foundation to raise money for a musician health care fund. [4] In 2012, he was one of the main acts at the Children's Heart Fund benefit concert [5] at the Old Mill Cultural Center in Dominica with Arturo Tappin and Ronald "Boo" Hinkson.
Bomani released his album View of the World (2005), which was recorded and produced at Bay Bridge Music, an affiliate of Bay Bridge Records. His album debuted at the Paramount Theater (Oakland, California). His subsequent concerts included performances at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall, Yoshi's (jazz club), and Velma's Jazz n' Blues Club.
In 2013, Bomani performed with Michele Henderson at the Jazz n' Creole Festival [6] in Fort Shirley, Cabrits, Dominica after performing together in Rodney Bay during the St. Lucia Jazz Festival.
Soca music is a genre of music defined by Lord Shorty, its inventor, as the "Soul of Calypso", which has influences of African and East Indian rhythms. It was originally spelt "sokah" by its inventor but through an error in a local newspaper when reporting on the new music it was erroneously spelt "soca"; Lord Shorty confirmed the error but chose to leave it that way to avoid confusion. It is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s and developed into a range of styles during the 1980s and after. Soca was initially developed by Lord Shorty in an effort to revive traditional calypso, the popularity of which had been flagging amongst younger generations in Trinidad due to the rise in popularity of reggae from Jamaica and soul and funk from the United States. Soca is an offshoot of Calypso/Kaiso, with influences from East Indian rhythms and hooks.
Yusef Abdul Lateef was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America.
The music of Martinique has a heritage which is intertwined with that of its sister island, Guadeloupe. Despite their small size, the islands have created a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Martinique and Guadeloupe. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, especially Martinican chouval bwa, and Guadeloupan gwo ka. There's also notable influence of the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition and Haitian kompa.
The music of Guadeloupe encompasses a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Guadeloupe and Martinique. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Guadeloupe and Martinique, especially Guadeloupan gwo ka and Martinican chouval bwa, and the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition.
The music of Dominica includes a variety of genres including all the popular genres of the world. Popular music is widespread, with a number of native Dominican performers gaining national fame in imported genres such as calypso, reggae, soca, kompa, zouk and rock and roll. Dominica's own popular music industry has created a form called bouyon, which combines elements from several styles and has achieved a wide fanbase in Dominica. Groups include WCK, Native musicians in various forms, such as reggae, kadans (Ophelia Marie, and calypso, have also become stars at home and abroad.
David William Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school.
The culture of Dominica is formed by the inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Dominica is home to a wide range of people. Although it was historically occupied by several native tribes, it was the Taíno and Island Caribs (Kalinago) tribes that remained by the time European settlers reached the island. "Massacre" is a name of a river dedicated to the murders of the native villagers by both French and British settlers, because the river "ran red with blood for days." Each claimed the island and imported slaves from Africa. The remaining Caribs now live on a 3,700-acre (15 km2) Carib Territory on the east coast of the island. They elect their own chief.
Kadri Gopalnath was an Indian alto saxophonist and one of the pioneers of Carnatic music for that instrument.
Ethno jazz, also known as world jazz, is a subgenre of jazz and world music, developed internationally in the 1950s and '60s and broadly characterized by a combination of traditional jazz and non-Western musical elements. Though occasionally equaled to or considered the successor of world music, an independent meaning of ethno jazz emerged around 1990 through the commercial success of ethnic music via globalization, which especially observed a Western focus on Asian musical interpretations. The origin of ethno jazz has widely been credited to saxophonist John Coltrane.
Ellery Eskelin is an American tenor saxophonist raised in Baltimore, Maryland and residing in New York City. His parents, Rodd Keith and Bobbie Lee, were both professional musicians. Rodd Keith died in 1974 in Los Angeles, California, and became a cult figure after his death in the little-known field of "song-poem" music. Organist Bobbie Lee performed in local nightclubs in Baltimore in the early 1960s and provided Eskelin an introduction to standards from the Great American Songbook as well as inspiring an early interest in jazz music.
Cadence-lypso is a fusion of cadence rampa from Haiti and calypso from Trinidad and Tobago that has also spread to other English speaking countries of the Caribbean. Originated in the 1970s by the Dominican band Exile One on the island of Guadeloupe, it spread and became popular in the dance clubs around the Creole world and Africa as well as the French Antilles.
Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection.
As an overseas départment of France, Martinique's culture is French and Caribbean. Its former capital, Saint-Pierre, was often referred to as the Paris of the Lesser Antilles. The official language is French, although many Martinicans speak a Creole patois. Based in French, Martinique's Creole also incorporates elements of English, Spanish, Portuguese, and African languages. Originally passed down through oral storytelling traditions, it continues to be used more often in speech than in writing.
Daniel Bennett is an American saxophonist who lives in Manhattan. Daniel Bennett is best known for his "folk jazz" music. Bennett contends that his music is "a mix of jazz, folk, and twentieth century minimalism." The Daniel Bennett Group was voted "Best New Jazz Group" in the New York City Hot House Jazz Awards. Daniel Bennett has performed in Broadway, Off-Broadway and commercial recordings in New York City.
Abatte Barihun is an Israeli jazz saxophonist and composer. His sound is reminiscent of John Coltrane's, who has highly influenced Barihun.
Charles Davis was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Davis played alto, tenor and baritone saxophone, and performed extensively with Archie Shepp and Sun Ra.
The University of California Jazz Ensembles, also known as the UC Jazz Ensembles, UC Jazz, or UCJE, is the student jazz organization founded in 1967 on the University of California, Berkeley, campus. Founded in 1967, it comprises one or more big bands, numerous jazz combos, a vocal jazz ensemble, an alumni big band, and instructional classes. With a mission statement to foster a community for the performance, study, and promotion of jazz at U.C. Berkeley, its Wednesday Night big band provides free concerts every Thursday noon on Lower Sproul Plaza, its various units perform throughout the San Francisco Bay Area including area high schools, travel to collegiate jazz festivals, and perform overseas, and for many years it sponsored the annual Pacific Coast Jazz Festival. It also provides master classes by its instructors and clinics by prominent guest artists. It has nurtured numerous musicians who have become professional jazz musicians and educators. UC Jazz Ensembles is one of three groups, with the Cal (marching) Band and UC Choral Ensembles, forming Student Musical Activities (SMA), a department within Cal Performances on the U.C. Berkeley campus. Its members are primarily U.C. Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students, representing many academic disciplines.
Al-Hajj Sayyd Abdul Al-Khabyyr, was an American Canadian saxophonist, clarinetist, flautist and composer. He toured internationally with Dizzy Gillespie from 1983 to 1987, appearing alongside Gillespie in the feature films A Night in Havana and A Night in Chicago. He is the only person to perform all saxophone parts consecutively in the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Gramacks was a Cadence-lypso group from Dominica.
Viktor Tóth, alto saxophonist, composer and orchestra leader, has been awarded Jazz Musician of the Year several times. One of the top figures of the young generation of the contemporary Hungarian jazz scene, his performance style bridges styles, is improvisation-centred, "soaring" and filled with spirituality.