Eddie Grey Listening Party: Stories by the Lake
Eddie grey is a jazz guitarist with a nice feel to the fusion of jazz with anything else classical and cultural. He is considered to be one of the great influences to jazz in the east African region currently. He has worked with the legendary Mulatu Astatke, an Ethiopian jazz musician, credited as being the father and founder of a genre of music from Ethiopia called Ethio – Jazz. The fusion of the two legends brought about the birth of Ethio-Kenyan fusion. He also has a produced track in collaboration with the talented Dela Maranga that is out of this world.
The listening part was for the yet to be released album “Stories By The Lake” a sophomore album to his 2010 release “No Trains To Kibera”. The setting was the lavish balcony side of the all famous Tamambos Tapas at the village market on this beautiful Saturday evening of January 2012. As he incorporated a saxophone, a guitar, drums, Nyatiti, Kayamba, shakers and some jazzy feel to his performance, I could not help but stare at his wooden instrument that looked exceptionally unique.He credits his style to some of Africa’s greats such as Tabu Ley to whom he paid tribute in one of his performance.
His hands on the guitar as he played his music drew me closer to my jazz side. It was a performance greater than most can expect from a simple young man whose passion was ignited by his brother’s acoustic guitar play of Michael Jackson’s man in the mirror.
His albums will soon be on sale at a meager price of Ksh. 1,500 and the release is expected at some point in March of 2012.
Photos from Quaint Photography