Fela Kuti

Billy Cobham

Airto Moreira

 

all created classic examples of Progressive Rock

 

Sure, after you explain what Progressive Rock is!

 

What African would you most associate with the progression of Rock n Roll in Aftrica during the 70's and 80's. Are we so anglo-centric as not to allow one African artist into the ProgArchives? And who better represents a whole continent than Fela Kuti. Have you ever listened to his organ and sax work? Some of his keyboard work parellels Keith Emersons best! Progressive rock is music that at its time is on the cutting edge of innovation and has psychedelic leanings along with being delivered on a rock beat.

 

He should at least be considered proto-prog or prog-related.

Fela Kuti - Dallas has caught me out on this one. Tended to listen to South African jazz rock, e.g. one of the specialities of B&W Records

Airto Moreira: surely on the boundary of jazz rock and straight (Brazilian) Latin jazz, and most certainly what he and his wife have been doing since the the mid 90's has been more Latin than jazz rock (concidentally  issued by B&W Records) . However, I can go along with a couple of Airto's 70's CTI recording. As ever, other names come into the frame: e.g. Nano Vasconcelos, Kip Hanrahan

 

I put "Latin" this way, because all the jazz/rock stuff done in Latin America may sound homogeneous (African foundations, Native influences, Iberian spices) but the way these roots melted vary from country to country in accordance with the bigger or lesser presence of them - in some places other roots than the 3 cited must be added too, and consequently the sound is diversified too.

 

Returning to Brazil, I'd like to mention the Tropicalismo Movement (late 60s/early 70s) with Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tomzé, maestro Rogério Duprat, etc, that mixed the Latin heritage with rock, folk & psychedelia. Os Mutantes (already in PA) participated in this Movement. The Tropicalismo  started originally in Bahia, with branches in São Paulo and other Northeastern Brazilian states.

 

Later (70s & early 80s) we had the Clube da Esquina Movement, with less (or none) psychedelia and more folk & rock, with Milton Nascimento, Wagner Tiso, Lô Borges and others. They worked with or influenced bands like O Terço and Som Imaginário and later with Saecula Saeculorum, Bacamarte and Sagrado Coração da Terra. Clube da Esquina was a movement typical of Minas Gerais state.

 

Otherwise, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Naná Vasconcelos, Laudir Oliveira, Eumir Deodato, Sergio Mendes came from the Bossa-Nova, in this case much more jazzy than the others. They played with Tom Jobim, Edu Lobo, Baden-Powell, Vinícius de Moraes, Toquinho, Chico Buarque and some of them moved from Brazil to the USA, where some went even more jazzy while others diverted to a kind of pop/dancing sound. Bossa-Nova is more characteristic of Rio de Janeiro, but got adepts everywhere in the country.

 

A certain interaction among these Movements also happened, they exchanged songs and arrangements. Some albums with those blends are great, like:

- Toquinho & Vinícius, made in 1970. Two bossa-nova giants doing a record full of tropicalismo elements;

- Chico & Caetano (live) - 1972. A blend of samba, rock, bossa-nova, etc, etc, full of emotion and protest.

- Elis & Tom - 1974. A marvelous record. Elis Regina flirted with bossa-nova and tropicalismo but at that time, she was more connected with the Clube da Esquina, while Tom Jobim was always the master of Bossa-Nova.

 

 

love those informative, educated answers, thanks for your reply!