Mulatu Astatke - Sketches of Ethiopia (2013) Hi Res

Mulatu Astatke, on his first album for Jazz Village, bears witness to an extraordinarily rich career, that has seen him hailed as the father of Ethio-jazz. From his musical studies at Trinity College, London, and Berklee College of Music, Boston, through groundbreaking recordings for the legendary Amha label during Addis Ababa s musical golden age, to his contribution to the Jim Jarmush film Broken Flowers which assured him of cult status amongst savvy music fans, Astatke has a unique musical history. His new album, Sketches of Ethiopia, brings to mind the great arrangements of Gil Evans and late Ellingtonian tone poems and is an homage to the rhythms and dances of Mulatu s homeland that still provide the engine for his music. It also demonstrates that the grand old man of Ethio-jazz is not standing still. Still finding new ways to express his music, he s brought together a top team of the UK s young jazz talent, some of the finest new Ethiopian voices and the unique vocal talents of Malian diva Fatoumata Diawara to create the strongest album of his late flowering.