Seattle's Kane Mathis is one of the world's leading performers on the kora, the distinctive (usually) 21-stringed West African harp instrument that is the major instrument of the Mandinka people of Mali; the Malian equivalent of the Western keyboard. Mathis has studied the instrument since the age of twenty, making several trips to The Gambia to learn from the hereditary musicians of the area. Now, he is the kora instrumentalist in Seattle's The Kora Band, a five piece jazz group that is integrating West African traditional sounds with jazz arrangements and instruments. The band is currently touring the West Coast, in support of Cascades (Origin, 2010).
Mathis played Brooklyn's famous Ninth Street jazz and world venue, Barbes, in July, with percussionist Timothy Quigly, and premiered a number or two from The Kora Band's then-forthcoming album. All About Jazz Contributor Simon Jay Harper was there to catch the show and to speak with Mathis. The result is an in-depth look at an artist who looks to dissolve cultural and temporal barriers by bringing centuries old tradition into the 21st Century.
Check out Kane Mathis: Kora Meets Jazz at All About Jazz today!
Mathis played Brooklyn's famous Ninth Street jazz and world venue, Barbes, in July, with percussionist Timothy Quigly, and premiered a number or two from The Kora Band's then-forthcoming album. All About Jazz Contributor Simon Jay Harper was there to catch the show and to speak with Mathis. The result is an in-depth look at an artist who looks to dissolve cultural and temporal barriers by bringing centuries old tradition into the 21st Century.
Check out Kane Mathis: Kora Meets Jazz at All About Jazz today!
