Afro-American-Germanic-Funk: Mombasa

Mombasa: Nairobi and Shango
From: African Rhythm & Blues [Spiegelei, 1975]

What with all the toing and froing over trying to get the site back up and running in a state you can actually access I’ve taken my eyes off the all important actual posting of music. I can only once again apologise and hopefully will go some way to rectifying this sorry state over the next week with a couple of great music posts.

In with bang we have the first Mombasa album, African Rhythm & Blues. When I first encountered the album I, kind of understandably I think, assumed that the album was of African origin. It was only on paying closer attention that the slow whirring gears clicked in and I realised that the band was led by swing trombonist Lou Blackburn and the whole shebang was recorded in Germany.

A few simple searches revealed that Lou moved to Germany in 1970 and spent his time from then on working with the band Mombosa and releasing a number of albums in this series. Having come across other titles by the group since I’m still confident that, while they’re all pretty fantastic, the first release is the pinnacle of their achievements.

Once the background story is in place the tracks actually make more sense, combining as they do a mixture of afro funk grooves with a more western approach to the brass section and overall track construction.

Nairobi is a proper little groove burner as the bass leads the way through the percussion, the track slipping between something on a jazz tip, to something more funk and back again.

Shango is a more out and out funk track and I can see why it’s become a bit of a cult dancefloor favourite. It kicks off with a simple trumpet line before the percussion picks up a few minutes in and the track becomes all about the rhythm and groove going into ultimate overdrive when the wah wah bass enters the scene at five minutes in.

I believe the album has had limited CD reissues over the years so keep your eyes open, you never know…..