African Rhythms Alumni Ensemble

T.K. Blue, saxophonist and former musical director and arranger for the legendary pianist Randy Weston, leads this all-star band made up of former members of Weston’s African Rhythms ensemble in celebration of the late piano genius’s 100th birthday. 

A hugely influential artist whose creative life was inspired by his ancestral connection to Africa and its rich musical heritage, Weston was a 2001 NEA Jazz Master and 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. Many of his albums, including Uhuru Afrika (1960), African Cookbook (1969), Blue Moses (1972), Tanjah (1973), and The Spirits of our Ancestors (1991) are modern jazz classics.  

A member of Weston’s African Rhythms ensemble for nearly four decades, T.K. Blue honors the legacy and spirit of his mentor with the African Rhythms Alumni Ensemble. Bassist Alex Blake appears on eight of the pianist’s albums beginning in the early 1990s, and also worked widely with the Sun Ra Arkestra, Billy Cobham, and Pharoah Sanders. 

Percussion master Chief Baba Neil Clarke performed with African Rhythms from 1992 to the end of Weston’s life in 2018.  

Rounding out the ensemble is pianist Sharp Radway, Weston’s chosen protégé who has performed with Yusef Lateef and Benny Golson, and veteran trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy, a former member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers best known as a bandleader and for work with Lester Bowie and the Mingus Big Band.