Afrobeat Legend Ebo Taylor Announces New Album With Jazz Is Dead’s Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad

Afrobeat legend Ebo Taylor will release a new album on October 25 through the Jazz Is Dead record label. Jazz Is Dead producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad worked with the 88-year-old Taylor on Ebo Taylor JID022, which features the lead single, “Obra Akyedzi (Gift of Life).”

Taylor, a pioneer of 1970s highlife and afrobeat music alongside West African musicians like Fela Kuti, toured the United States for the first time in 2022. The tour was produced by Jazz Is Dead, the record label and concert promoter founded in 2017 by Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, Andrew Lojero and Adam Block.

Taylor recorded Ebo Taylor JID022 during his stint touring the U.S. The seven-track album was co-produced Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Younge and tracked at the latter’s Los Angeles-based recording space Linear Labs Studio.

“Collaborating with Ebo Taylor is definitely a bucket-list accomplishment,” Younge said. “For me, it is the equivalent of working with musical genius Fela Kuti, because of how much I have studied both of their work and influence on the genre of Afrobeat. Seriously, recording the genius to analog tape while highlighting the raw recording styles of 1970s Africa is a dream I never thought could come to reality! It was also great to work with Ebo’s son, [keyboardist] Henry Taylor, who is a true musical force in his own right.”

Among the additional contributors to Ebo Taylor JID022 was an ensemble of Ghanaian background vocalists, horn players, drummer Philip Andy Biney, percussionist Samson Olawe, bassist Emmanuel Ackone and others.

Taylor will soon embark on another tour across North America. Taylor will be backed by the Ebo Taylor Family Band on the tour also featuring his protégée, fellow influential Ghanaian musician Pat Thomas.

Stream 88-year-old afrobeat icon Ebo Taylor’s new single, “Obra Akyedzi (Gift Of Life),” from his upcoming Ebo Taylor JID022 album below:

Ebo Taylor JID022 Tracklist

1. Get Up
2. Obra Akyedzi
3. Kusi Na Sibo
4. Obi Do Woa (If Someone Loves You)
5. Nsa A W’oanye Edwuma, Ondzidzi
6. Beye Bu, Beye Ba
7. Feeling