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1 | Nii Noi Nortey Trio Set 1 | 30:36 |
| 2 | Nii Noi Nortey Trio Set 2 | 36:45 |
Ghanaian sculptor, inventor, and avant-garde multi-instrumentalist Nii Noi Nortey performs solo and in trio with Mark Sanders and David Panton. Nii Noi’s solo soundscapes a vivid journey through West Africa using traditional instruments, before adding his own adaptions and afrifon inventions in the trio. Although this is the first time Nii Noi and David have improvised with Mark the trio immediately find an unerring natural groove that moves effortlessly through free-improvisation, free-jazz, world music and African inspired melodic and percussive patterns.
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Nii Noi Nortey / nu waterpipe, atenteben flute, gonje fiddle, algaita oboe, ngoni harp/lute, afrifon reeds
David Panton / piano (keyboard & strings), soprano saxophone, bagpipe (without drones)
Mark Sanders / drums, percussion
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Recorded on Sunday 3rd January 2016 by Shaun Crook. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn.
An edited version of a separate recording made by Panton Music of this performance is scheduled for release in June 2016 on disc as PM3116 Nii Noi Nortey with David Panton & Mark Sanders. See details on the Panton Music website
Nii Noi Nortey is a multi-instrumentalist performing on both African instruments (e.g., alghaita, gyil, gonje, ngoni, seprewa) and Western ones (saxophones and flutes), as well as unique instruments of his own invention (afrifons, alboita). He is also a sound sculptor, author, educator, and arts library administrator whose base these last twenty-five years is Anyaa Arts Library, outside Accra, Ghana. In the UK Nii Noi is known for his performances and recordings with, among others, Dade Krama, African Dawn, David Panton, and Misty N Roots. In Ghana he has worked with well-known local artists like Ghanaba (Guy Warren), Pan African Orchestra, and Nii Otoo Annan, as well as visiting artists from Europe and the US. Some of his work of the last ten years is documented on the Accra Trane Station DVDs and CDs on the Voxlox label and in the book Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra by Steven Feld. Among written publications, he has recently produced Afrifonix: The Windpipes of Nii Noi Nortey, which chronicles the evolution of his afrifon inventions.
Mark has worked with many greats of the British, European and American free jazz improvised music scene including Roscoe Mitchell, Roswell Rudd, Evan Parker, John Butcher, Henry Grimes, Elaine Mitchener, Wadada Leo Smith, Myra Melford, Charles Gayle , Sirone and William Parker
He has also played with Jah Wobble, Harold Budd, Bill Laswell, Christian Marclay, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ilan Volkov and The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
He is a member of many working groups including duos with Nicole Mitchell and Rhodri Davies, Neil Charles' 'Dark Days' with Cleveland Watkiss & Pat Thomas, 'Last Dream of the Morning' with John Butcher & John Edwards, 'Shifa' with Rachel Musson and Pat Thomas and 'Sarost' with Larry Stabbins & Paul Rogers.
As an educator he has taught improvisation at many universities around the country as a lecturer and guest tutor.
Mark has played concerts and festivals around the world and appears on over 220 CD and Vinyl releases.
Mark was a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists 2024
"Drop the needle on the first track — or any track for that matter — and the first thing one is bound to notice is the amazing percussion skills of Mark Sanders" – Peter Thelen... Exposé
"Mark is just incredible and immensely diverse, he is at the center of "Kwingyaw" and it is difficult to tell what he is doing to get some of these sounds." – Bruce L Gallenter, Downtown Music Gallery, NY
Multi-instrumentalist, improviser, composer David Panton, veteran of the Little Theatre Club, UK avant-garde/free-jazz scene of the 1970s/80s, returns after a long break. ‘A wide ranging musician…’ (Peter Riley, Coda), he played with John Stevens’ Entourage, John Russell, Roy Asbury, and in the more structured setting of his One Music Ensembles, with Stevens, Harry Beckett, Maggie Nichols and, while teaching him saxophone 1978-79, Nii Noi Nortey. Some music was published/released on his Nondo/Panton Music labels, broadcast, and assisted with Arts Council bursaries. ‘Panton plays with real imagination…’(Barry McRae, Jazz Journal), ‘…paces his solos well…’ (Robert Ianapollo, Cadence).
