New Griot Galaxy Live on WUOM 1979 double LP out now

Two Rooms Records release of a 1979 performance by Detroit's legendary Griot Galaxy is something to cheer about.  

Here's the scoop from Tani Tabbal...

"Great to hear this live recording and that it’s available on vinyl and cd from Two Rooms Records. Jaribu Shahid is now at the helm of Griot Galaxy, along with myself, and including Anthony Holland, Dave MacMurray, and Cassius Richmond."

Griot Galaxy – Live on WUOM 1979 

Two Rooms Records is excited to announce its tenth and most significant release yet, “Live on WUOM 1979” by Griot Galaxy. Nearly lost to history, this double-length release captures an extended radio performance by the seminal Afro-futurist jazz group, aka “The Sci-Fi Band,” featuring stunning versions of their classic repertoire circa 1979, in a compact, quartet setting.

Known for mixing complex polyrhythms, polytonality and non-western scales with grooves and minimalist elements from popular music, Griot Galaxy was founded in Detroit by saxophonist Faruq Z. Bey in 1972. The best known iteration coalesced in the late ‘70s as a quintet with bassist Jaribu Shahid and percussionist Tani Tabbal — both veterans of the Sun Ra Arkestra — and wind players Anthony Holland and David McMurray. All the members collaborated with their contemporaries in creative Black music, including Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Muhal Richard Abrams, Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille and many others. McMurray, absent on this recording, also stayed busy playing behind The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

Wildly popular in Detroit and amongst their peers, Griot Galaxy only released two full-length records during the band’s lifetime. Their activity effectively ended in 1986 when Bey was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident that required nearly a decade of recovery, making this release an important expansion of the Griot Galaxy universe. 

Griot Galaxy: Faruq Z. Bey - Alto, Soprano, and Tenor Saxophones, Bass Clarinet; Anthony Holland - Alto, Soprano, and Tenor Saxophones, Bass Clarinet; Jaribu Shahid - Double Bass; Tani Tabbal - Drums, Percussion. 

Recorded at WUOM Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1979

Mastered by Warren DeFever, Third Man Mastering, Detroit

Produced By Two Rooms Records, Detroit. 

Get a copy of Griot Galaxy's Live on WUOM 1979 via Bandcamp right here. Watch a performance of "Androgeny" and some performance footage from 1978 below.