Artist:Richard Bona
Song:Te Dikalo
Album:Scenes from My Life
Richard Bona was born in Cameroon but he now lives in New York City. He's mainly a bassist but he plays other instruments. And he also sings. His albums are usually a mix of jazz and African music. These days he's mainly a sideman. He last recorded as a leader in 2016 and he seems to prefer being part of a band anyway. He was born Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo Oct. 28, 1967 in Minta, Cameroon into a family of musicians. His grandfather was a singer and so was his mother. Bona learned to play the balafon which is an African xylophone. And he made his own instruments. He started playing in French clubs as a teen. And that's when he learned about jazz. As a tribute to Jaco Pastorius, Bona made the bass his main instrument. Bona moved to Dusseldorf, Germany to study music and then he moved to Paris. As I have said before, there is a significant community of African musicians in Paris. While in Paris, Bona played jazz clubs with guys like Manu Dibango, Salif Keita and Didier Lockwood. Bona moved to New York in 1995 and played with Joe Zawinul, The Brecker Brothers, Branford Marsalis and many others. Then he signed with Columbia Records and released his 1999 debut album Scenes from My Life. Bona wrote, produced and arranged everything and it looks like he played most of the instruments too. He toured with Pat Metheny in 2002. Bona recorded two albums for Columbia. He has also recorded for Universal, EMI and Qwest. His latest album was released in 2016. He still plays shows but he's mostly a sideman these days. He's a member of Mandoki Soulmates which is an all star band led by drummer Leslie Mandoki. Here's Richard Bona performing Te Dikalo at the 2006 North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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