ACCRA TRANE STATION Another Blue Train

1957: the year of John Coltrane’s classic Blue Train LP and the independence of Ghana. Coltrane was well aware of freedom coming to the former British Gold Coast. But he didn’t know that Ghana also had a Blue Train, a slow train of the night that connected the key cities of Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi. Accra Trane Station marks this fiftieth anniversary Ghana and Coltrane confluence with an improvisational train ride into the blue diasporic night of African jazz, featuring Nii Noi Nortey’s afrifones, Nii Otoo Annan’s African Percussion Kit, and Steven Feld’s rhythm box bass.

On this CD Nii Noi Nortey plays his unique inventions, the afrifones, African winds with saxophone mouthpieces, plus metal and wood gyili xylophones, seprewa harp, valiha tube zither, didjeridu, and snare pack. Nii Otoo Annan plays APK, the African Percussion Kit with a battery of atumpani, apentema, brekete, djembe, gome, tamalin drums, plus rattles, gankokui bells, and hi-hat and ride cymbals. Steven Feld (Prof) plays ashiwa rhythm box bass.

All tracks composed in improvisation by Accra Trane Station
Recorded January-April 2007 by Nana Agazi at Anyaa Arts Library, Accra
Mixed by Bill Boaz at 4th World Recording Studios, Santa Fé, New Mexico
Tracks 4 & 5 resound to paintings of the same name by Virginia Ryan
Track 4 includes the melody to Spiritual, by John Coltrane, Jowcol, BMI, 1961
Cover painting by Nicholas Wayo
Blue Train photograph by Abel Gayvolor
Milan concert photographs by Lorenzo Ferrarini
Accra Railway Station and other photographs by Steven Feld
Design by Michael Motley
Produced by Steven Feld for Accra Trane Station
All tracks © 2007 Accra Trane Station, VoxLox Publishing, BMI