Tunde Mabadu - 1978 - Bisu

Tunde Mabadu

1978

Bisu

01. Vicky

02. Bisu-Omi

03. Red Jeans

04. Ise Orise

05. Blue Bird (Instrumental)

Tenor Saxophone, Vocals – Tunde Mabadu

Bass Guitar – Waidi Buraimoh

Congas – Abel Abu

Drums – Adeniyi Fadugba

Guitar – John Melon

Keyboards – Gboyega Adelaja

Trumpet – Emmanuel Arenyo

Trumpet – Henry James

That's Tunde Mabadu holding a heavy tenor sax on the cover – an instrument which he uses wonderfully on the album's offbeat funky grooves, most of which are very different than more conventional Afro Funk of the time!

There's often a slinky midtempo groove to the music – perfect for Tunde's instrumental solos, and his vocals too – and the instrumentation often has cool use of keyboards that come across as more electronic than other keys of the time – nice and thin, with almost a sci-fi vibe at times, in comparison to the other instruments on the record! The rest of the instrumentation is nice and lean too – added trumpet, bass, and plenty of percussion

Originally released in 1978 on the Blackspot label (DECCA's West Africa division). Tunde Mabadu's ultra-rare debut album, Bisu, which includes the super groovy "Red Jeans", differs from the later 1980 Viva Disco album by a much more pure African style. A beautiful and soulful production in which Tunde's deep voice and sax move on the excellent horn arrangements, percussions, the wah-wah rhythm guitar, and weird keyboards and synths (at times psychedelic as in the nine-minute "Blue Bird"). As wrote on the original liner notes of the era: "His music will mesmerize you from the first track. A dedicated musician especially to his African roots with so much to offer musically".