6 Gétatchèw Mèkurya

Gétatchèw Mèkurya And His Saxophone (also on Éthiopiques 14) You say: “Would have been a giant of the jazz world in any other circumstances.” Jon Hollis, via Facebook

Though he claimed not to know Ornette Coleman, the nabob of free jazz and “the Negus of Ethiopian sax” had similar souls. Mèkurya’s career followed a familiar path – the Addis Municipality Band, the Haile Selassie Theatre band, the Police Orchestra – but by his mid-thirties he was bringing the traditions of Ethiopian warriors to jazz, playing masenqo (a single-stringed lute) licks on his tenor, taking the stage in animal skins and lion’s mane. Untamed by the Derg, on his final recordings and tours he was backed by Dutch punks The Ex.