Babatunde Lea©Andrea Canter

“It is my wish that my music will empower people to look within and become agents of peace and change in their hearts, in their families and in the world at large.” –Babatunde Lea

After nearly four decades leading the Bay Area jazz scene as a percussionist and educator, Babatunde Lea went east, ultimately landing in the Twin Cities area where he is quickly building his audience and pool of collaborators. With another recent transplant, pianist Richard Johnson, and local heavyweights Zacc Harris (guitar) and Chris Bates (bass), Lea makes his Artists Quarter debut this weekend, October 5-6.

Babatunde

A New York native who was raised in Engelwood, NJ, Michael Lea came to music naturally. His aunt was one of the first women to play in a marching band. Shortly after starting on drums at 11, he saw Babatunde Olatunji and his Drums of Passion, and soon changed his own name to Babatunde. Absorbing the rhythms of Africa and the Caribbean, Lea moved west to the Bay Area at 18, expanding his palette with affiliations with Bill Summers (Bata Koto) before joining Juju, leading to another relocation, this time to Richmond, VA. But perhaps the most influential connection was with Leon Thomas, who he had known from church back in New Jersey. "Leon sang in the choir. I used to see him sing every Sunday and he would ‘turn the church out!’” recalled Lea. Babatunde ended up working in Thomas’s band in the early 70s. "Leon was not only the bandleader and one of my bosses," Lea explains, "but he was very instrumental to my artistic growth. He was a great influence on the type of music I like and the genre of music that I play.” Back in the Bay Area, He returned to the Bay Area a few years later, he worked with Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Randy Weston, Van Morrison and, particularly, Oscar Brown, Jr., who was “like a father, he was an activist and I learned a lot just being around him,” recalls Lea.

Zacc Harris©Andrea Canter

Babatunde Lea has long been committed to education, not just about music but also about social justice and spiritual connections. In 1993, with his wife Virginia, he founded the Educultural Foundation, a California non-profit organization that provides workshops, classes, and presentations. "The purpose I try to imbue my music with is that our growth as human beings should strive toward an anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, egalitarian, democratic universal society and I don't care how many life times it takes to get there! I consider myself an activist as well as a musician and consider myself an 'agent of change,’” says Babatunde.

The Quartet at the Artists Quarter

For his AQ debut, Babatunde Lea has assembled a stellar ensemble:

Richard Johnson©Andrea Canter

A California native raised in Virginia, guitarist Zacc Harris graduated from Southern Illinois University and has studied with Fareed Haque, Jonathan Kreisberg and Clay Moore. After relocating to the Twin Cities about 7 years ago, Harris has become one of the busiest bandleaders in town, heading up the Atlantis Quartet, Monk in Motian, Zacc Harris Trio and Quartet, Vital Organ and Counterclockwise. Additionally he plays regularly with area vocalists and leading ensembles, and directs the new Jazz at Studio Z series. Zacc also is dedicated to teaching; he is an adjunct faculty at Hamline University and has taught guitar privately for the past 15 years.  His most recent release (with the Zacc Harris Group) is The Garden.

Chris Bates©Andrea Canter

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