Alicia and Michael Olatuja (now performing as Olatuja) put on a terrific concert at the Saratoga Jazz Festival on June 30. WBGO's Lezlie Harrison recently spoke with them about their latest recording titled Olatuja.
Olatuja is a band, a project, an album full of the uplifting, joyful music of the African diaspora, and a beacon of healing in a divided world.
Michael ‘Leye’ Olatuja first met Alicia ‘Lisa’ Olatuja when both were students at Manhattan School Of Music. Their relationship quickly deepened and they married, and in 2011 made a record together under the name Olatuja. As time passed their relationship evolved. No longer husband and wife, but still close friends, they each pursued their separate musical careers, and each succeeded in establishing themselves at the highest level of their respective professions:
Michael as a first-call bassist in NYC, and Alicia as an internationally touring mezzo-soprano. Now, after a decade, they have reunited creatively as Olatuja. With an A-list supporting cast including drummers Obed Calvaire and Joshua Keitt, guitarists Femi Temowo and David Rosenthal, percussionist Magatte Sow and star pianist Christian Sands, Michael and Alicia set about creating Olatuja - an album that is at once cinematic in scope and intimate and personal in its message of trust, joy and the power of honest communication.
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Olatuja was released May 31, 2024
