Mulatu Astatke

The revered founding father of Ethio-jazz, vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke, pays an extremely rare visit to Leeds. His utterly distinctive style is made up of a heady combination of jazz, funk, Latin swing, Afrobeat and Ethiopian harmonics. He combines the rhythms of his East African homeland with arrangements reminiscent of Ellington and Gil Evans.

First flourishing in the ‘Swinging Addis’ era of the late 1960s, Astake became a legend in the West through the Éthiopiques series of recordings. With his own band of brilliant players, he reveals that at 70, he is still ever-inventive, visionary and the master of his form.