Jazz Australia chats to Matt Ottignon about Ethiopian music, beats and coffee beans prior to the release of his new album, Drop It Like It’s Ott

His saxophone has been described as being ‘a classic tenor sound as wide as a double-frontage terrace’. He has appeared on the recordings of Katie Noonan, Jackie Orszazcky, and Mike Nock. Matt Ottignon has appeared on stage with international legends Lou Reed, Brian Wilson,Steve Cropper and Donald Duck Dunn.

JK: When did you first become interested in Ethiopian music?

MO: A number of years ago now, my older brother Mark, who is an avid record collector, played me a mixtape he had made of Ethiopian music from the 70’s. I loved it and would have it on in the car constantly. It was about this time that the Jim Jarmusch movie starring Bill Murray, Broken Flowers came out, which featured music by Mulatu Astatqe. Shortly after this I became aware of the Ethiopiques compilation cd’s that were being put out by Francis Falcetto from France. There is a strong tradition of great saxophone players in Addis Ababa and their way of playing really appealed to me.

JK: How has meeting and playing with Dereb influenced you?

MO: Meeting Sydney based Ethiopian singer Dereb Desalegn changed my interest in Ethiopian music immensely. Up until this point I had never really stopped to think  what was so interesting about this music, but through playing his music in his band and seeing Dereb’s infectious passion for the music from his homeland I wanted to fully immerse myself in it and would listen and practice the scales and songs for hours upon end.

JK: What about your trip to Ethiopia? What are your stand out memories?

MO: Ethiopia has a very strong and unique culture and I got to see many amazing examples of this. In the ancient capital Gonder there is a strong tradition of the travelling minstrel or singer called Azmari, often accompanying themselves with the krar (lyre) or masenqo (violin). While at a dinner with the town mayor, we were serenaded by a local Azmari singer who sang to each of us individually singer in the local Amharic language, often to loud laughter from all the people who could understand what she was singing about. Azmari are famous for double entendre in their lyrics. We also visited many traditional music houses were people would stay up drinking coffee and sing and dance together. Seeing coffee made for us the old way was pretty special. At a family home we sat as a woman roasted the green coffee beans over hot coals, ground them in a mortar and pestle, brewed the coffee over the same hot coals and served it sweet with scented popcorn as an accompaniment.

JK: What sort of differences and similiarities are there between Ethiopian and traditional jazz music?

MO: Ethiopian and Jazz music developed completely unaware of each other and it wasn’t until the 1950’s that foreign music was even heard in Ethiopia, so I would say that they are quite unique. Some jazz records would have appeared alongside rhythm and blues and other popular artists of the day and influenced the Addis Ababa recording industry. James Brown had a huge impact in the 60’s and 70’s. Mulatu Astatqe was the first musician to bring jazz and Ethiopian music together. I personally find the blending of traditional Ethiopian music, jazz, and funk to be exciting and a match made in heaven.

JK: I think you may have mentioned that each village has different beats, can you tell us a bit more about this? 

MO: In Dereb’s band we would perform songs that were often named after the ethnic group from where the style of music came from. For instance the music of the Gurage people (from south west Ethiopia) has a sound that some people say influenced reggae. Wollo (north east Ethiopia) music has a specific beat, tempo, dance and a major sounding pentatonic scale that makes this music unique. Other important styles of Ethiopian music come from Gojjam, Welaytta and now independent Tigray.

JK: You have an album launch this Friday in Sydney. Do you have plans for a tour?

MO: I am currently touring a lot with various bands: a speigletent show called Scotch and Soda, childrens’ music group Lah-Lah, and Baby Et Lulu. This makes it a little difficult to tour with my own band. I will hopefully be making some appearances in London as Mister Ott, as I will be there for 3 months this year. I will look at taking the band on a Australaian tour once my other touring settles down a bit.

Drop It Like It’s Ott is being launched at 505, Friday April 10, supported by the Vampires. Band for the launch is the usual six piece augmented with c melody sax and congas. Matthew Ottignon – saxes, Ellen Kirkwood – trumpet, Daniel Pliner – keys, Ben Panucci – guitar, Eden Ottignon – bass, Dan Kennedy – drums, Peter Farrar – sax, Aykho Akryff – congas. CDs or digitally through bandcamp or itunes more info at www.misterott.com or www.earshift.com

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