Richard Bona

Since arriving in New York in 1995, Cameroon-born bassist-vocalist-composer Richard Bona has been one of the most sought-after talents on the jazz scene. He has played with the likes of Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Salif Keita, Joe Zawinul, Branford Marsalis, David Sanborn, Regina Carter, Bobby McFerrin and many more. But it is a leader that he has revealed the full scope of his artistry. He has released four solo CDs, with the most recent, Tiki, demonstrating his “gently mellifluous tenor, wicked chops and an undeniable ear for a hook.” Born in 1967 in the village of Minta in East Cameroon, Bona grew up in a home filled with music. His grandfather and mother were both singers and he developed an uncanny ability to learn any instrument simply by watching it being played. Because of the difficulty in getting instruments in his village, he endeavored to make his own and cleverly built wooden flutes, percussion instruments and even a guitar (which he made with bicycle brake cables). His foray into jazz took place in 1980 when a Frenchman came to his town and established a jazz club in a local hotel. The club owner who had heard about Bona, hired him and asked him to assemble a band. Not knowing anything about jazz, Bona spent entire days learning to play all of the instruments provided by the club teaching himself to read and write music as well. The club owner also offered his collection of 500 jazz LPs for Bona to start learning the repertoire and it was upon hearing Jaco Pastorius’ revolutionary debut album entitled Jaco Pastorius, that Bona decided he had to play bass. “Before I heard Jaco, I’d never even considered playing bass,” he recalls. “But when I heard that music, it changed my life.” In 1989, at age 22, Bona moved to Paris and soon began working with such leading French musicians as violinist Didier Lockwood and bassist Marc Ducret, as well as African stars Manu Dibango and Salif Keita. During that time, Joe Zawinul came to Paris to meet Bona and play with him. For Richard Bona, it was a dream come true— playing with the great Joe Zawinul of Weather Report and Jaco Pastorius fame. In 1995 Richard Bona moved to NYC where he joined the Joe Zawinul Syndicate, later joining Harry Belafonte as his musical director. Bona’s musical and cultural depth are best showcased in his latest recording, Tiki, where he explores “…Africa, of course, a land of myths and intimacy, both ancestral and ultra-contemporary; there’s also the extraordinary cosmopolitanism of the great cultural capitals of our global village, with a soundtrack that borrows as much from jazz as it does from Afro-Cuban rhythms, from the precious suavity of Brazil’s harmonies as much as from the energy of rap, and from the grooving nonchalance of the Caribbean as much as from the extreme precision of Anglo-Saxon pop. It is an extraordinary agglomerate of diverse, multiple influences, a swarming mass of simultaneous identities.” The Richard Bona group is Richard Bona, electric bass & vocals; Taylor Haskins, trumpet; John Caban, guitar; Etienne Stadwijk, keyboards; Samuel Torres; percussion; and Ernesto Simpson, drums.

$45/30/20 ($5 Discount for Outpost Members) $5 Discount for Outpost Members available in person only with valid Outpost Member Card. No Member passes Tickets Available: www.ticketmaster.com; (505)883-7800; all Ticketmaster Outlets; and the KiMo Box Office: 5th & Central (9am-4pm M-F); or at The Outpost Performance Space 210 Yale Blvd SE, 10am-2pm, M-F or by phone 268-0044