We now know the rhythmic and harmonic prowess of bassist Richard Bona. Appearing on the international stages at the turn of the 2000s, this incredible melodist has, for more than 20 years, developed step by step his sound identity nourished by jazz, funk, wriggling vocal resonances and explosive instrumental acrobatics. From his first collaborations alongside Manu Dibango or Salif Keita to his complicity with Harry Belafonte, Quincy Jones or Stevie Wonder, his career is impressive. As he reveals today a thrilling duet with the illustrious Oumou Sangaré, let’s take the time to tell his destiny…
What a long way since his first album, Scenes from my life, in 1999. Richard Bona crossed geographical and artistic borders with an unshakeable faith in the future. Always quick to take up challenges, he did not hesitate to leave his native country for France, then the United States where he understood, very quickly, that his gift for music could accelerate his epic. When he arrived in New York in the mid-1990s, he was not yet 30 years old. The rhythm of this hectic city suits him perfectly. He quickly made friends with instrumentalists who encouraged him to multiply his experiences. Saxophonist Michael Brecker and drummer Omar Hakim, among others, agreed to support him during his first recordings for the Columbia label. Richard Bona’s talent and his lucky star raise him to the rank of the American virtuosos he rubs shoulders with on a daily basis while retaining this part of so endearing candor.
Respectfully, he adopts the professional attitude of his new friends and understands that beyond the happiness of evolving in a high-end musical universe, the perfect mastery of his art goes through a demand for perfection. So he composes, rehearses, practices intensely, without denying his ancestral cultural roots. He refined his sound identity and seduced many of his jazz counterparts. His association with the former guitarist of Miles Davis, Mike Stern, will be one of his greatest successes. The albums Voices and These Times by Mike Stern will bear the indelible mark of a particularly inspired Richard Bona. Always on the lookout for popular musical trends, he will be able to sniff out the tastes of the public and will have fun satisfying them at each of his concerts. Whether blues, jazz, Afro-Cuban or flamenco, his expressiveness is irresistible.
In recent years, Latin scents seem to animate his festive creativity. With his group “Mandekan Cubano” or in duo with the pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, he regenerated his childhood memories when, in Cameroon, he heard Caribbean music interpreted by his elders. Always where we least expect him, Richard Bona returns in 2022 with a slew of ever more daring projects. Duuru Wakani is the fruit of his insatiable desire to invent and renew himself. This rhythmic vocal exchange with the “Queen of Wassoulou” reveals a new facet of the character experienced in the exercise of stylistic volte-faces. This is the first time that Richard Bona has collaborated with Oumou Sangaré and we are already enjoying imagining an entire album concocted by these two sensitive souls. Let’s wait with this single and bet on the power of persuasion of the brilliant bass player who will necessarily know how to find the words to seduce his Malian colleague to go further…
Richard Bona is on tour in Europe this summer. All dates here.