Mulatu Astatke is known as the father of Ethiopian jazz, and that’s for good reason. He plays on all the important instrumental albums from the heyday of Ethiopian jazz in the 1970s. The now 81-year-old musician received his musical training in London and New York, and in Boston, Astatke was the first African student at the renowned Berklee College of Music. There, he combined jazz, Latin, and traditional Ethiopian music. Back in his home country, he introduced instruments like the vibraphone, keyboard, congas, and bongos into the music. But it is especially the grooving, Ethiopian melodies that Astatke brought into American jazz that he is praised for. He performed on stage with legends like Duke Ellington and Alice Coltrane. His music still inspires many musicians, and his songs are frequently used as samples by artists such as Nas, Damian Marley, and Kanye West. Astatke broke through to a large international audience (again) when, starting in the late 1990s, the Ethio-jazz reissues from the ‘Éthiopiques’ compilation series were released, and his music was used in the soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch’s 2005 film Broken Flowers.
In 2025, he will start his farewell tour and release Mulatu Plays Mulatu, a retrospective of his legendary career. “I wanted to spread Ethio-jazz worldwide, and I have succeeded,” he says – a legacy that will undoubtedly live on.