+233 hosts weekend of delightful Jazz

Some captivating Jazz and other shades of contemporary popular music will come the way of patrons of the +233 Jazz Bar & Grill in Accra this weekend when the club brings on Swiss vibraphonist Thomas Dobler and the GHJazz Collective on Saturday, October 12 and Senegalese bassist Alune Wade & Band on Sunday, October 13.

An accomplished composer, arranger, bandleader and teacher, Dobler artfully threads all his skills together for vibrant runs when he gets behind his vibraphone. He’s been in and out of Ghana since 2022 either as a director accompanying students from Switzerland’s Haute Ecole de Musique (HEMU) or a facilitator at the Accra Jazz Academy.

He is an inventive Jazz-steeped player who digs deep into the sounds, textures and creative resources available to him at all times. That’s why his appearance once again with the GHJazz Collective at +233 should offer a pleasant night of Jazz with all sorts of creative twists.

Bassist, vocalist, composer and producer, Alune Wade, has drive and top-notch musicianship up his sleeves. With his warm-toned, swinging bass lines, the Senegalese has played with a brilliant line-up of contemporary musicians and performed alongside well-known names such as Joe Zawinul, Salif Keita, Bobby McFerrin, Oumou Sangare, Fatoumata Diawara and Paco Sery.

Alune Wade collaborated with bass giant Marcus Miller and co-wrote two tunes on Millers' well-received ‘Afrodeezia’ album in 2015. He teamed up again with Miller and other musicians for a performance of their jointly-written ‘Hylife’ song from the Afrodeezia’ collection on International Jazz Day 2022 at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York City.

The  band of capable international hands Alune Wade will play with on October 13 includes Victor Ademofe on trumpet (Nigeria), Harry Ahonlonsou on saxophone (Benin), Bernard Ayisa on saxophone (Ghana), Cedric Duchemamann on keyboard (Reunion Island), Alix Goffic on drums (French Guiana) and Stephen Dufy on sousaphone (USA).

+233 has over the years hosted some extremely gifted bassists like Richard Bona and Ettiene Mbappe from Cameroun, Nee Sackey from Ghana and Manu Falla from Benin. Jazz lovers with keen ears for ‘killer’ bass lines would definitely check out how Alune Wade rocks his instrument. 

On the whole, it should be a pleasant weekend for discerning music lovers with the highly-respected Thomas Dobler and Alune Wade at the +233 Jazz Bar & Grill on October 12 and October 13. Concerts begin at 9.00pm on both days.