Harold Haity brings his music home

When Ghanaian electric bass player, Harold Haity, left his base at Kiel  in Germany for Accra about a month ago, he knew he was heading home to unwind from the hectic gigs across Europe and sessions with his music students.

He decided, in the course of his holiday,  to play a couple of gigs in the nation’s capital to introduce himself and his style  to music lovers and that’s how come he will be the featured act on Saturday, August 26 at the +233 Jazz Bar and Grill in Accra.

Haity  plays smooth jazz with influences from a variety of sources including West African and European melodies laced  with  Afro Latin rhythms and  R& B.
At his concerts, his repertoire consists mainly of his own instrumental compositions with a few additional vocal pieces created by the likes of George Benson and Earl Klugh.

For the +233 concert, Haity will be backed by Victor Dey (piano), Bright Osei ( electric bass), Israel Annor  (drums) and  Bright Osei (guitar). He uses his electric bass as a lead instrument and plays his melodies, harmonies and improvisations on it the way a guitar does.

The electric bass has been part of jazz for a long time. Though it was initially used mainly to keep time, it has now risen to be  an important melodic instrument in its own right and has spawned giants like Richard Bona,  Abraham Laboriel, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Stanley Clarke and Musa Manzini.

According to Haity, a product of the Swiss Jazz Academy who currently has an album under his name,  he started playing the electric bass as a lead instrument about 18 years ago to  avoid frustrations from saxophonists  he called to play his compositions.  

“I was talking to another bassist friend about the hassles of getting melodic instrument players to work with on my own material. He suggested that since I knew my own songs better than anybody else and I was fluid on the electric bass, I should take on the lead parts.

“That was the moment that sparked this journey for me. I plunged head-on into that role and I’m enjoying it,” said Haity who has lived and worked also in Switzerland, France, England and the United States.

The bassist is planning to return early next year to record a new album and make his inventive smooth jazz approach more accessible to compatriots and across the continent.