LOOKING at the Nigerian music scene, three veteran horn-men in their '80s deserve to be saluted ' for surviving till date ' E.C. Arinze (trumpet); Victor Olaiya (trumpet); and Chris Ajilo (saxophone).The three have one thing in common ' highlife music and band leadership. Live music being the only thing they know, they must be feeling quite uncomfortable with the on-going hip hop trend where the playing of instruments is completely abandoned in favour of computers, turn tables and such other technological devices ' for creating music.At 81, Chris Ajilo is looking much younger than his age. Even when musicians were noted for ebullience, flamboyance, riotous living and such other frivolities in the '50s and '60s, Ajilo was different. He was calm, gentle, disciplined and easy going. He approached the profession with a great sense of responsibility, and has maintained this same posture ever since, as if it is a natural endowment.However, music has always been his life, and he has used it as a medium of communication. His saxophone, in particular, has been instrument of pleasure as well as for expressing all his emotions in terms of joy and sadness. Ajilo is not just a veteran by virtue of the fact that he has decades of practice behind him, he was a contemporary of the late Bobby Benson, and by implication one of the pioneers of highlife and dance music. An individualist of no mean order, dance music was his pre-occupation.A great saxophone legend, Ajilo is reputed for his uncompromising attitude to the profession, which he took seriously from the beginning. As a result, he has always felt that musicians should equip themselves with the professional know-how. A teacher of music himself, he has trained numerous musicians who eventually became assets to the industry, among them Lakan Animasaun.The fact that Baba Ani is directing the affairs of Egypt 80 today is not only due to the experience he garnered from Fela's various aggregations of which he is the longest serving member, it is mainly because of the professional grounding he went through with Chris Ajilo who insisted that his sidemen should be musically knowledgeable.Actually, when he joined the Koola Lobitos in 1956, apart from Isaac Olasugba who was already musically established abroad, Baba Ani was the only one who could play his part by sight as the Afro beat legend usually scored his jazz-oriented highlife into a multi-part harmony. While others took their scores home for rehearsal having been watered down to Solfa, Baba Ani had no problems at all.Ajilo is a product of the 50s, the decade which enthroned highlife as a popular form of music. But though he could play highlife even better than some of the popular exponents of that decade, he chose to shift his attention to a more challenging type of music of a mixed nature. In consequence, he appealed to a clientele that was highbrow. While highlife bands played in popular night-clubs, his exotic sound was more ideal for selected, elitist venues such as Gan gan Night Club, Ibadan.Nevertheless, he was one of the early composers of Nigerian highlife music in a style that was uninfluenced by the Ghanaian approach. As early as the 50s, he structured the melody to Emi mimo, which was later made popular for Melodisc Records by Steve Rhodes in London. The song is so tuneful that it has faded into the folk music area as an evergreen. Ajilo, however, recorded his own version much later, in the 60s, for Philips Records as a single with Oti lo wa ju on the flip side.As a matter of fact, he was perhaps the first to introduce 'Afro' feeling to highlife music through Aiko miae. His composition and performance of the monumental hit, Ekoogba gbere is commendable for its melodic inventiveness and has the same remarkable sense of lyricism as Orilonise.A musician of man sides, Ajilo remains one of the pioneering jazz instrumentalists on the Nigerian scene. He was there with the late Mike Falana, a trumpeter of international repute, Sammy Lartey, pianist Olu McFoy, bassist Ayo Vanghan, among others. And he kept the tradition on till the 60s when he played tenor saxophone for the Jazz Preachers, which included Art Alade on piano; Bayo Martins, drums; Ayo Vanghan, bass; Zeal Onyia, trumpet. Ajilo was the star of the band in terms of solo work. He sounded rather thematic in his improvisations and his approach kept reminding the listener about the songs, which he related to from time to time, as a reference point.Ajilo is proficient in almost all the instruments of the reed family, among them flute, alto, soprano, and baritone, but it is the tenor saxophone that really captures his whole essence. It is on this instrument that the quality of his tonal concept is really appreciated. On the medium and up tempos, his style is in the Sonny Rollins-Ben Webster technique, but on slow, dragging ballads, he is reminiscent of Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins.All through his career as a practicing musician he carried himself with dignity and a great sense of responsibility. He commanded great respect. It was not surprising that by the time he lapsed into semi-retirement in the 70s, he joined Polygram Records as producer, and took charge of artistes with the instruments of the orchestra. While in Polygram, he elevated the quality of highlife music by his production experience, which was based on his knowledge of music and experience acquired on stage over decades.Prominent among his artistes was Celestine Ukwu whose highlife should have ruled the decade of the 70s, just like Rex Lawson did in the 60s, but for his untimely death.Aside from his sound mixing expertise, Ajilo was able to find the right musicians to contribute to Celestine's sessions, which have all become highlife classics. In 1983, he was responsible for selecting and putting together the Best of Celestine Ukwu into an album, which sold considerably for Polygram Records.As a producer, Ajilo helped to consolidate Stephen Osadebe's highlife on the scene. Osadebe's highlife is usually in the repetitive grassroots fashion, but in some sessions like Osondi Owendi for instance, production technique shifted emphasis on the bass line whose movement was made to introduce evocative rhythmic patterns for variety and appeal.Before his final retirement, resulting in his movement from Lagos to his home-town, Chris Ajilo was for many years, the General Manager of the defunct Performing and Mechanical Rights Society of Nigeria. What a good way to end a brilliant musical career!
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