Femi Temowo is a Nigerian-born British jazz guitarist, musical director, producer, and broadcaster. He was nominated for the Best Jazz Act MOBO Award.
Early life
Femi Temowo was born in the city of Akure, Nigeria. Following the death of his birth mother when he was four months old, he lived with his grandmother in Nigeria while his father emigrated to the UK. In 1986, Temowo's father returned to take his son to England, where they lived in Streatham, South London, with his siblings and step-mother. His step-mother insisted he spend Saturday evenings with her at church choir rehearsals. Aside from a brief experimentation with rap, Temowo had not seriously engaged with music. At church, when he was 17, he was taught his first guitar chords by Michael Olatuja. Temowo started experimenting with his brother's acoustic guitar and fell in love with the instrument. Temowo attended Leeds College of Music for a one-year music introduction course in 1996. That year, at the age of 20, he played in his first live jam session at the Paradise Bar in New Cross, London, with Shingai Shoniwa. In 1997, he was selected to join the Paradise Bar's house band and began performing in London. He embarked on a Music degree at Middlesex University and graduated in 2001. After graduating, he accompanied Phillippe, Julie Dexter, Samantha Mumba, and Misteeq, with whom he toured.
Career
1999–2006: Beginning works
In 2003, Temowo met saxophonist and rapper Soweto Kinch at a jam session in Uncle Sam's, Hackney. The pair met as teenagers at the same venue, introduced by jazz guitarist Alan Weekes. They played the jazz standard "Caravan". By 2003, Kinch was entered in the Rising Star category in the BBC Radio Jazz Awards and International Saxophonist of the Year at the Montreux Jazz Festival and was signed to Dune Records. He invited Temowo to form a quartet with bassist Michael Olatuja and drummer Troy Miller. Temowo agreed, and they recorded Kinch's debut album Conversations with the Unseen, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Temowo continued to work and tour internationally with Kinch, and played on Kinch's second album, and third album, The New Emancipation. Amy Winehouse was seeking a musical director after the release of her debut album, Frank, when Temowo, a regular on the jazz circuit, was recommended to her. Winehouse and Temowo met at the Spread Eagle pub in Camden in 2004 to discuss their musical ideas. Temowo worked as Winehouse's musical director and guitar accompanist throughout 2004 and 2005, touring with her twice across Europe and the UK. Temowo ceased work with her in late 2005 and began to write solo material. The Black Lily was a platform which showcased female talent from Philadelphia, born in the basement of Questlove's house. The first series took place weekly at the Wetlands in New York and later moved to the Five Spot in Philadelphia. The Black Lily produced Floetry, Jaguar Wright, Lady Alma, Kindred the Family Soul and Jazmine Sullivan, and hosted impromptu performances from Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, The Roots, and India Arie. The concept was exported to the UK in 2003, where Temowo musically directed The Black Lily monthly nights at Cargo in Shoreditch. The Roots were hosted at London's Black Lily twice, performing with Temowo both times. Temowo also moonlights as a broadcaster, hosting Jazz Alive twice weekly on the Premier Gospel radio station.
2006–present: solo career
Temowo released his debut solo album, Quiet Storm, in September 2006 on his label, Femitone Music. Made with a modest budget, the album was recorded in one day at The Premises Studios in Hackney. He spent nine months producing the record from home. Orin Meta which means "Three Songs" in the Yoruba language, was inspired by his study of the song culture of the early Yoruba people of his native West Africa. The record showcases his guitar style and arrangements through the Yoruba tradition of storytelling, fusing jazz harmonies and Yoruba rhythms. He spent over a year producing the record. In 2009 Courtney Pine invited Temowo to play at the first Lagos International Jazz Festival, part of the North Sea Jazz Festival. This was Temowo's first trip to Nigeria since his emigration when he was ten years old, and it prompted several revisits and an exploration of the music of his heritage. Temowo explains that while connected to his Nigerian roots, he was exploring his cultural background from the perspective of someone born in Nigeria but living as a British person in the UK. The album includes appearances by Xantone Blacq, Soweto Kinch, Troy Miller, Eska Mtungwazi, Michael Olatuja, Jean Toussaint, and Grant Windsor. The Music Is the Feeling, his third album, was recorded with Karl Rasheed-Abel, Thomas Dyani, the Engines Orchestra, Troy Miller, Michael Olatuja, and Ernesto Simpson. A combination of West African folk and jazz, the album evokes the music he listened to as a boy in Nigeria when he heard King Sunny Adé, Fela Kuti, and Ebenezer Obey. Nine of eleven tracks included the Engines Orchestra led by saxophonist Phil Meadows, who Temowo met shortly after their formation.
