It’s difficult to exaggerate the scale of Tony Allen’s talent and influence. The Nigerian drummer joined Fela Kuti’s band when the soon-to-be-legendary performer was still impersonating James Brown. Allen introduced the mind-blowing polyrhythms that would define Afrobeat music as much as Fela’s saxophone or outsized personality. He died suddenly from an aneurysm yesterday in Paris, leaving behind a legacy that spans decades, genres, and continents.
An exhaustive account of Allen’s recording career could fill several books. From his early start in highlife OG Victor Olaiya’s band the Cool Cats, through his 30 albums with Fela and the records where he led Africa ’70, Allen’s career was the stuff of legend well before he hit a dark period in the 1980s. Once he kicked his heroin habit (cold turkey, no less), he came out the other side with renewed vigor and curiosity about experimenting with different styles and artists—a stance that continued until his death. What follows is but a mere glimpse at some of his essential recordings, a starting point for the work of a master percussionist who never stopped pushing his own limits.
Fela Ransome-Kuti and the Africa ’70 with Ginger Baker: “Ye Ye De Smell” (1971)
Cream drummer Ginger Baker’s love for Nigerian music is well-documented; he lived there from 1970 to 1976, and even opened up a studio in Lagos while the country was mired in war. “Ye Ye De Smell,” or “Bullshit Stinks,” was written with Baker’s drumming style in mind, but you can hear a hint of the polyrhythms that would soon evolve into Afrobeat, with Fela and backing band Africa ’70 leading the way. Allen’s presence is unimpeachable, even when he’s sharing the stage with a superstar drummer like Baker.
Fela Kuti: “Roforofo Fight” (1972)
This is not quite the first Afrobeat record—that honor belongs to 1972’s Shakara—but Roforofo Fight is where Allen distinguished himself as a singular, irreplaceable artist. The album’s rhythms can only be played by four limbs locked into completely independent drum patterns, the feat that prompted Fela to remark that having Allen behind the kit was akin to having four drummers in his band. Roforofo Fight also offers some of the earliest evidence of Fela’s radicalization during a trip to the U.S. in 1969; the Black Panthers inspired his own militant resistance, which would come to define Africa ’70 as a band.
Fela and Africa ’70: “Zombie” (1976)
Zombie is Fela and his band operating at the peak of their powers, and it has proven to be one of their most enduring recordings. It also marked a fracture in Allen’s relationship with Fela. After the immense success of the title track, which openly mocks soldiers blindly following orders, the Nigerian Army attacked Fela’s compound, brutally assaulting him, raping his women, and throwing his mother out the window. Allen was disturbed by Fela’s willingness to brazenly confront the military and put himself, his loved ones, and his band at risk.
Tony Allen With Africa ’70: “No Accommodation for Lagos” (1979)
After the attack that left their homes destroyed, Fela and his band decamped to their record label’s Lagos outpost. It was there that Allen recorded No Accommodation for Lagos, his third LP as Africa ’70’s bandleader and his most overtly political album up to that point. After its release, Allen would leave behind Fela as well as Africa ’70 itself, feeling that the sprawling nature of the band and its entourage was creatively draining. He performed his last show with Fela and Africa ’70 at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1979, and he moved to Paris in 1984.
The Good, the Bad & the Queen: “The Good, the Bad & the Queen” (2007)
After overcoming addiction, Allen was back in the studio by the late 1990s, but it wasn’t until the 2000s that his curiosity brought him to new creative peaks. In London, he joined up with Blur and Gorillaz leader Damon Albarn (ever the African music enthusiast) and formed a supergroup with Danger Mouse, the Clash’s Paul Simonon, and the Verve’s Simon Tong. Political and staunchly anti-war, the Good, the Bad & the Queen’s first LP offers further evidence that Allen always agreed with Fela’s politics—he just didn’t agree with endangering the band. Allen would form another group with Albarn as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, called Rocket Juice & the Moon, which was looser and more jam-oriented. But this first project with Albarn kicked off his late-career renaissance and led to a bevy of left-field collaborations.
Tony Allen: “Moanin’” (2017)
Allen’s album-length tribute to Art Blakey may have come at the end of his career, but the legendary jazz drummer is partially responsible for what preceded it. As a young drummer in Nigeria, Allen drew inspiration from Blakey’s hard-driving, polyrhythmic style as he developed his own, which you can hear in the jazz stylings of Afrobeat. On Moanin’, Allen covers a handful of iconic compositions that Blakey recorded with the Jazz Messengers, the band that served as a training ground for generations of jazz greats.
Tony Allen and Jeff Mills: “Locked and Loaded” (2018)
Around 2015, Allen booked a studio in his adopted hometown of Paris and invited musicians to come jam with him. There was no defined expectation, just a veteran drummer looking for inspiration. Among those who showed up was Detroit techno OG Jeff Mills, replete with a Roland TR-909 drum machine and a small synth. Their sessions, which would lead to the mind-expanding Afrofuturist EP Tomorrow Comes the Harvest, were illuminating for both artists. Mills recounted how their conversations over lunch and on break would correlate with how they played together afterwards, and he marveled at Allen’s philosophy behind the function of each drum.
Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela: “We’ve Landed” (2020)
Allen’s final album was the result of a 2010 session between two African legends who had long conspired to collaborate. Twenty-five years after Allen and South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela first met in Lagos, they recorded together in a London studio; eight years later, shortly after Masekela died, Allen dug up those recordings and put together Rejoice!. It’s a heartwarming conversation between old friends, where they reflect on their globe-trotting paths while still remembering to have fun. “We’ve Landed,” the final track, is a passing of the torch to the youth of today, with Masekela speaking for them both in Yoruba: “Ise lori lo fii nsere” or, loosely translated, “Your work begins.” In hindsight, it’s hard not to view the project as a man settling his books and preparing for what comes next.
