Master drummer, educator, and Pan-Africanist, Olatunji influenced everyone from John Coltrane to Spike Lee in the US where he made his home, whilst In Europe Serge Gainsbourg `borrowed’ Babtunde’s beats for his 1964 longplayer Gainsbourg Percussions. Writing in his posthumously published autobiography, the percussionist explained the art of the drummer as; “a very special kind of trinity” comprising the spirit of the tree from which the drum is carved, the life force of the animal whose hide becomes a drum skin, and the spirit of the percussionist. Together…
