Hotep Idris Galeta

83, Male

Johannesburg and Cape Town

South Africa

Profile Information:

What instrument do you play?

Piano

Who influenced you to listen to jazz

As a teenager in Cape Town, South Africa I tuned into a shortwave radio jazz program one day and became hooked on the music !!!

How did you find out about the WDCJN?

www.southafricanjazznetwork.ning.com

Where are you located?

Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa

Tell us about yourself

I'm a South African - American pianist-composer-jazz educator and a U.S. military veteran.....8th Infantry Division Army Band 1963-1966. I spent some twenty nine years in exile in the U.S. 1962-1991 where my interaction with other South African and American musicians resulted in a wonderful academic, performance and recording career. I've been very blessed to have worked and shared the bandstand with a number of great musicians such as Pharoah Saunders, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendricks, James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Ray Charles, Mongo Santamaria, Sonny Stitt, Herbie Hancock, O.C. Smith, Ernestine Anderson, Cecil and Ron Bridgewater, Gerry Gonzalez, Joe Ford, Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, Billy Hart, Buster Williams, Julian Priester, Sonny Fortune, Cindy Blackman, Antoine and Wallace Roney, Lenny White, Dewey Redman, Charles Lloyd, Carl Allen, Eric McPherson, Steve Davis, T.K. Blue, Nat Reeves, Miriam Makeba, Victor Bailey and Fred Foss..I've recorded albums and C.D.'s with John Handy, Jackie and Rene McLean, Bobby Hutcherson, Woody Shaw, Hugh Masekela, Herb Alpert, David Crosby and the Byrds, Letta Mbulu, Joshua Redman, Mario Pavonne, Hadley Caliman and Elvin Jones. My tenure as a professor of jazz studies at the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music's African American Music Department under the directorship of the late great jazz master saxophonist / jazz educator professor Jackie McLean lasted for five years until my return to South Africa in1991. I was also the pianist in the Jackie McLean band for eight wonderful years and recorded three C.D.'s while with the band. '" Dynasty " " Rights of Passage" and " The J Mac Attack Band Live in Belgium " I'm currently the Director / Project Manager for the establishment of the Hugh Masekela African Leadership Academy for Arts & Entertainment in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa

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