WAli And the Afro-CArAvAn
Afro-Jazz.
In the heart of Texas.
A most unusual group
1967. Austin, Texas. The Afro-Caravan, formed and lead by 21-year-old Manhattan, New York, native Wali Rahman (performing under the stage name Wali King), brought a new kind of percussion-based jazz, informed by African traditions, to Central Texas. As comfortable and accepted at Austin’s downtown hippy haven, The Vulcan Gas CompanyThe Vulcan was Austin’s first successful hippie music hall, opening in 1967 in an old warehouse at 316 Congress Avenue and closing in 1970. Its better known successor was Armadillo World Headquarters., as at Austin’s predominantly Black east-side hot spot, The Afro, the hip Afro-jazz group garners a following that crosses age and racial lines. Under its original name, Afro Caravan Players, the group was the inaugural act when The Afro first opened in October 1967. By December ’67, the group changed its name to The Afro-Caravan. Sonobeat’s relationship with The Afro-Caravan began almost a year later, when Sonobeat co-founders Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley“Rim Kelley” was the pseudonym used by Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Jr. as a radio deejay in Austin, Texas, during the 1960s and as a Sonobeat producer from 1967 to 1970. saw the group perform at The Vulcan. The mesmerizing sound of The Afro-Caravan surprised Bill and Rim, since it wasn’t rock, progressive rock, or psychedelic, the types of acts that The Vulcan usually booked.
Sonobeat Artists
Wali and the Afro-Caravan
The single
Not long after The Vulcan appearance, Sonobeat arranged to record The Afro-Caravan during a variety show live performance on Tuesday, July 30, 1968, at Austin’s Pan American Hillside Theater, but for reasons not documented in the Sonobeat archives, the session was delayed until Saturday, August 10th, when Sonobeat recorded the group before a live audience at HemisFair ’68, the World’s Fair held in San Antonio, Texas. Wali was no World’s Fair newbie: at age 17, he had performed in a 16-piece percussion group at the 1964-’65 New York World’s Fair. Sonobeat recorded The Afro-Caravan at the Night Light, an open air cabaret at Project Y, HemisFair’s youth pavilion, where the group regularly performed on weekends during almost the entire run of the Fair. Comin’ Home Baby and Afro-Twist were recorded in just one take each through Sonobeat’s custom-built portable 10-input stereo mixer feeding into a quarter-inch 2-track Ampex 354. The Afro-Caravan’s resulting 45 RPM stereo single was Sonobeat’s only commercial release of a live performance by any artist.
They used to have ‘Love-Ins’ at Zilker Park [in Austin], and we got invited to play some Love-Ins and stuff like that. I had had a group up in New York that I’d worked with [before coming to Texas] that was called the Caravan. We needed a name, so I came up with the idea of The Afro-Caravan. So we started performing under that name.”
Comin’ Home Baby
Recording and release details
45 RPM stereo single
“A” side: Comin’ Home Baby (Ben Tucker-Bob Dorough) • 3:45
“B” side: Afro-Twist (Wali King-J. Murray) • 4:54
Catalog number: R-s106
Generic sleeve
Released week of September 2, 1968*
*Release date is approximated using best information available from the Sonobeat archives and public records
Produced and engineered by Rim Kelley
Co-produced by Bill Josey Sr. (uncredited)
Recorded before a live audience at the Y Pavilion at HemisFair ’68, San Antonio, Texas, on August 10, 1968
Recorded using...
- ElectroVoice 665 dynamic and ElectroVoice SlimAir 636 dynamic microphones
- Ampex 354 quarter-inch 2-track tape deck
- Custom 10-channel portable stereo mixer
- 3M (Scotch) 202 tape stock
Between 1,000 and 1,500 copies pressed
Lacquers mastered by Austin Custom Records
Vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona
Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas
In the dead wax...
- Comin’ Home Baby: WAS 33 6896 A R-S106 A Re1 SJW-10784
- Afro-Twist: WAS 33 6896 B Re1 R-S106 B SJW-10784
- “WAS” identifies Austin Custom Records as the lacquer mastering service and “SJW” in the matrix number identifies Sidney J. Wakefield & Company as the pressing plant
Wali, who speaks Swahili and Arabic, is originally from the Bronx in New York City. Back in the mid-’60s, at age 18, he enlisted in the Army, did training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and then was assigned to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin. There he met his future bandmates Robert Moore, J. Murray, Ronald Nance, and Ray Lewis, all airmen. Briefly adding a University of Texas freshman, all members of The Afro-Caravan had a deep interest in rhythmic instruments, particularly drums of all types, but also in other traditional African instruments, like flutes, as well as Indian tablas. It was the unique combination of The Afro-Caravan’s instrumentation, rhythm, and melodies that made the combo “romantic – thrilling – appealing – satisfying”, quoting from producer Bill Sr.’s liner notes for the group’s Sonobeat album Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound), recorded about six months after the group’s single. When The Afro-Caravan began performing, each member used his African name – Wali, Kafi, J, Be, Akbar, and Kido (the group started as a sextet) – purposefully avoiding their “slave names”, as Wali revealed in a December 10, 1967, University of Texas Daily Texan newspaper interview.
The Afro-Caravan
- Wali Rahman performing as Wali King (congas, bongos, and vocals)
- Ray Lewis (flute)
- Robert Moore (percussion and backing vocals)
- J. Murray (tenor and alto recorders, vocals)
- Ronald Nance (bass violin)
The Home Lost and Found album
Sessions for the album that producer Bill Josey Sr. named Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound) began on January 21, 1969. The sessions – which spanned several consecutive long evenings – yielded seven tracks, ranging in length from four minutes to over eleven minutes, the longer songs allowed the band to stretch musically. Five songs were Afro-Caravan originals. Sonobeat recorded the album on its Scully 280 half-inch 4-track recorder using the spacious den of the Josey family home in northwest Austin as the “studio”, but the sessions ran very late, often until midnight, keeping the rest of the Josey family up late. Close-miking the instruments provided good stereo separation and made the room acoustics unobtrusive. Recording engineer Rim Kelley used Sonobeat’s custom steel plate reverb to enhance the mix-down masters.
Home Lost and Found
Sonobeat advance pressing
Recording and release details
33-1/3 RPM advance pressing stereo album
Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound)
Catalog number: R-s1003
Plain white jacket rubber stamped (clockwise, from top left, in each corner) with Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound), Wali and the Afro-Caravan, Advance Copy, and Sonobeat Stereo
Most copies hand numbered immediately below the Advance Copy legend
Issued in May or June 1968
Not commercially released; used only for promotional purposes
Side 1:
- Afro Blue (Mongo Santamaria) • 4:12
- Arcane Message (J. Murray) • 7:53
- Hail the King (P.D.) • 5:50
- Guaguanco Stroll (Wali King) • 3:53
Side 2:
- Mystique (J. Murray & Wali King) • 6:50
- Zulu For Hugh (J. Murray & Wali King) • 4:43
- Journey to Mecca (Ray Lewis & Wali King) • 11:10
Produced by Bill Josey and Rim Kelley
Engineered by Rim Kelley
Recorded using...
- ElectroVoice 665 dynamic, ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic, and Sony ECM-22 electret condenser microphones
- Scully 280 half-inch 4-track and Ampex AG-350 quarter-inch 2-track tape decks
- Custom 10-channel portable stereo mixer
- Custom steel plate stereo reverb
- 3M (Scotch) 202 tape stock
Unknown number of copies manufactured
Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona
Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas
Plain white jacket rubber stamped (clockwise, from top left, in each corner) with Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound), Wali and the Afro-Caravan, Advance Copy, and Sonobeat Stereo
Most copies hand numbered immediately below the Advance Copy legend
In the dead wax...
- Side 1: R-1003A 11550 HEC
- Side 2: R-1003B 11550 HEC
- The tulip shape stamped next to the matrix number is the Sidney J. Wakefield logo. “HEC” are the initials of the Wakefield mastering engineer.
In June ’69, Sonobeat issued a limited non-commercial vinyl advance pressing of the album under the artist name “Wali and the Afro-Caravan”. Sonobeat’s “white jacket” release was intended primarily to attract a sale of the master recordings to a national label. That desired sale occurred more than a year later, in August 1970, when Liberty Records – which had purchased rights to Johnny Winter’s The Progressive Blues Experiment from Sonobeat in ’68 and recently had merged with United Artists Records – bought the Afro-Caravan album master. Sonobeat retained rights to The Afro-Caravan’s 45 RPM single, since neither of the songs on the single appeared on the album. In December 1970, Liberty/UA released Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound) on its Solid State jazz label. The album featured a gatefold jacket with highly stylized photography by L’Azul and Renate Taylor. The album cover showed the silhouettes of six performers, which was the group’s original configuration when founded, but when Sonobeat recorded Wali and the Afro-Caravan, the group was a quintet. The album received – and, although long out of print, even today receives – excellent reviews, and Wali’s arrangement of the traditional Hail the King is considered an Afro-jazz classic. Although long ago disbanded, The Afro-Caravan is still vital and musically relevant in the 21st century, validating the adage “everything old is new again”.
A very hip record – especially for the sometimes square Solid State label ... The tracks are long, and build with a slow intensity as more elements join into the mix over time. Includes a strong version of Afro Blue.”
These hypnotically deep percussion jams, pushed along by plodding, camel train bass lines, provide a throbbing template for chanted vocals and haunting recorder melodies that seem to shimmer in a desert heat haze. There’s an effortless and intoxicating exoticism to the whole concept that must have sounded perfectly at home in the darkened hashish dens of central Texas.”
Home Lost and Found
Solid State commercial release details
33-1/3 RPM non-commercial stereo album
Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound)
Catalog number: SS-18065
Four-color gatefold jacket
Released in December 1970
Side One:
- Afro Blue (Mongo Santamaria) • 4:12
- Arcane Message (J. Murray) • 7:53
- Hail the King (P.D.) • 5:50
- Guaguanco Stroll (Wali King) • 3:53
Side Two:
- Mystique (J. Murray & Wali King) • 6:50
- Zulu For Hugh (J. Murray & Wali King) • 4:43
- Journey to Mecca (Ray Lewis & Wali King) • 11:10
Produced by Bill Josey and Rim Kelley
A Sonobeat Production for Liberty/U.A., Inc.
Engineer: Rim Kelley
Art Direction and Design: Ron Wolin
Photography: L’Azul and Renate Taylor
Recorded at Sonobeat Studios, Austin, Texas
Vinyl copies manufactured by Research Craft, Los Angeles, or All Disc in Roselle, New Jersey, both of which were owned by Liberty/UA
In the dead wax...
- Side One: SS-18065-1 B.K.
- Side Two: SS-18065-2 B.K.
- “B.K.” appear to be the initials of the mastering engineer and may belong to Bill Kipper at Masterdisk in New York, who specialized in cutting lacquers for jazz recordings.
Something called the ‘Afro-Underground Sound’ is dispensed by Wali and the Afro-Caravan... This strikes me as something like the true modern African sound that Hugh Masekela was championing in his recent appearance at San Francisco’s Harding Theatre. There are lots of African drums, of course, and also flute, violin, and even, amazingly, recorders. Another amazing item is that the album was taped in, of all places, Austin, Texas. Anyway, it’s good stuff, with plenty of variety – not just a drumming session.”.
Home Lost and Found liner notes
Producers Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley
Home lost and found – (the natural sound) – ALL AFRICAN – all black – the audience appeal? MIXED!
This album is somewhat different from those which feature conga drums because on this album the drums are AFRICAN Style, played by Wali – and he also plays bongos and does some augmented percussion, as well as performing as the lead vocalist. Wali is a very outstanding young man – 22 years old – from New York – grew up there – went into the armed services – to Texas – and created a group because there were other black men at the same military base in Texas, each having the same kind of feeling that Wali had: a feeling that being of African descent they had lost their home, but playing their music together for hours and hours had re-discovered their native land through a Natural Sound – African style music – rhythmic – romantic – thrilling – appealing – satisfying – it was an Underground sound from the heart. Wali was joined by four talented musicians – J. Murray on tenor and alto recorders and also a back-up vocalist – Robert Moore on Conga drums – Ronald Nance on bass violin – Ray Lewis on flute. Five Afro-Americans dedicated to the music of their native country in order to bring each of you a stereo album designed for your pleasure – for your peace of mind.
The Afro-Caravan, from Austin, Texas, in the heart of the Southwest, removed from their drums in Africa more than a century ago – reunited with the beat again – to create the Natural Sound.
Shades of Africa
Bill Josey Sr. produced a second album with Wali and the Afro-Caravan in a series of sessions running from January 29th to February 1st, 1971. The tracks also were recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, but this time in the small recording suite on the isolated ground level of the Josey family split level home. The untitled album featured four songs on side 1, including an expanded remake of The Afro-Caravan’s Sonobeat single Afro-Twist, and a 19 minute three-song suite with the working title Shades of Africa on side 2. Bill returned to Liberty/UA Records with this new Afro-Caravan album, but Liberty/UA passed, likely because the first Afro-Caravan album, though critically acclaimed, had not sold well enough to invest in a follow-up album. Bill then circulated demos of the album on audiocassettes to other national labels, beginning his trend away from the much more expensive vinyl “advance” pressings Sonobeat previously used for its demo albums. Ultimately, turned down by the national labels, Bill elected not to release the album on Sonobeat Records itself for a purely financial reason: albums cost significantly more to master, press, package, and market than 45 RPM singles and were very difficult for an independent label to sell in sufficient numbers in regional markets to make a profit. And specialty jazz albums were even more difficult to sell than rock or country albums. Although the second Afro-Caravan album is as good as, if not better than, Home Lost and Found, it remains unreleased.
Shades of Africa
Unreleased album
Recording details
Shades of Africa
All songs composed by The Afro-Caravan
Side 1:
- The Dreamer
- Tip-Toes
- Afro-Twist (rerecorded version)
- I Believe
Side 2: Shades of Africa Suite
- Into Darkness
- Hour of Baba
- Hour of Witch-Doctor
Produced and engineered by Bill Josey Sr.
Recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, Austin, Texas, in January and February 1971
Recorded using...
- AKG D707E dynamic, ElectroVoice 665 dynamic, ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic, and Sony ECM-22 electret condenser microphones
- Scully 280 half-inch 4-track, Stemco 500-4 half-inch 4-track, and Ampex AG-350 tape decks
- Custom 16-channel 4-bus mixing console
- Fairchild Lumiten 663ST stereo optical compressor
- Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton 9-band graphic equalizer
- Custom steel plate stereo reverb
- 3M (Scotch) 202 and Ampex 681 tape stock
Wali (now known as Obara Wali Rahman-Ndiaye) founded and is Artistic Director of Drumsong Society, Chief Griot Minister at KoumbaDom Ceremonial House, and Director General of Coumba Lamba International African Cultural Arts Exchange, all in New York. In 2014 he was the special honoree at the 12th Annual Drummers Summit (Brooklyn, New York).