JazzMarathon '95
Groningen
Jamaaladeen Tacuma - GEMINI GEMINI
Jamaaladeen Tacuma
He sang in a doo-wop group while in elementary and Jr. High school. He then picked up his first bass guitar at the age of 13.
He played in several R&B outfits while in high school and studied electric bass with Tyrone Browne, who is currently touring with Max Roach.
He also studied acoustic bass with Eligio Rossi of the Philidelphia Orchestra.

Then he landed as a bass slot with organist Charles Earland.
Reggie Lucas, then a guitarist with Miles Davis and now a producer best known for Madonna's debut album, heard Tacuma play in Earland's band and introduced him to Coleman, who signed him up for his band Prime Time. Two weeks later he was on an extended European tour with Coleman.

Tacuma recalls the first time he played for Coleman. "It was crazy. I started playing some music and he showed me that there are different ways to play the same music. It was so incredible. I heard a lot of different things and I began to see music in a different way."

After four years with Prime Time, Tacuma struck out on his own.
"One thing I learned from Ornette is that you have to try to go beyond the limits of style to play pure music. When I create all those different situations on my albums, it allows me to do that, to stretch myself as far as I can as a player."

Be it bassist, producer, arranger, composer, or wahatever else he chooses to do, Tacuma has proven time and time again that he's got what it takes.

Live audio, recorded during the JazzMarathon.(30 sec. 300Kb)
Live audio 2, also recorded during the JazzMarathon.(30 sec. 300Kb)

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