Will Calhoun’s Mali Project

Best known as the drummer for the two-time Grammy winning, iconic rock band Living Colour, Will Calhoun has played with artists across a diverse range of styles, genres and traditions. He has recorded and/or toured with a staggering list of artists including B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Jaco Pastorious, Harry Belafonte, Pharoah Sanders, Jack Dejohnette, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, The Allman Brothers, Lauryn Hill, Marcus Miller, Dr.John, Wayne Shorter, the Moroccan Gnawan Masters and Public Enemy.

Calhoun has also invested over 25 years of personal research in the Outback of Australia, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Belize, and Northern Brazil (among other locations) to document and study the true history of the drums, rhythm, sonic vibrations and their impact on modern music. One outcome of those studies has been his Mali Project, an intelligently unique combination of jazz with indigenous West African grooves, funk, blues, and ambient mysticism, featuring Malian master Cheick Tidiane Seck. Jazz critic Herb Boyd called the ensemble’s music, “a powerful amalgamation of beat and motion.”