Ignace de Souza

• Ignace de Souza [Original Music, 1994] B+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Ignace de Souza [Original Music, 1994]
Migrating to Ghana from Dahomey in 1955 to become a highlife star in the '60s, the trumpeter's selling point was his Francophone roots, which gave him a leg up on those newfangled Congolese rhythms. He wasn't above the occasional twist or cha-cha either. Initially these 19 cuts sound pleasingly familiar but not all that distinctive, on the cusp between the generic-elemental and the generic-cliched. Yet although my highlife comp of choice remains the same label's more obscure, more exacting Azagas and Archibogs, slowly the pleasure wins out. B+