Night Illusion cover

Night Illusion

Released

Somewhere between D-Train and Kool and the Gang, we have Tee Mac, aka Omatshoa Iseli, a Nigerian flutist who put together this R&B/reggae hybrid in 1980. It’s a great summary of trends of the late Seventies, including a track called “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo,” the Buddhist chant that took LA by storm in the Eighties. Oddly, that song contains no chanting, but it does feature a solo from almost everyone in Tee Mac’s band. Sort of The Tonight Show meets the Nigerian quiet storm.

Sasha Frere-Jones

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