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Artist
Shake Keane & His Highlifers
12+ albums
about
Ellsworth McGranahan Keane was born in St Vincent in 1927. He started playing the trumpet at the age of 6 and was a bandleader by the time he was 14. He also had a great love of literature and words and was nicknamed ‘Shake’ after Shakespeare. In 1952 Shake moved to the UK. He started reading literature at London University by day and playing in nightclubs in Soho by night, as well as doing session work and recording with legends such as Lord Kitchener, the calypsonian. In 1960 he joined Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott who considered him the partner that he had been waiting for. Together the two musicians continued to expand on Harriott's free form jazz experiments with harmony and time, perfectly complementing each other's styles and ideas. They stayed together until 1965. Now playing the flugelhorn, Keane was in great demand for session work. He moved to mainland Europe and played everywhere, including becoming the featured soloist with Kurt Edelhagen’s radio band. In 1972 Shake returned to St Vincent as Director of Culture, then became principal of Bishop’s College, Georgetown. In 1979 he wrote a collection of poems, The Volcano Suite and his prize-winning book of poems, One A Week With Water, was published in Cuba. Altogether he produced 5 monographs of poetry between 1950 and 1994. Keane moved to New York in 1980 and it was not until he went to the Carifesta Festival in Barbados that he started to play music seriously again. In 1989 the Harriott quintet was recreat
top songs
albums
London Is the Place For Me 2
London Is The Place For Me 2: Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz From Young Black London
London Is The Place For Me 4
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London Is The Place For Me 2: Calypso And Kwela, Highlife And Jazz From Young Black London
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London is the place for me 2, Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz from Young Black London
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London Is The Place For Me 2: Calypso Kwela Highlife and Jazz from Young Black London
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London Is The Place For Me 4: African Dreams And The Piccadilly High Life
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London Is The Place For Me vol.2
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London Is The Place For Me 2 : Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz From Young Black London
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London is the place for me 2 Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz from Young Black London
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London is the Place for Me, Vol. 2: Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz From Young Black London
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London is the place for me 2,