Музыка и песни His Percussion / His Percussion

"The drum mosaics on these numbers bear careful listening. A kind of percussive Indian wrestling occurs when Babatunde deliberately counters the prevailing beat with metric flourishes of his own. Men without 'metronome sense' (the West African ability to feel an orienting foundation beat when under bombardment from competing accents and off-beats) might well be thrown off balance but Baba' is superbly seconded and his co-percussionists stay on course and drum securely, even with hauteur, in the teeth of his departures. Listen especially to the end of Masque Dance. Accents emerge between and around the beat and strike our ear, demanding us to answer with the visual riffing of the dance, reminding us how it is to be alive. Small wonder that Kerouac, who worships spontaneity and vitality, was attracted to Babatunde's drums." - the end of the backside review by Robert Farris Thompson of an October 22, 1960 performance