Babatunde Lea

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Babatunde Lea, born Michael Wayne Lea on February 18, 1948, in Danville, Virginia, is an American percussionist known for Afro-Cuban jazz and worldbeat. He grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and often visited New York where his family lived. After seeing Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, he adopted the name Babatunde Lea.

Lea started drumming at 11. He got his first professional recording opportunity at 16 with Ed Townsend. In 1968 he moved to San Francisco and joined Bata Koto, led by Bill Summers, then played with a band called Juju that moved to Richmond, Virginia, in the early 1970s. He returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1977 and worked with many noted musicians, including Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Randy Weston, Van Morrison, Oscar Brown Jr., and Mark Murphy.

In 1993, Lea and Virginia Lea founded the Educultural Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Vallejo, California. He later connected with Leon Thomas and became his band’s drummer, which led to work with Pharoah Sanders. Lea helped start the Motéma Music label with Jana Herzen in 2003, and paid tribute to Leon Thomas on his 2009 album, Umbo Weti.

Lea released his first album as a leader, Levels of Consciousness, in 1979. He recorded with a group called Phenomena, from the Loft Jazz scene, and released Level of Intent in 1996 on his own Diaspora Records label. He mortgaged his home to help release Level of Intent, and Motéma reissued it in 2003.

In 2010 Lea and Virginia moved to Pennsylvania to teach at Gettysburg College. He describes his work as making compositions functional and rooted in African artistic ideas. He aims to promote an anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, egalitarian, democratic universal society, and sees himself as an activist as well as a musician. Lea’s music is known for blending many styles and influences.