Another Kind of Don Jazz-y: Onome Ovwori has mastered the keys

Its always a pleasure to spot exciting new talent such as Onome Ovwori, an up-and-coming jazz artist. Born and raised in Nigeria, he embraced the love of music at the age of seven when his Dad presented him with a keyboard as a Christmas gift. And although he is skillful at a number of musical instruments such as the drums and bass guitar, he has fully mastered the art of playing the keyboard. From his early beginnings till date he has gone on to advance his career by playing in churches, live concerts with some of Africa’s best talents in the industry, and other performances.

Onome attended the Delta State University, Nigeria and graduated with Bachelors in Mass Communication. In addition to that he attended the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) in 2003. He currently serves as Music Director at his local church, and has been at that position for seven years. Onome lives in New Jersey with his wife and children.

Onome started playing in churches back in Nigeria, including the City of David, RCCG (where he was for 8 years). He has been privileged to work with renowned Nigerian artistes like Daddy Showkey, Anne Inyang, Tunde Balogun, Sammy Okposo, Tunde and Wumi Obe (Deja Vu), Kunle Ayo, Mike Aremu, and Pastor Kunle Ajayi. In addition he has performed in places like Motherlan’, French Cultural Centre, Mama G, and Murphy’s. Some of Onome’s collaborations include a recording with “The Apostles” in Lagos,Nigeria titled “Art of the Apostles”. He also played with Nathaniel Bassey on the New Jazz Stew Project album called “Revelation”. In addition he has been privileged to work with American artistes like Rose Harper of Shekinah Glory Ministries and Daniel Winans and played alongside Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, Helen Baylor, and Lionel Peterson. Onome has also worked with budding artistes as a songwriter and producer along with Tim Shider for their upcoming projects. Since moving to the US in 2003 Onome has worked as Music Director at Jesus House New Jersey, RCCG and was honored to serve as Music Director at the Annual RCCGNA Convention in 2004.

Although he has worked on numerous musical projects, his preferred genre is a mix of jazz, world beat, gospel and R&B. This unique blend of musical flavors comes alive in Onome’s debut album, “TIME”, which was released April 24th, 2009 in New Jersey and people can get it easily online at iTunes, Amazon, CDbaby, and Digstation. You can listen to some of his tracks on webradio sites like www.mytruspot.com, www.nigerianwebradio.com, www.underdarock.com, and www.unity1960.com

The album includes performances by Gregory Kilpatrick, D’Amadeus, Dennis Hilliman, Jumbo Ane, Jim Farkas and Isaac “RealEyez Mystic” Odusanya. This independent work is reflective of his admiration for Ramsey Lewis, Lagbaja, Hugh Masekela, Wayman Tisdale and Joe Sample.

Listen to Onome’s music – Song For My Wife (Iyawo Mi)

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