Today we’d like to introduce you to Ahsa Ahla.
Hi Ahsa, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In 1975 I graduated high school. My parents had put money aside for me to go to college. I decided that I did not want to attend college so my parents gave me my college savings and sent my on my way. I took the money and headed to Germany with my older brother where we had spent some early years of our lives being raised as an Army brats. We were bicycling around Germany when we happened to stumble on an outdoor jazz fusion concert. The concert blew me away. It was amazing. The only thing I felt it was lacking was a percussionist. It was at that moment I decided I was going back to the States and study percussion so I could come back to Germany and play music. I never made it back to Germany but I am playing lots of music. When I got back to the States, I purchased 2 inexpensive fiberglass congas. I locked myself in my room and began practicing 8 hours a day. I was at my parent’s house. My mother thought I had lost my mind. Not having any knowledge of congas or training I developed my own way of playing them. I think I got pretty good. I eventually got a gig with an R&B band. I began gigging around New Jersey. I began to get gigs with different types of bands such as jazz, blues and rock bands. Then one day I was driving down Route 22 and I happened to see some of the most beautiful congas I have ever seen in the front window of a music store. I did a U-turn and went to the store. I ended up buying 4 cherry red wood Gong Bops congas. At the time Gong Bops and Valje were the best conga makers in the U S. I have Gong Bops and Valje congas. Having some of the best congas made I decided I should really study and learn to play them correctly. The New Jersey School of Percussion happened to be a mile from my parent’s house. So I ventured in there one day. I met the owner, teacher Glenn Weber. I asked him did they teach congas there. He said yes. I immediately registered and began taking lessons. I told Glenn that I wanted to read and learn how to play in odd-time signatures. I told him Latin was not the way I wanted to go. I studied with Glenn a couple of years.
To get more experience playing, I found a little bar called Wallace’s in Orange, NJ. Wallace’s had the best music and musicians around coming in and out of there. They had a jam session that I would attend regularly. The guitarist John Scofield played there regularly and I began playing there with him. Gigs were coming my way. I join the music union local 88. I became a band leader under the union. They would supply with gigs. I eventually began going into New York City where I would start hanging out with the top Latin musicians. I began teaching and repairing congas at Johnny Colon’s East Harlem Music School. It was at this time I found the Jazz Mobile. The Jazz Mobile is an icon of New York that is a school for jazz studies as well as providing workshops and concerts throughout New York. I began studying there under the tutelage of Ritchie Pablo Landrum who at the time was teaching at Berkeley School of Music. He was knowledgeable and taught traditional African, Haitian and Latin rhythms. While studying at the Jazz Mobile, I met Bill Ware (Steely Dan, Jazz Passengers). We put a jazz group together called A M Sleep. What a phenomenal band they were. The drummer was Vince Cherico who is one of the top Latin music drummers in the world. We opened for Machito (Latin music icon) one night. After we played, Machito approached me and said that we were the best band he had ever heard. What a compliment. What happened with AM Sleep is a story for another time.
Now I decided it was time for me to go to college. I applied and got accepted into William Paterson College now a University. I became a jazz performance major. I stayed at William Paterson a couple of years then left because I was gigging all the time. I was playing for most of the know dance schools and dance companies in New York at the time. I was also doing jazz gigs and playing the Merengue circuit. I got a gig with a show band called Freeman and Sweeney. They toured through the Department of Defense. We eventually got a gig at Billy’s Pub in Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City. It was a fun gig we played 3 times a night. It was a rotation with 2 other bands. We opened and they came on afterward. Our contract was for a month. After the month was up our contract was not renewed.
Management came to me and said if I wanted to put my own project together that they would be happy if I made Billy’s Pub my home. While I was there Phil Orlick who I was told was Barbara Streisand’s voice coach approached me. He said I was the best percussionist in the world at that time. I felt I was really good but would not have put myself in the world’s elite. There were too many percussionists I looked up to (Airto; Nana Vasconcelos; Daniel Ponce). One of the other band’s percussionists at Billy’s Pub, Robyn Lobe introduced me to her teacher Joe Papo Daddiego. I began taking lessons with him. He had a percussion manufacturing company called JOPA. I studied with him a year or so.
Around this time I began playing for dance schools and dance companies throughout New York. I also started playing the merengue circuit. While playing at Clark Center (dance school), I got introduced to the world of Brazilian music. I began touring and playing with Dance Brazil and Loremil Machado Dance Company. I also began training Capoeira and studying the music associated with it.
In 1987, I moved to Los Angeles. I immediately began playing Brazilian music and Jazz gigs. Afro Bahia I performed with frequently. I played with Blay Ambolley, High Life music. Somehow I began doing recording sessions for gang sets in LA laying tracks for hip-hop and rap. With that came playing for D J’s as an accompaniment.
In 2004, I moved to Atlanta. That is where things took off for me. I’ve played with so many artists since coming to Atlanta. Ohio Players; Mishka; Julie Dexter; Copious Jones; Russel Gunn; Common Ground Collective; The Bill Hart Band; Dede Mabiaku; Ojeda Penn; Gigi; Aster Aweke are a few. I stay busy doing recording sessions. I’ve done my own projects under my name as well as Wudasse. Wudasse has over 3.2 million hits on a song on YouTube. Churchill Grounds was my home for 4 years every Thursday. Home now is the Velvet Note one of the top100 Jazz clubs in the world. BMI member; Georgia Music Partners member.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a smooth road overall. A couple of bumps. The corruption and dishonesty of the business. A tune I wrote, recorded and played on was put in a major motion picture without my consent.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a world and Jazz percussionist. I specialize in texturing and giving music percussive color and feeling. My approach is different from most because I have developed my own method of playing and making congas. I’m proud of the many people I have been able to work with.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Plenty. Study hard, practice and have integrity and passion about what you do then it won’t ever turn into just a job. When I started, I wish I knew more about the business of music.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: Ahsa Ahla
- Youtube: Wudasse
