Ubuntu Project - Know What You're Fighting For (2015)

Tracklist

01. Know What You're Fighting For
02. Junk Food Reconnaissance Mission
03. This Side Up
04. New Jim Crow
05. Eleven
06. Moving Forward
07. Ojogbon
08. Cerulean Image

Saxophonist, J Stuart Fessant, from Salem, Oregon has been playing music in Portland for over 20 years. In the early 90s he began working with Ghanaian master drummer Kpani Addy and began studying different African styles. After that he played with Brothers of the Baladi, learning Middle Eastern rhythms and melodies. From 1998-2008 he was in the Blueprints and played with Loveness Wesa of Zimbabwe from 2003-2008. Stu is also a master sound engineer independently running his own studio. For nearly ten years he has been teaching middle school jazz bands in the Portland area.
Guitarist, adam carpinelli, is a multi-instrumentalist and scholar with a deep love for African, Latin and Caribbean music. He began his musical journey in Africa and India among the several places that he has studied music, history and culture around the world. He performed and recorded with international artist Obo Addy. He also played and studied percussion and bass with Kpani Addy of Ghana and Icidro Valor Perez of Cuba. In New York he played guitar with reggae artists Jah Eyes, Akuma Roots and percussion for Etse Nyadedzor of Ghana. He has also played guitar for Loveness Wesa of Zimbabwe and Ibrahima Camara of Senegal. He co-founded the Ubuntu Project and other projects such as Wamba, Fingerpaint Afrojazz and Kalakuta Afrobeat Band.
Wilton Merritt, the drummer, is a native of Jacksonville Florida and has played the Portland music circuit for over the past 20 years. Wilton is the youngest of eight - all of who, along with his mother, played or sang music. At the age of 12 he joined a gospel group called Emitt Foster and The Sliver Clouds and toured all along the east coast. In 1976 they released a two-sided single "Fill My Cup" b/w "He's A Shelter" to lots or radio airplay up and down the east coast. This led to lots of weekend and holiday touring opening up for such artist such as The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Shirley Caesar, James Cleveland and many more. In 1977 he worked with "The Mighty Golden Jubilee’s and continued touring with both groups. The Goldens scored two hit on the national chart with "Show Me The Way Lord" b/w "The Rough Side of the Mountain". From 1976 -1978, Wilton was also a member of the William M Raines Marching Band which led to a music scholarship to Morris Brown Collage in Atlanta GA where he was a member of the drum section called "The Sticking Sensation"(later featured in the movie Drum Line). Wilton later left Morris Brown for Warner Pacific Collage with his brother in Portland. In the years in Portland Wilton has been in such diverse bands such as Tommy Smith and The Fues, Kamikaze Lovers, Film at Eleven, Ellen and the Nightwatchers and Dismal Nitch Orchestra, Lives In Limbo and Drop Dead Red.
Bassist Tom Favara joined the Ubuntu Project in 2014 adding a five string groove to the four piece. Favara has been playing shows and studio performances for many years over the U.S. and currently plays in the Portland area with the Kirk Green Band, Hot Property and Sunny Hess. He has played and sat in with the National Symphony, National Shrine Choir, Navy Band, Third World Reggae Band, Lionel Liston Smith, Fared Haik, Dion Warwick, Chaka Kahn and many more.

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