Opafire was a
jazz fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...
group from San Francisco, California. Their debut album ''Opafire'' (RCA, 1991) sold close to half a million units worldwide.
Opafire was created in 1990 by composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer Zachary Norman E. In 1990, Opafire signed a contract with
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
after Steve Feinstein, a program director in San Francisco began playing the group's music. When RCA/BMG released the debut album ''Opafire'', it gained international success and heavy rotation radio airplay. The Opafire songs, "Wajumbe", "Kalimbahari", and "Walk Like Rain" reached the No. 2, No. 11, and No. 26 spots on the Gavin Report "New Adult Contemporary Most Radio Plays" chart and Top Ten spots in ''R&R'' magazine, as well as reaching charts in Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Taiwan.
In 1991 Opafire toured with
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
,
Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1974. The band's music combines jazz, R&B, funk, and pop music. The band's name comes from ''Spirogyra'', a genus of green algae which founder Jay Beckenstein ...
, and
the Yellow Jackets as part of the JVC Jazz Festival Tour, performing in venues with audiences of up to 12,000 people.
Opafire headlined many music festivals, theaters, and clubs, such as the Oxfam International Festival Tour, the Whole Life Expo Tour, the Stern Grove Festival, the Great American Music Hall and Yoshi's Night Club in San Francisco and Oakland California, The Baked Potato in Los Angeles, as well as large "Listener Appreciation Concert" performances for various radio stations.
In 1998, the musical group Opafire was put on sabbatical by Zachary Norman E. While healing from a hang gliding accident, he cited his apathy for Clear Channel Communications newer nationally syndicated
smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s.
History
Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...
radio format and his desire to compose music for film and television in his recording studio in Hawaii on the island of Maui.
Members
*Zachary Norman E. - guitar, synthesizers, percussion, composer, producer, engineer
*Robert Powell - guitar, various stringed instruments
*Dallas Smith - sax, wind synthesizer, bamboo flutes
*Bryan Mantia - drums
*Michael Pluznick - percussion
*Tom Corwin - fretted bass
*Michael Manring - fretless bass, (studio sessions only)
*Christopher Hedge - production, engineer, (studio sessions only)
*Lygia Ferra - vocals - (stage)
Discography
* 1991 - ''Opafire'' (
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
/
BMG)
* 1991 - ''KKSF 103.7FM Sampler Volume 2'' (
JVC
JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood corporation. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company is best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for ...
)
* 1991 - ''RCA Novus Sampler '90'' (RCA/BMG)
* 1993 - ''Without a Trace'' (RCA/BMG)
* 1994 - ''Ricochet Sun'' (Higher Octave/EMI)
* 1996 - ''Panorama: A Collection of Music from Around the World'' (Higher Octave/EMI)
References
* Larkin, Colin (1995) ''The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music''
* Yurochko, Bob (1993) ''A Short History of Jazz''
External links
Official site
{{Authority control
Jazz fusion ensembles
American jazz ensembles from California