Guinea Welcomes Devin Phillips and New Orleans Straight Ahead

The Public Affairs Section of U.S. Embassy Conakry welcomed the extraordinary jazz group, Devin Phillips and New Orleans Straight Ahead to Guinea as part of the Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program. The band held a private concert at the Ambassador’s residence, a public concert at the Franco-Guinean Cultural Center, two professional workshops with local jazz bands, and a workshop with the students of the Fine Arts School in Dubreka.  

Devin Phillips and New Orleans Straight Ahead pose with Etoile de Boulbinet after the workshop.

The group was well received by audiences and workshop participants alike. Maitre Barry, the leader of Gombo Jazz who worked with group during both of their professional workshops, said that although his group had worked with American musicians before, they had never before felt such a connection. A poignant example of building mutual understanding, the bands shook hands and even hugged as they tore down their equipment before heading to the airport on their last night in Conakry.

Drummer mark Diflorio learns the djembe at the Fine Arts Institute in Dubreka while band members look on.

The band received extensive media coverage which was aided by the formidable French skills of their pianist Andrew Oliver. They promoted jazz music as a form of American expression that embodies the shared values of diversity through the blend of cultural influences in the music, democracy in the micro-environment of the band, and even family values through Devin Phillips’ heartrending original composition entitled “To Alpha With Love” dedicated to his grandmother.