OLA TUNJI

• Gent Jazz
  Friday 10•July•2026
  15:15•

OLA TUNJI is a Brussels-based quartet led by saxophonist Ornella Noulet, brought together by a shared love of the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane. Their music exudes the intensity and freedom of the 1960s "New Thing” movement. The band’s name pays homage to Babatunde Olatunji, the Nigerian-born percussionist and close friend of Coltrane, who introduced African rhythms to jazz audiences in the United States, and who had a lasting influence on the rhythmic and spiritual evolution of jazz in the 1960s. For OLA TUNJI, Olatunji's legacy embodies music as a powerful means of connection, consciousness, and transcendence. Drawing inspiration from John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Albert Ayler, the quartet considers improvisation to be both a spiritual and political act. Their live performances unfold with a trance-like intensity, where musicians and audience are transported together into a shared state of elevation. Music thus becomes a vessel for love, sisterhood, brotherhood, and collective energy.

Their first release, Untitled EP (27 September 2024), was met with enthusiastic international acclaim, receiving airplay in Canada, the United States, Japan, Belgium, and France, and also receiving attention from All About Jazz, Citizen Jazz and Bandcamp’s "Spiritual Jazz Revival” section.

In the summer of 2025, OLA TUNJI won both the jury and the People’s Choice Award at the Gent Jazz Talent competition, as well as at the Avignon Jazz Festival competition. The band is currently working on its debut album, set for release in October 2026 on W.E.R.F. Records.