OLA TUNJI

OLA TUNJI is a Brussels-based quartet formed around saxophonist Ornella Noulet, with a shared dedication to the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane. Their music exudes the intensity and openness of the 1960s “New Thing” movement, the genre that later became known as free jazz.

Their name pays tribute to Babatunde Olatunji, the Nigerian-born percussionist and close friend of John Coltrane, who introduced African percussion to jazz audiences in the U.S. and helped shape the rhythmic and spiritual dimensions of 1960s jazz. For OLA TUNJI, his legacy represents the power of music as a path to connection, awareness, and transcendence—ideas that are also reflected in the work of the Coltranes and Pharoah Sanders.

Deeply inspired by John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Albert Ayler, the group embraces improvisation as a political and spiritual act. On stage, their performances often take on a trance-like intensity, carrying both musicians and audience into a sense of shared elevation. The music reminds us that it can still be a medium for love, brotherhood and sisterhood, and collective elevation.

Their first release, Untitled EP (September 27, 2024), was widely acclaimed, received airplay in Canada, the U.S., Japan, Belgium, and France, and was featured in All About Jazz, Citizen Jazz, and Bandcamp’s Spiritual Jazz Revival section. In the summer of 2025, OLA TUNJI won both the jury prize and the audience award at Gent Jazz Talent, as well as the competition at the Avignon Jazz Festival, where Ornella Noullet also took home the Best Soloist Award. Following this success, the band is now preparing its debut album, which will be released in October/November 2026 on W.E.R.F. Records.

saxophones, percussion: Ornella Noulet • drums, percussion: Egon Wolfson • piano: Oscar Teruel • double bass: Anthony Jouravsky • visuals: Camille Riche