Juma Sultan (born April 13, 1942) is a jazz musician, most often recording as a percussionist or bass player. He may be best known for his appearance at the Woodstock festival of 1969 at Bethel, New York, playing with Jimi Hendrix. He currently plays in the African performance group Sankofa,[1] the band Sons of Thunder, and with the Juma Sultan Band.[2]
Sultan was born in Monrovia, California on April 13, 1942. In 1969, he performed at the Woodstock festival in Hendrix's band, Gypsy Sun and Rainbows[3] and on The Dick Cavett Show and at a special show in Harlem, New York several weeks later. He was interviewed extensively for the documentary films, Jimi Hendrix and Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock. He appears on approximately 12 of Jimi Hendrix' posthumous releases.
Juma Sultan's musical talents span jazz, rock, blues and spirituals throughout decades of performing, producing and recording. In 2006, Clarkson University, in conjunction with Sultan, received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts[4] to preserve Sultan's audio and video documentation of avant garde jazz during the 1960s and 1970s. The collection may be viewed at www.jumasarchive.org.[2]
Sultan appeared at the National Rock Con[5] from July 30, 2010 – August 1, 2010.
Sultan also joined Vince Martell, Spanky and Our Gang, and Bleu Ocean at B.B. King's Blues Club on August 2, 2010, for the encore of "California Dreamin'".
Juma also recorded with Archie Shepp, Noah Howard, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Sonny Simmons, Daoud Haroon, Asha Nan, Emmeretta Marks, Don Moore Band, and Sankofa.
A conga player listed as Juma Santos is credited on Miles Davis's Bitches Brew. He toured and recorded with Miles Davis, Nina Simone, David Sanborn and Taj Mahal, among others. Juma Santos was an entirely different individual, and not the same person who is the subject of this article.
With Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society
With Sam Amidon
With the Earl Cross Sextet
With Alan Glover
With Jimi Hendrix
With Noah Howard
With Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre
With Joe McPhee, Michael Bisio, and Fred Lonberg-Holm
With Archie Shepp
With Sonny Simmons
