When it came to jazz with an African twist, nobody could do it like "Art Blakey". Every time I see this LP cover, I know what I'm going to hear; the best African drumming in or out of Africa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu_L5CNlo60&list=PLAFA1557EAD0A6D6D
Drumming in Africa was meant to go with dance, they had a different dance for everything, including religious worship and celebration. I had a friend who belonged to Katherine Dunham's dance troupe, and I saw them practice a lot. African drumming and dance go together like ham and eggs, once you get used to them together, you can't have one without the other; "Now that you've brought my ham, where's my eggs," or vice versa. This is my favorite number by my favorite African trumpet player, "Hugh Masekela". What we see here dramatizes "Stimela" in dance, I find it captivating. This choreography is a tribute to Kathryn Dunham".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SuwmE3JM0A
Here we have the "authentic drumming" from Haiti. There is a sacred museum of sorts in Haiti where the curator has these sacred drumbeats from Africa that go back before slavery. They are stored in a kind of code; this drumming goes with the dance it's meant to accompany. In order to put the drum code and dance together, he would have to travel with you to Cuba and Brazil for sure, but they have to make a match.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqP0s9MBuoo&list=RDrqP0s9MBuoo#t=7
This dance in Cuba might to the uninitiated might look like flinging around and jumping to the beat, but it's just as structured as any European dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRNEVAzaX9s
I suppose the Cuban dancers come closest to what I saw practiced by the Katherine Dunham dancers. No that's not a mismatch, Katherine was a dance "anthropologist", in addition to being a dance teacher. All of these dances originated in Africa where she studied. What I saw practiced by the Katherine Dunham dancers was better than anything I've seen at the movies or on television when it came to African dance. There was an exhibit with a long film of them practicing at the museum in St. Louis ages ago, and tears came to my eyes when I realized I was young lean and flexible, just like those dancers, when this was being filmed, and I recognized some of the dancers.
Enjoy the music.