Jazzlab - Ola Tunji

OLA TUNJI reminds us that music can still be a medium for love, brotherhood and sisterhood, and collective upliftment. OLA TUNJI is a Brussels quartet that has united around saxophonist Ornella Noulet in a shared dedication to the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane. Their music breathes the intensity and openness of the New Thing movement, later known as free jazz. The band name is a tribute to Babatunde Olatunji, the Nigerian-born percussionist and good friend of John Coltrane. 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, which carries both musicians and audience away to a feeling of shared upliftment. Their first release, Untitled EP, was widely acclaimed. In the summer of 2025, OLA TUNJI won both the jury and the audience prize at Gent Jazz Talent and the competition of the Avignon Jazz Festival, where Ornella Noullet de Best Soloist Award took home. After this success, the band is now preparing their debut album, which will be released in October/November 2026 on W.E.R.F. Records.