Inspired by Max Roach’s composition “All Africa” from his 1961 Freedom Now Suite, Maya Cunningham and the All Africa Band draws from songs about and from the Continent. Completely inspired by African history, Cunningham performs songs that she has written about the legendary African kingdoms, as well as jazz compositions that reference the African roots of African America. The band fuses many songs collected by Cunningham through her ethnomusicological field work in Botswana, Ghana, South Africa and Mali into jazz. The group has featured well known musicians from the continent like Kora player Amadou Kouyate, a 150th generation Manding Djeli.