Peter King is a Nigerian afrobeat and jazz saxophonist from Enugu, Nigeria, born in 1939 and died in 2023. He is known as a tenor sax player, though the biography also describes him as playing several instruments and as an alto saxophonist. He grows up in several Nigerian cities, including Lokoja, Lagos and Port Harcourt.

Early career and London years

King joins the Roy Chicago band in Ibadan in 1957, starting on maracas and then conga drum. He later moves through other bands in Ibadan and Lagos, playing double bass, drums and alto saxophone. In 1961 he goes to London, where he studies at several music schools, including Trinity College of Music.

While in London, he forms African Messengers with drummer Bayo Martins and trumpeter Mike Falana. The group performs at festivals and clubs and works as a backing band for acts including The Four Tops, The Temptations and Diana Ross. It records a number of 45rpm singles, including the fusion track “Highlife Piccadilly”, which combines highlife and jazz.

Recording, touring and bands

King later forms The Blues Builders and tours Europe and Northern Africa with the group. He returns to Nigeria in 1969 and performs on the war front with The Voice of Africa during the Nigerian Civil War. Back in London in 1971, he tours Europe, America and Japan with Shango.

He assembles and arranges a big band to support Boney M on their first live concert tour across Europe in 1977. Between 1975 and 1978 he records nine studio albums, and in 1979 he returns to Nigeria and forms the P.K. Band. He then composes music for soap operas and records three further albums.

Style and notable recordings

King’s music combines afrobeat, jazz and funk, and he describes his direction as “Afrojazz”. He is associated with the Sonny Rollins, Gene Ammons and John Coltrane tradition, and is noted for a strong tone and precise articulation. His record A Soulful Peter King features his “Miliki Sound” and includes versions of “Sincerely”, “We Belong Together” and “Just Because”. His album Shango is also singled out, and he combines afrobeat with a funk style associated with James Brown.

His discography listed here includes Mikki Sounds (Orbitone), Omo Lewa (Orbitone), A Soulful Peter King (Orbitone), Moods (Tyrone Records), African Dialects (Grandstand) and Omolewa Palm Wine Vendor.

Teaching and later work

King founds his School of Music in 1982 in a three-room apartment in Maza Maza. The school later expands and relocates to Badagry, where it includes lecture halls, rehearsal rooms, an assembly-concert hall and hostel facilities. It receives help from Canadian musicians Oliver Jones and Archie Allen, and support from the French government. By the time of the account, nearly two thousand students have graduated from the school, which provides practical training and prepares students for Trinity, Royal, London School of Music and Guildhall examinations. In January 2007, the French Ambassador in Nigeria inaugurates the new facilities at Badagry, Lagos State.

Associated work and recognition

King writes music for plays, television shows and soap operas. Shango is described as critically acclaimed. His work and profile place him as a leading tenor saxophone voice linked to Nigerian highlife and afrobeat traditions.