Around a decade ago, the Ethiopian keyboard player Hailu Mergia came out of an extended hiatus lasting more than twenty years, during which time he’d been driving a taxi in D.C.. One of the legends from Ethiopian music’s golden age in the Seventies had returned, and that significance is commemorated in Awesome Tapes From Africa’s new release: ‘Pioneer Works Swing (Live)’ is a blistering performance recorded at the Brooklyn non-profit cultural centre in July 2016, with Mergia switching between a dizzying array of instruments with consummate ease.