Ahmed Abdul-Malik was one of the first musicians to integrate non-Western musical elements into jazz. In addition to being a hard bop bassist of some distinction, he also played the oud, a double-stringed, unfretted Middle Eastern lute, played with a plectrum. Abdul-Malik recorded on the instrument in the '50s with Johnny Griffin and in 1961 with John Coltrane, contributing to one of the several albums that resulted from the latter's Live at the Village Vanguard sessions.
Abdul-Malik was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. In his twenties and thirties, he worked as a bassist with Art Blakey, Randy Weston, and Thelonious Monk, among others. He played the oud on a tour of South America under the aegis of the U.S. State Department, and performed at one of the first major African jazz festivals in Morocco in 1972. Beginning in 1970, he taught at New York University and later, Brooklyn College. In 1984, he received BMI's Pioneer in Jazz Award in recognition of his work in melding Middle Eastern musics and jazz.
This CD reissue is an early example of fusing jazz with world music. Abdul-Malik switches between bass and oud; interacts closely with the droning violin of Naim Karacand, Jack Ghanaim's kanoon (a 72-string instrument), and Mike Hamway's darabeka (a percussive drum); and mixes in Al Harewood's drums and (on three of the four selections) the tenor of Johnny Griffin. The music is a qualified success, essentially Middle Eastern folk music with Griffin added in. This set is interesting and, in its own way, innovative but not essential. AMG.
listen here
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Ahmed Abdul-Malik - Jazz Sahara 1958
Popular Posts
-
Kathy McCord - Kathy McCord 1970 Kathy McCord released a lone self-titled LP in 1970, the first release from Creed Taylor ’s CTI Records, ...
-
The only album by the Steve Baron Quartet was a fitfully interesting but uneven effort, jumping between Baroque folk-rock, moody early si...
-
When you think of the Doors , "guitar" isn't the first thing that usually comes to mind ( Jim Morrison 's manic persona an...
-
A wild, freewheeling, and ultimately successful attempt to merge psychedelia with jazz-rock, Soft Machine 's debut ranges between loving...
-
The Small Faces were the best English band never to hit it big in America. On this side of the Atlantic, all anybody remembers them for i...
-
Tiny Tim 's 15 minutes of fame were starting to run out when Tiny Tim's Second Album was released in November 1968, and it sold onl...
-
David Lannan was a street singer from San Francisco, CA. 1970's Street Singer was recorded live outside The F.B.I. Stock Exchange City H...
-
Redbone was a Los Angeles-based group led by Native American Pat and Lolly Vegas . They hit paydirt in 1974 with the million-seller "...
-
Types Of Neckwear: Neckties, Ascots, Bolo Ties And More Although the traditional necktie is the preferred neck wear for most men , it is...
-
Judas Jump was a heavy progressive rock band, with lots of Mellotron, flutes, and sax in their sound and who had the distinction of inaug...
0 comments:
Post a Comment