Anybody Heard This?

[JSngry]

http://www.dustygroove.com/jazzlp4.htm#432135

Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band -- Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band Present Egyptian Jazz -- Ramadan In Space Time

Art Yard (UK), Late 60s/Early 70s

Amazing grooves like you've never heard before -- the seminal sides by Salah Ragab and his Cairo Jazz Band! As you can probably guess from their name, the ensemble was an Egyptian one -- working at the end of the 60s in an incredible blend of jazz and more traditional Egyptian-styled sounds -- a blend that comes across with all the exotic feel of the pyramids at dawn, but which manages to groove like some of the best funky work from America at the time! Instrumentation includes lot of percussion, heavy piano and horns, and some especially great flute on most tracks -- all coming together with a sound that's unlike anything else we've heard before. This collection is the first time that this music has been brought together officially, all with the kind of top-shelf production and packaging we've come to expect from the Art Yard label -- and titles include "Egypt Strut", "Ramadan In Space Time", "Dawn", "Neveen", "Oriental Mood", "Kleopatra", and "Mervat".

Well, I don't know how pyramids feel at dawn, but this sounds like it might be interesting.

AMG's description of this band in their bio of Ragab makes it sound like this might be really good, really weird, really bad, or maybe all of the above.

Anybody know of this work by this band?

As always, thanks in advance.

Edited September 21, 2006 by JSngry

[kh1958]

I have an LP, Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt, on Praxis, recorded in 1983. Actually, they don't really meet, as they each have a side of the LP. I should listen again before commenting, but my recollection is that both sides of the LP were good.

[AllenLowe]

and let's not forget their biggest hit, that tribute to the Pyramids:

"Where are the Windows?"

[kh1958]

I have an LP, Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt, on Praxis, recorded in 1983. Actually, they don't really meet, as they each have a side of the LP. I should listen again before commenting, but my recollection is that both sides of the LP were good.

Salah Ragab does play congas with the Arkestra, I just noticed.

Edited September 21, 2006 by kh1958

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Viola!

[clifford_thornton]

Now, if somebody would just reissue the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble - Heliopolis (Goethe Institut Cairo) I'd be a happy camper!

[Rooster_Ties]

Viola!

Sounds like "all of the above" to me!!

(And on-line samples of an LP-only item?? -- Wow!! )

[JSngry]

Viola!

Thanks!

Some of it sounds like Stan Kenton playing a Johnny Quest show, but some of it's a litle more interesting. In time I suppose...

But the rest of that site definitely caught my eye!

[JSngry]

Sounds like "all of the above" to me!!

Exactly!

[Man with the Golden Arm]

cover has that Jambo! meets old Lateef-iness going on.

[kh1958]

I have an LP, Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt, on Praxis, recorded in 1983. Actually, they don't really meet, as they each have a side of the LP. I should listen again before commenting, but my recollection is that both sides of the LP were good.

I listened to this again--I definitely enjoyed the Cairo Jazz Band side on this LP, recorded in Cairo in 1983. Not to mention their vertically striped coats in the black and white photo of the band, which I'm guessing were red and white.

[Dmitry]

WOW. I am VERY interested in this. I have the above-mentioned album, Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt on cd. It rocks! In a 1001 Nights sort of way...

Here's the description of this LP from another on-line retailer -

Salah Ragab formed the first jazz big band in Egypt (The Cairo Jazz Band) in 1968, he was also the leader of the Military Music Departments in Heliopolis. Some of the best musicians in Egypt of that time were members of the band such as Zaki Osman: trumpet, Saied Salama: tenor sax, Khamis El-Kholy: piano and Ala Mostafa: piano. On this recording, the band consists of five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, piano, bass, drums and percussion. These recordings present Salah Ragab and The Cairo Jazz Band's definitive work, recorded in Heliopolis, Egypt between 1968 and 1973. Western jazz musicians have been fascinated with the world of Islam for many years, for religious/spiritual, musical and sociological reasons. It was therefore inevitable that musicians of the Arabian North African area would play a part in the interaction of these two musical cultures. The compositions correspond to the crossover of musical styles at the time of the recording, 5000 miles away across the Mediterranean and Atlantic in New York with releases on Moodsville by Yusef Lateef and RCA by Ahmud Abdul-Malik. This record represents The Cairo Jazz Band responding to the American jazz scene of the '60s and '70s with influences from Mongo Santamaria to Randy Weston and Sun Ra. These tracks were first presented by The Ministry Of Culture in Cairo as a Prism Music Production and released with an additional disk by the composer Soliman Gamil 'Musical Images.' This release marks the first time Salah Ragab and The Cairo Jazz Band's definitive works are presented to the West.

Does this mean there's an original Lp [+ another Lp] floating around the Red Sea?

[jazzbo]

But wait Dmitry, there's more!

I've only ever heard the same cd as you have but there's three others.

(from Dusty Groove)

1.

Sun Ra/Salah Ragab -- Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab In Egypt . . . CD . . . $14.99

Golden Years (UK), Early 70s/Early 80s Condition: New Copy

Out Of Stock: Hit the 'Send Request' button to receive an email notice if the item comes back in.

Really unique recordings from the Sun Ra Arkestra -- material recorded in Egypt during the early 70s and early 80s -- juxtaposed with sessions from percussionist Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band! The work here has much more of a "jazz meets world" sound than some of Ra's other recordings -- and most tracks are extremely melodic and rhythmic -- in a way that mixes Eastern instrumentation and themes with some of the more familiar Arkestra modes -- a sound that takes the Sun Ra groove one step further, and which sounds totally sublime! Highlights include the groover "Egypt Strut", the other-worldly "Watusa", the flute-heavy "Oriental Mood", and beautiful "Dawn". Really great stuff -- and a key glimpse at this rare slice of Ra's career!

2.

Sun Ra -- Sun Rise In Egypt Vol 1 . . . CD . . . $16.99 (Item: 426033)

Salah Ragab Jazz (Egypt), 1984 Condition: New Copy View Cart

A really rare slice of work from Sun Ra's incredible run in the 80s -- a live set that reunites the Arkestra with drummer Salah Ragab, one of the group's key supporters in the motherland, and a really great player who definitely expands their groove! There's a sense of focus here that's really wonderful -- bold, strong organ and synthesizer lines from Ra -- stretching out in a soaring sort of way -- propelled even further than usual by Ragab's tightly rhythmic focus, in a manner that makes the tunes bristle like some of the Arkestra's most soulful work of the 70s! Players here include John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Danny Thompson on saxes -- and titles on this first volume include "Watusa The Egyptian March", "Solo Organ", "Shadow World", "Blues House", "West Of The Moon", and "Happy As The Day Is Long". (From the Jazz CD (N-S) page.)

3.

Sun Ra -- Sun Rise In Egypt Vol 2 . . . CD . . . $16.99 (Item: 428439)

Salah Ragab Jazz (Egypt), 1984 Condition: New Copy View Cart

A really rare slice of work from Sun Ra's incredible run in the 80s -- a live set that reunites the Arkestra with drummer Salah Ragab, one of the group's key supporters in the motherland, and a really great player who definitely expands their groove! There's a sense of focus here that's really wonderful -- bold, strong organ and synthesizer lines from Ra -- stretching out in a soaring sort of way -- propelled even further than usual by Ragab's tightly rhythmic focus, in a manner that makes the tunes bristle like some of the Arkestra's most soulful work of the 70s! Players here include John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Danny Thompson on saxes -- and titles on this second volume include 2 long "opening" tracks -- plus "Love In Outer Space/Nuclear War", "Unidentified Standard", and "Blue Lou". (From the Jazz CD (N-S) page.)

4.

Sun Ra -- Sun Rise In Egypt Vol 3 . . . CD . . . $16.99 (Item: 428442)

Salah Ragab Jazz (Egypt), 1984 Condition: New Copy View Cart

A really rare slice of work from Sun Ra's incredible run in the 80s -- a live set that reunites the Arkestra with drummer Salah Ragab, one of the group's key supporters in the motherland, and a really great player who definitely expands their groove! There's a sense of focus here that's really wonderful -- bold, strong organ and synthesizer lines from Ra -- stretching out in a soaring sort of way -- propelled even further than usual by Ragab's tightly rhythmic focus, in a manner that makes the tunes bristle like some of the Arkestra's most soulful work of the 70s! Players here include John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Danny Thompson on saxes -- and titles on this third volume include 2 long "opening" tracks, plus "School You About Jazz", "Fate In A Pleasant Mood", and "Round Midnight". (From the Jazz CD (N-S) page.)

Edited September 23, 2006 by jazzbo

[Dmitry]

But wait Dmitry, there's more!

Thanks, Lon! I bookmarked this and will order these 3 cds for sure. This sounds like my kinda music!

[White Lightning]

You can now download the entire album through The Blog "ORGY IN RHYTHM".