East Meets West: Ahmed Abdul-Malik and World Jazz

[ghost of miles]

Bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik played with pianists Randy Weston and Thelonious Monk in the 1950s before going on to make a handful of dates that helped forge a path for the fusion of jazz with world music. “American jazz is dull,” he told Metronome in 1958. “‘The Man I Love’ things have all been said before… now is the time to transfuse new blood–foreign scales, foreign melodic lines, the Oriental flavor.” His ensuing albums such as East Meets West, Jazz Sahara, and The Music Of Ahmed Abdul-Malik and Sounds of Africa (combined on the CD reissue Jazz Sounds of Africa) employed both ethnic musicians and hardbop greats like Johnny Griffin and Lee Morgan, opening a way that artists such as Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman would later follow in the 1970s.

"East Meets West: Ahmed Abdul-Malik" airs tonight at 11:05 p.m. EST on WFIU and at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville. It also airs Sunday evening at 10 EST on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio. The program will be posted for permanent online listening Monday morning in the Night Lights archives.

You can watch Malik playing bass with Thelonious Monk on this episode's home page.

Next week: "Side Monk."

[Teasing the Korean]

Looking forward to this show!

[Rooster_Ties]

Looking forward to this show!

Me too! (I'll have to catch it from the archives.)

I have all three of what I think are the most "world"-oriented of his leader dates (forget the titles, but isn't it 3 out of like 5 albums total?). Not every cut is 'out of the park', but quite a number on all three albums are REALLY interesting. WELL worth seeking out, IMHO.

Edited September 29, 2007 by Rooster_Ties

[Teasing the Korean]

Ghost, were you able to dig up those 2 obscure LPs by AAM?

[clifford_thornton]

I really enjoy the RCA, Riverside and New Jazz LPs (wasn't there a third on Prestige with a green cover?)... will have to listen to the archived show online if I can.

[ghost of miles]

Ghost, were you able to dig up those 2 obscure LPs by AAM?

Thought there was only one, but no, unfortunately I couldn't track it down. Hoping to find it some day for a possible sequel.

I'll post the archive link tomorrow morning.

[clifford_thornton]

What one do you need?

[ghost of miles]

Spellbound is the one I couldn't track down.

"East Meets West: Ahmed Abdul-Malik" is now archived.

[ghost of miles]

We re-aired East Meets West: Ahmed Abdul-Malik and World Jazz this past week on Night Lights, and it is available for online listening.