baptizum Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 just picked up East Meets West. this is essential to anyone who hasn't heard it. the title is a pretty accurate description of the music. it's western jazz meets the eastern music. it effortlessly sways from a more western melodic bop to a heavier eastern influence and back, all the while maintaining elements of both. pretty accessible, so it's recommended to anyone just interested in checking out eastern music or those who already enjoy it, but haven't heard this release. and above all, it's just a great bop album, so i think anyone on this board would enjoy it. and i know that amg review says that the "piercing vocals" on takseem are hard to digest, but just ignore that cos it was one of the tracks that stood out the most when i first heard it. highly rewarding listen for any music fan The late Ahmed Abdul-Malik was one of the first musicians to integrate non-Western musical elements into jazz. Best known to jazz listeners as a bassist with Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston, Coleman Hawkins, and many others, he made a few records as a leader, with this one being his most exotic and also the hardest to find. The Brooklyn native was of Sudanese descent; in addition to playing bass on this interesting blend of Middle Eastern instruments with those from the world of jazz, he also plays oud, the forerunner to the lute. The musicians on Malik's eight originals vary from track to track. On the mournful "La Ibky (Don't Cry)," Malik's oud shares the spotlight with a tenor sax (either Benny Golson or Johnny Griffin) plus trumpeter Lee Morgan. "Rooh (The Soul)" features the 72-string kanoon (which is sort of a brittle sounding and much smaller harp) played by Ahmed Yetman, along with Malik's arco bass and the droning violin of Naim Karacand. The Middle Eastern instruments are absent during "Searchin'," which is sort of a hard bop vehicle featuring trombonist Curtis Fuller and Jerome Richardson on flute, along with the tenor sax. "Takseem (Solo)" omits the jazz instruments; the slowness of the variations of the music and rather piercing vocal make it harder for Western ears to comprehend. Not a release of interest to everyone but, for the most part, this fusion of vastly different styles of music is quite enjoyable; it's obvious from the start that the musicians were enjoying themselves as it was recorded. This long out print LP will be difficult to locate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Good album! He has a couple of very fine OJCs as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bill Barton Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimi089 Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 Love it. For a more modern exploration of middle eastern/jazz connections, Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers that came out this year is excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 I have three albums by Ahmed Abdul-Malik and that RCA one pictured above is my favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeline Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 (edited) Roman Bunka (German oud/guitar player) is well worth checking out - and there's Rabih Abou-Khalil, of course. I'm a fan of Middle Eastern music, too, so I love hearing players who are "fluent" in both Arabic music and other genres. IIRC, Abdul-Malik played oud on Randy Weston's Tanjah. Edited January 24, 2008 by seeline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analogak Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 roman bunka can shit music on you on a number of embryo albums. perhaps you would dig "we keep on". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 Baptizum, I did a Night Lights show about Ahmed Abdul-Malik several months ago that draws on music from the OJCs as well as the RCA: East Meets West: Ahmed Abdul-Malik and World Jazz There's a video of Abdul-Malik playing with Thelonious Monk there as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I have three albums by Ahmed Abdul-Malik and that RCA one pictured above is my favorite. Yeah, probably mine too. I have two on New Jazz and one on Riverside; there's a scarce one on Prestige that I long for... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bill Barton Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Roman Bunka (German oud/guitar player) is well worth checking out - and there's Rabih Abou-Khalil, of course. I'm a fan of Middle Eastern music, too, so I love hearing players who are "fluent" in both Arabic music and other genres. IIRC, Abdul-Malik played oud on Randy Weston's Tanjah. Brandon Terzic plays some very fine oud on Ravish Momin's Trio Tarana CD Miren (A Longing), a fairly recent release on Clean Feed. He's another player well worth a listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Yeah, that's a fine disc indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Maybe the vinyl hounds will know this, but is the African Moods LP (Prestige) the same session as Spellbound (Status)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I have three albums by Ahmed Abdul-Malik and that RCA one pictured above is my favorite. Same here. The other two I have (combined on one Prestige/Fantasy CD) are "The Music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik" and "Sounds of Africa" -- both originally on New Jazz. The second LP on that disc -- "Sounds of Africa" -- is no slouch, with some great playing by Richard Williams in particular. The 10-minute "Communication" is easily equal to the best of anything on the RCA "East Meets West". (Worth purchasing for that one track alone, if you ask me.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeline Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Brandon Terzic plays some very fine oud on Ravish Momin's Trio Tarana CD Miren (A Longing), a fairly recent release on Clean Feed. He's another player well worth a listen. Many thanks for the rec, Bill - Terzic's name is new to me, and I'm looking forward to hearing him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Maybe the vinyl hounds will know this, but is the African Moods LP (Prestige) the same session as Spellbound (Status)? Apparently not, but I can't identify an LP by him called "African moods". The only ones listed in the Ruppli Prestige discography are The music of A A-M NJ8266 (23 May 1961) Sounds of Africa NJ8282 (23 May 1961 (1 track) & 22 Aug 1962 (rest)) Eastern moods PR16003 (13 Jun 1963) Spellbound NJ8303 (12 Mar 1964) In addition, there were a couple of sideman dates. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Maybe the vinyl hounds will know this, but is the African Moods LP (Prestige) the same session as Spellbound (Status)? Apparently not, but I can't identify an LP by him called "African moods". The only ones listed in the Ruppli Prestige discography are The music of A A-M NJ8266 (23 May 1961) Sounds of Africa NJ8282 (23 May 1961 (1 track) & 22 Aug 1962 (rest)) Eastern moods PR16003 (13 Jun 1963) Spellbound NJ8303 (12 Mar 1964) In addition, there were a couple of sideman dates. MG Jazz Sahara (Riverside RLP 12-287) - October 1958 East Meets West (RCA Victor LPM 2015) - March 16 & 31, 1959 The Music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik (New Jazz NJLP 8266 + 1 tune on NJLP 8282, see next session) - May 23, 1961 Sounds of Africa (New Jazz NJLP 8282) - August 22, 1962 Eastern Moods (Prestige PR 16003) - June 13, 1963 [announced but not released as New Jazz NJLP 8298] Spellbound (Status ST 8303) - March 12, 1964 I'm a big fand of the three albums I own (the first three for Riverside & Prestige, don't have the RCA). Would like to hear the rest, particularly "Eastern Moods", which is just a trio: Bilal Abdurrahman, cl,as,fl,perc; Ahmed Abdul-Malik, b,oud; William Allen, b,perc. Guess I should look for the RCA album for the time being! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I tried to track down SPELLBOUND for the Night Lights show and was unsuccessful...still hoping to come across some manner of copy eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I tried to track down SPELLBOUND for the Night Lights show and was unsuccessful...still hoping to come across some manner of copy eventually. Well, another of those great Fantasy twofers would have done the job... but wiht Concord even dropping Ellington titles from the catalogue, this won't happen, alas. I guess we'd have to break in at the Iron Mountain storage facility, 24-like or something, and steal all those masters, in order to not just freeze it all up for good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 (edited) So, does the (pre-Concord) Fantasy JAZZ SOUNDS OF AFRICA CD 2-fer contain all of the material from THE MUSIC OF and SOUNDS OF AFRICA? Track Listing: 1) Nights On Saturn 2) The Hustlers 3) Oud Blues 4) LA Ibkey 5) Don't Blame Me 6) Hannibal's Carnivals 7) Wakida Hena 8) African Bossa Nova 9) Nadusilima 10) Out Of Nowhere 11) Communication 12) Suffering Edited January 25, 2008 by Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 The Eastern Moods LP is what I was trying to think of. Pretty scarce and interesting that it's a trio. My yearning just got even more pronounced... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 So, does the (pre-Concord) Fantasy JAZZ SOUNDS OF AFRICA CD 2-fer contain all of the material from THE MUSIC OF and SOUNDS OF AFRICA? Track Listing: 1) Nights On Saturn 2) The Hustlers 3) Oud Blues 4) LA Ibkey 5) Don't Blame Me 6) Hannibal's Carnivals 7) Wakida Hena 8) African Bossa Nova 9) Nadusilima 10) Out Of Nowhere 11) Communication 12) Suffering I didn't know this had come out on a twofer (though I could have looked it up). I wonder if the other two LPs might have made it onto another twofer if more people had bought that one? MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 So, does the (pre-Concord) Fantasy JAZZ SOUNDS OF AFRICA CD 2-fer contain all of the material from THE MUSIC OF and SOUNDS OF AFRICA? Track Listing: 1) Nights On Saturn 2) The Hustlers 3) Oud Blues 4) LA Ibkey 5) Don't Blame Me 6) Hannibal's Carnivals 7) Wakida Hena 8) African Bossa Nova 9) Nadusilima 10) Out Of Nowhere 11) Communication 12) Suffering Yes - unless some fade endings had been edited to squeeze them on. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 (edited) I assume the dates for Prestige and the Status are a little more "weird." The New Jazz Sounds of Africa has printed on the cover "Includes the New African Bossa-Nova," which was obviously an effort to cash in. Sounds of Africa is also an odd record, and pretty "out" at times, which is probably why I dig it. Bilal Abdurahman's records on Folkways would probably interest some people here. Most are solo, but there is one group recording - the East New York Ensemble de Music - which was reissued on Locust, and which is quite excellent. Edited January 25, 2008 by clifford_thornton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bill Barton Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 Brandon Terzic plays some very fine oud on Ravish Momin's Trio Tarana CD Miren (A Longing), a fairly recent release on Clean Feed. He's another player well worth a listen. Many thanks for the rec, Bill - Terzic's name is new to me, and I'm looking forward to hearing him. You're welcome, seeline. His name was new to me as well until I received this disc for review. Trio Tarana is one hell of a band! BTW, my complete review of this disc is in the current issue of CODA (Jan./Feb. 2008). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Will have to see that issue of CODA - don't get to read that one often enough. I penned the notes to that disc, though the Clean Feed space-cutting makes them read a little funny. Interestingly, they re-recorded all but one or two tracks live after being dissatisfied with the original studio album. I actually think both are great, and each offers a slightly different take on similar material. But I doubt the other takes will be commercially released... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.