Ahmed Abdul-Malik - East Meets West (1959)

The late Ahmed Abdul-Malik was 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. ~ AMG review by Ken Dryden.

I obtained a sealed copy of the LP.

01 - El-Lail (The Night)
02 - La Ikby (Don't Cry)
03 - Takseem (Solo)
04 - Searchin'
05 - Isma'a (Listen)
06 - Rooh (The Soul)
07 - Mahawara (The Fugue)
08 - El Ghada (The Jungle)

Lee Morgan* (t) Curtis Fuller (tb) Jerome Richardson (fl) Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin (ts) Naim Karacand (vln) Ahmed Abdul-Malik (b, oud) Al Harewood (d) Bilal Abdurrahman, Mike Hamway (darabeka) Ahmed Yetman (kannon)
*NYC, March 16, 1959; NYC, March 31, 1959

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Copenhagen 1959

Hello everybody!!  I have not been actively posting in quite some time.  The reasons are two fold.  First and foremost, my young family & job extract most of my time and energy.  Secondly, I had been downloading & collecting with great intensity, but not listening.  I had gathered most of what I wanted, and of course more than any single human could possibly listen to in a lifetime.

That said, I have finally struck a balance in my personal life that allows me some time, and motivation, for sharing music.  As some of you may know, I am infact on Youtube and have been slowly sharing albums which were otherwise unavailable to that platform.  Those are albums which I already have in my digital collection, so not much effort is required.

Apologies for the decidedly unmusical intro!!  I found this CD in a thrift shop and wasn't really sure what I had.  As it turns out, it's a legit recording from Blakey's '59 tour of Europe.  The set list is of course, similar to all of the other dates you will find, with the exception of Nellie Blye.  I find myself regularily irritated with people who complain about the sound quality of these various live recordings.  My own opinion, is that this is a good live recording & we are blessed to have it available to us.  If you are truly listening for the music, you won't be disappointed.

This was ripped using EAC and compressed to FLAC 16/44.1 for your convenience.  Golden age Messengers... how can you lose?!?!?!  Enjoy!!!

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