Four Classic Albums

Description

Retrouvez 4 Remastered Albums on 2 CDs by Ahmed Abdul-Malik, CD 1: Jazz Sahara, East Meets West, CD 2: The Music Of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Sounds Of Africa
Born in Brooklyn to Sudanese or Caribbean parents (this is not very clear), Ahmed Abdul-Malik was born with this name or took it when he left the one of Jonathan Tim that he initially had. There is little information about this. Given the musical path he was to take later, it seems likely that the Sudanese parental history is quite precise. He began taking music lessons at a young age and was enrolled at the Vardi School of Music where he learned the violin, viola, piano, cello, bass, and tuba. He began his professional music career playing hard bop on the bass before recording a series of albums with Middle Eastern colors, where he played the oud (a type of double-stringed lute). This blend of jazz and Middle Eastern music became very popular at the time and the albums we feature here on our 2CDs were rather poorly reviewed at the time and over the years have been appreciated as "avant-garde" in their mix of jazz and what we now call "world music." The artists with whom Malik played include John Coltrane, Johnny Griffin, Randy Weston, Art Blakey, and Thelonious Monk.