Ahmed Abdul-Malik - East Meets West (1959)

Format: flac + cue + log

Genre: Jazz, World Fusion, 

Original Release Date: 1959

Label: RCA

Review by Ken Dryden

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.



Biography by Chris Kelsey

Ahmed Abdul-Malik was one of the first musicians to integrate non-Western musical elements into jazz. In addition to being a hard bop bassist of some distinction, he also played the oud, a double-stringed, unfretted Middle Eastern lute, played with a plectrum. Abdul-Malik recorded on the instrument in the '50s with Johnny Griffin and in 1961 with John Coltrane, contributing to one of the several albums that resulted from the latter's Live at the Village Vanguard sessions.

Abdul-Malik was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. In his twenties and thirties, he worked as a bassist with Art Blakey, Randy Weston, and Thelonious Monk, among others. He played the oud on a tour of South America under the aegis of the U.S. State Department, and performed at one of the first major African jazz festivals in Morocco in 1972. Beginning in 1970, he taught at New York University and later, Brooklyn College. In 1984, he received BMI's Pioneer in Jazz Award in recognition of his work in melding Middle Eastern musics and jazz.

MCM - Ritual Factory 2004

Format: flac + cue + log

Genre: Fusion, Progressive Metal

Original Release Date: 2004

Label: Lion Music

This is a hard one to review. Rarely do I like to criticise such creativity within the Metal genre but on some occasions an album comes along that beggars belief as to what the musicians are hoping to achieve. One such album is MCM’s debut ‘’Ritual Factory’’ An album that ‘’spans from Progressive Rock to Experimental Jazz, from Funk Fusion to Indian Rhythms and phrasing’’ Yeah, you’ll be as bewildered as me when you hear it.

MCM is the brain child of the talented guitarist Alex Masi and he has joined forces with Randy Coven (Steve Vai/Malmsteen) on bass and John Macaluso (TNT/Malmsteen/RIOT) on drums. (I’ll let you work out where MCM comes from) and the music is extremely challenging, with emphasis on challenging. By the way it’s almost entirely instrumental with the odd spoken verse chucked in for good measure. Obvious influences are DREAM THEATER (them again!) and a big, big RUSH influence also. Each song is a master class is superb technical ability but at the same time it’s totally lacking in emotion as the playing standard is above what us mere mortals could ever hope to understand. Wave after wave of Jazz Fusion guitars, drum and bass come rolling from the speakers all mixing into a complex dispersal of sounds and shapes. After awhile it all sounds so bloody samey! And once you’ve heard one Randy Coven bass solo (utterly impressive though it is) then you’re not going to hang around for anymore. I guess you could place Masi’s guitar solos in that pigeon hole as well.

All three musicians are pushing themselves to the limit here both musically and commercially. You’ll be hard pressed to hear anything quite so diverse in the Metal world and for that MCM should be congratulated but for a spectacle of music it’s tough going. (Online August 24, 2004)

Anouar Brahem - Conte de L'incroyable amour (1992)

Format: flac + cue + log

Genre: Jazz, Folk, World, & Country

Original Release Date: 1992

Label: ECM Records

After a memorable ECM debut with Barzakh, Anouar Brahem recorded this even more memorable sophomore effort one year later. Carrying over percussionist Lassad Hosni, Brahem welcomes Turkish musicians Kudsi Erguner on ney and Barbaros Erköse on clarinet. Erköse, a gypsy music specialist, adds rich colors to an already dense palette, weaving tethers that pull us into tender worlds. His duets with Erguner (“Etincelles” and “Peshrev Hidjaz Homayoun”) stand out as some of the album’s most flowing. The title track brings the patter of clay drums, weaving a gorgeous ney into our vision. (The melodies and rhythms here put this listener immediately in mind of the song “I Love You” from Omar Faruk Tekbilek’s album One Truth.) Captivating. Erguner shines again in “Diversion.” Slaloming through every drummed pillar with the conviction of a bird in search of prey and yet with the delicacy of an angel avoiding such violence, he brings a sense of history to every lilting gesture. “Nayzak” revives the clarinet amid oud and drums for a stunning taste of mountains and the plains. The album’s meat, though, comes in Brahem’s unaccompanied storytelling. From the dawn chorus of “L’oiseau de bois” and invigorating virtuosity of “Battements,” through the tender air “Le chien sur les genoux de la devineresse,” and on to “Epilogue,” there is unimaginable depth of yearning in every twang and strum.

This album is all about the composition, stripped to the barest essentials of melodic craft and burrowing straight into the marrow of our past lives. One of Brahem’s best to date.

Steve Smith & Vital Information - Live One Great Night 2012 {with DVD5 NTSC}

Format: flac + cue + log

Genre: Jazz

Original Release Date: 2012

Label: BFM Jazz

Live! One Great Night (BFM Jazz) captures Vital Information in its natural habitat: On stage in front of an enthusiastic audience of music lovers with the band in high gear, pulling out all the stops for the entire set.

This recording is a superb example of the creative development in Vital Information’s music. Most of the compositions on Live! One Great Night were originally recorded on the studio albums Come On In and Vitalization. If you compare the performances on this release to the original recordings, you will hear significant musical growth both individually and collectively.

Our music allows for individual expression and re-invention. Every night on the bandstand we want to surprise each other with new ideas and in the process keep our audience “in the moment” with us.

On November 7, 2007 Vital Information was nearing the end of a year of extensive world touring. The band played a date at a small venue in Oregon, and we agreed to a webcast, which at the time was a novel idea. Five years later, as Vital Information approaches its 30th Anniversary, I was looking for some documentation of our various periods and I remembered that night in Oregon. After numerous emails and phone calls I was able to track down the recording of the concert. As a bonus we also found video footage of our webcast.

After listening to the performances I was thrilled to hear that the group played an exciting set, not studio “perfect,” but alive and spontaneous, with creative grooves, inspired interaction and expansive improvisation. I felt that including a DVD of the concert added an extra dimension to this package and while editing the video, we decided to add one more song to the DVD program.

I feel that Live! One Great Night is an insightful documentation of the group’s development. Our keyboardist, Tom Coster, has been in VI since 1986 and Baron Browne has been our bass player since 1998. Guitarist Vinny Valentino joined us in 2006 and had been playing with the group just over one year at the time of this recording.

The results of this collaboration are raw and exhilarating. This line-up of Vital Information has continued to play together and evolve over the last fi ve years. But, by going back and hearing this performance in the formative year of the quartet, it feels as though we’ve uncovered an unexpected gem.

Enjoy - Steve Smith