Ahmed Abdul-Malik - East Meets West (1959)


Abdul-Malik Ahmed (1927-1993), amerykański kontrabasista jazzowy. Debiutował w Nowym Jorku pod koniec lat 40. współpracował z A. Blakeyem, później także z: R. Westonem, Th. Monkiem, H. Mannem i E. Hinesem. Uczestniczył w licznych festiwalach, w latach 50. i 70. popularyzował jazz w Afryce. Od 1970 prowadził z sukcesami działalność pedagogiczną. Wybrana dyskografia: Jazz Sahara, The Music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Ahmed Abdul-Malik/Sounds of Afric, East meets west.


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. (Chris Kelsey)

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