AHMED ABDULLAH'S DIASPORA Meets AfroHorn, Jazz: A Music of the Spirit, Out of Sistas’ Place
Available at: https://www.ahmedian.com/music/diaspora-meets-afrohorn/
Ahmed Abdullah - trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals; Francisco Mora-Catlett - multi percussion; Monique Ngozi Nri - poetry and vocals; Alex Harding - baritone saxophone; Don Chapman - tenor saxophone; Bob Stewart - tuba; Donald Smith - piano; Radu ben Judah - bass; Ronnie Burrage -multi percussion; Roman Diaz - percussion
Ahmad Abdullah has been a central figure in the evolution of that particular iteration of jazz that coalesced around the imposing figure of Sun Ra in the 1970s, that looked back to the accessible, riotous popular music of the past as much to the expanded sounds of the interstellar future, and conceived of jazz as an enterprise for solidarity and social change as much as an art or entertainment form. After joining the Arkestra in 1975 he’s continued to develop as a performer, a bandleader and composer, an educator, the musical director of the Sista’s Place and other prominent NYC lynchpins of the community, and this recording brings together all those strands into a gloriously life-affirming statement of togetherness.
The supporting cast includes fellow Arkestra graduates Radu en Judah and Alex Harding alongside other luminaries of the scene such as Arthur Blythe’s longtime associate Bob Stewart on tuba, freebop drummer Ronnie Burrage and Don Smith (brother of Lonnie Liston) on piano, while the lesser known Don Chapman contributes some outstanding clear-toned tenor sax solos throughout - check him on ‘Eternal Spiralling Spirit’ -and Abdullah’s wife Monique Ngozi Nri declaims some righteous verse on ‘Accent’. The music delivers everything that late-career Arkestra devotees could hope for - there’s plenty of long, freewheeling modal jams, the solos flip effortlessly between the tradition and the outer reaches of freedom, there’s percussion and low-end bass grooves aplenty, and even some nifty afro-futurist rap on ‘Discipline 27’, and the ensemble pieces have the kind of raggedly joyous spontaneity that reach back through the Arkestra to the Mingus bands and beyond to the dawn of the music. Abdullah’s unfailingly committed, earthy trumpet is a unifying thread throughout. A joy from start to finish.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Available at: https://www.ahmedian.com/music/diaspora-meets-afrohorn/
Ahmed Abdullah - trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals; Francisco Mora-Catlett - multi percussion; Monique Ngozi Nri - poetry and vocals; Alex Harding - baritone saxophone; Don Chapman - tenor saxophone; Bob Stewart - tuba; Donald Smith - piano; Radu ben Judah - bass; Ronnie Burrage -multi percussion; Roman Diaz - percussion
Ahmad Abdullah has been a central figure in the evolution of that particular iteration of jazz that coalesced around the imposing figure of Sun Ra in the 1970s, that looked back to the accessible, riotous popular music of the past as much to the expanded sounds of the interstellar future, and conceived of jazz as an enterprise for solidarity and social change as much as an art or entertainment form. After joining the Arkestra in 1975 he’s continued to develop as a performer, a bandleader and composer, an educator, the musical director of the Sista’s Place and other prominent NYC lynchpins of the community, and this recording brings together all those strands into a gloriously life-affirming statement of togetherness.
The supporting cast includes fellow Arkestra graduates Radu en Judah and Alex Harding alongside other luminaries of the scene such as Arthur Blythe’s longtime associate Bob Stewart on tuba, freebop drummer Ronnie Burrage and Don Smith (brother of Lonnie Liston) on piano, while the lesser known Don Chapman contributes some outstanding clear-toned tenor sax solos throughout - check him on ‘Eternal Spiralling Spirit’ -and Abdullah’s wife Monique Ngozi Nri declaims some righteous verse on ‘Accent’. The music delivers everything that late-career Arkestra devotees could hope for - there’s plenty of long, freewheeling modal jams, the solos flip effortlessly between the tradition and the outer reaches of freedom, there’s percussion and low-end bass grooves aplenty, and even some nifty afro-futurist rap on ‘Discipline 27’, and the ensemble pieces have the kind of raggedly joyous spontaneity that reach back through the Arkestra to the Mingus bands and beyond to the dawn of the music. Abdullah’s unfailingly committed, earthy trumpet is a unifying thread throughout. A joy from start to finish.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
