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Jazz Articles about Alex Riel
Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group
by Joshua Weiner
Many jazz fans will know saxophonist and flautist Sahib Shihab primarily for his stint in the 1940s with Thelonious Monk, and his playing captured on Monk's Genius of Modern Music Blue Note sets. Keen-eyed perusers of liner notes, however, will know him as an able sideman on classic albums by John Coltrane, Quincy Jones, Art Blakey, Benny Golson, Milt Jackson and others. Shihab also recorded as a leader in the 1950s and 1960s with Savoy, Debut and Argo, before moving ...
read moreSahib Shihab: Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group
by Douglas Payne
Sahib Shihab (1925-1989) played alongside such greats as Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Tadd Dameron, and Art Blakey in the 1940s and 50s. But in order to escape the racial problems in the United States and take advantage of the increased appreciation and opportunities for jazz abroad, he left for Europe and settled in Copenhagen in 1962. He became one of the featured soloists in the Clarke-Boland Big Band and joined the relatively young Danish Radio Jazz Group around the same ...
read moreAlex Riel: Celebration
by Jack Bowers
A thoughtfully planned, beautifully recorded, generously timed and wonderfully played trio session led by drummer Alex Riel and showcasing the prodigious talents of pianist Kenny Werner and bassist Jesper Lundgaard, so exhilarating that this reviewer was reminded from time to time of the classic Marian McPartland Hickory House trio from the '50s with bassist Bill Crow and drummer Joe Morello. After opening the concert date at the Copenhagen Jazz House with three spellbinding standards, Riel and Company elucidate Horace Silver's ...
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