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Jazz Articles about Ahmed Abdullah
Sun Ra at Inter-Media Arts, 1991
by Howard Mandel
On April 10, 1991, the night of this concert at Inter-Media Art Center in Huntington, Long Island, Sun Ra was near the apogee of his earthly transit. Having led his transformative iterations of his Arkestra around the globe for an unlikely if not unimaginable four decades, the visionary composer, keyboardist, conceptualist and cosmologist was, even though in recovery from a stroke, at the peak of his powers, two years from breaking free of his local orbit entirely. He ...
read moreAhmed Abdullah, Jimmy Cobb, Jill Barber and More
by Joe Dimino
The show must always go on. We have been reaching out to the jazz community to discuss the loss of live jazz due to COVID-19 and, with our programming we offer our contribution to keeping the jazz flame alive in these trying times. We profile new music from Ahmed Abdullah, Dave Liebman, Johnny Summers and Jill Barber. We also say good-bye to the mighty Jimmy Cobb. Enjoy our 650th Episode. Playlist Ahmed Abdullah Diaspora Meets Afro Horn Accent" ...
read moreThe Group: Live
by AAJ Italy Staff
Mentre il preteso centro del mondo" del jazz, ormai in sempre più costante ansia dissociativa e ricerca di consensi occasionali, si compiace delle gesta pop - nemmeno troppo pop e nemmeno troppo originali - di una Esperanza Spalding o sugli originali" innesti hip-hop nella musica di Robert Glasper [ok, la memoria di tutti fa difetto, non c'è problema, non c'è problema... sarà una cosa dell'età...], dalle periferie" vengono sguardi appassionati, onesti, umili e assai più interessanti, sia a livello storico" ...
read moreAhmed Abdullah: Tara
by Jeff Stockton
The downtown New York loft jazz of the early '70s, with its blend of free jazz and hard bop, was a great moment in time, and the musical spirit it nurtured endures. Trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah was a part of that scene, as was violinist Billy Bang, whose sound right now is the hottest thing in improvised music. Merely having him in the lineup makes Abdullah's Ebonic Tones a supergroup, like when Eric Clapton played with Stevie Winwood in Blind Faith. ...
read moreAhmed Abdullah's Dispersions of the Spirit of RA: Traveling the Spaceways
by Rex Butters
Even with a few Sun Ra alumni bands traveling the spaceways these days, Ra trumpet player Ahmed Abdullah casts his solar disc into the star stream with his Dispersions of the Spirit of RA group. Utilizing former Sun Ra crew members and veterans of his own units, Abdullah presents a program of both well-known and unknown compositions, keeping the vibe alive and extending our knowledge of the universe. Abdullah initiated the project as a result of a dream vision in ...
read moreAhmed Abdullah's Dispersions of the Spirit of RA: Traveling the Spaceways
by Rico Cleffi
Travelling the Spaceways is the fruit of the labor of long-time Sun Ra trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah's Dispersions of the Spirit of Ra--a band formed after Abdullah was visited in a dream by his former band leader. His mission? To play Sun Ra's music. Abdullah surrounded himself with some fierce musicians and set out to do justice to some of Ra's vast catalog. The result does for Sun Ra's songs what the Mingus Big Band has done for that great composer's ...
read moreAhmed Abdullah's NAM: Song of Time
by Elliott Simon
For those of you who can't wait until the end of the month to experience the high caliber of creative music that is always part of the Vision Festival, Song of Time catches an inspired 2001 Festival performance by the NAM quartet. This direct-to-DAT recording perfectly captures the intimate excitement that can happen at Vision when expert musicians from diverse backgrounds cooperatively gel into a creative whole. A transgenerational multicultural grouping, NAM consists of trumpeter and leader Ahmed Abdullah, baritone ...
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