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Sahib Shihab

Besides being one of the first jazz musicians to convert to Islam and change his name (1947), Sahib Shihab was also one of the earliest boppers to use the flute. But he was also a fluent soloist on the alto, as well as the baritone sax, the latter being the instrument with which he became most frequently associated. Shihab first worked professionally with the Luther Henderson band at the age of 13 while still studying with Elmer Snowden. At 16, he attended the Boston Conservatory (1941-1942) and later worked as the lead alto in the 1944-1945 Fletcher Henderson band, billed as Eddie Gregory. After his religious conversion, he fell in with the early bop movement, recording several now-famous sides on alto with Thelonious Monk for Blue Note in 1947 and 1951, and playing with Art Blakey in 1949-1950 and the Tadd Dameron band in 1949. Following some empty patches where he had to work odd jobs for a living, Shihab played with Dizzy Gillespie in 1951-1952, Illinois Jacquet in 1952-1955, and the Oscar Pettiford big band in 1957. After arriving in Europe with Quincy Jones' big band in 1959-1960, he remained there until 1986 (mostly in Copenhagen), except for a long Los Angeles interlude (1973-1976). While on the Continent, he played in the Clarke-Boland big band for nearly a decade (1963-1972); he can be heard applying advanced vocal effects to his attractive flute work on the superb Clarke-Boland Big Band LP (Atlantic, 1963). He recorded only a handful of albums as a leader over the decades for Savoy, Argo, Atlantic, and Chess; a 1963 live date in Copenhagen is available on Black Lion.

Source: Richard S. Ginell

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Album Review

Tadd Dameron: Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited

Read "Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo


Le linee guida di Fontainebleau e Magic Touch, i due capolavori di Tadd Dameron qui riuniti in un solo CD, furono teorizzate dal pianista di Cleveland sulle pagine della rivista Record Changer, in cui descrisse come la sua adesione all'estetica del bebop fosse mediata dalla classica scrittura swing. Le forme multitematiche ABA e i trasporti di chorus di “The Scene Is Clean," nonché i quattro movimenti di “Fontainebleau" che non contengono una sola nota improvvisata, forniscono prove tangibili ...

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Album Review

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Read "Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


There is much that is tragic about Tadd Dameron's story. The composer, arranger and pianist fell prey to the heroin epidemic that gripped New York's jazz world in the 1940s and 1950s. He did jail time for his addiction in 1959-60. He died at the woefully young age of 48 years in 1965. But there is nothing tragic about Dameron's legacy as a composer-arranger, the field in which he made his most important contribution to jazz. His work was unfailingly ...

Album Review

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Read "Celebrating 75 Years Of His First Recordings Revisited" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


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Radio & Podcasts

Sahib Shihab, Danish Radio Big Band, Mohamed Najem

Read "Sahib Shihab, Danish Radio Big Band, Mohamed Najem" reviewed by David Brown


Welcome friends and neighbors to The Jazz Continuum. Old, new, in, out... wherever the music takes us. Each week, we will explore the elements of jazz from a historical perspective. This week, Sahib Shihab in Scandinavia; The Danish Radio Big Band as led by Thad Jones and Mhio Hazama. I'm also back from Paris record store shopping with Lp's from Bud Powell, Gigi Gryce, Dorothy Donegan, Jimmy Rowles and more; we'll also check out a track form the new release ...

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Reassessing

Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group

Read "Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group" reviewed 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 ...

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Liner Notes

Raul De Souza: Colors

Read "Raul De Souza: Colors" reviewed by Arnaldo DeSouteiro


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Album Review

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Read "Miles Davis With Tadd Dameron Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


1949 was a year of massive change for Miles Davis, and not in a good way. It began, in January, with him fronting the first of the recording sessions, made with a nonet, that became generically known as The Birth Of The Cool and which, if he had achieved nothing else of note, would have secured him a lasting place in jazz history. It ended with him strung out on heroin, a habit that reversed his ascent and which took ...

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Video / DVD

Sahib Shihab: Danish Group

Sahib Shihab: Danish Group

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

As a member of the Quincy Jones Big Band, saxophonist and flutist Sahib Shihab had a chance to travel extensively abroad. The band was in Paris for in 1959 and '60, where Sahib had an opportunity to experience Europe at length for the first time. He found Paris relaxed, racially tolerant, art-focused and beautiful during the day and late at night. I know, because Sahib told me this when I interviewed him at Rutgers University in the early 1980s, when ...

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Recording

Sahib Shihab and Bill Evans

Sahib Shihab and Bill Evans

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Sahib Shihab isn't as well known today as most other storied baritone saxophonists like Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams, Serge Chaloff and Harry Carney. As I recall from my not-yet-transcribed interview with Sahib back in the '80s, when he was a visiting professor at Rutgers University, part of the reason for his obscurity was his lengthy expatriate status. After a European tour in 1959 and '60 with the Quincy Jones big band, Sahib began spending a growing amount of time playing ...

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