the music of

Amazing stuff from Ahmed Abdul-Malik - one of the early 60s most enigmatic jazz talents! Malik was Thelonious Monk's bassist for a few years, but by the time of this record, he was working in a very sophisticated cross-cultural mode - pulling together many different strands of jazz and Eastern music, forging them into a very unique sound. Unlike some of Malik's other records, which featured a style that was very heavy on Middle Eastern instrumentation, this one's got a very even blend of jazz, and features excellent work by Tommy Turrentine on trumpet, Calo Scott on cello, Eric Dixon on tenor, and Andrew Cyrille on drums. Malik himself plays bass and oud, and the record's got a snaking mix of jazz and exoticism that's roughly similar to Yusef Lateef's work on Savoy, or some of Sun Ra's work from the time. Titles include "Nights On Saturn", "La Ibkey", "The Hustlers", and "Oud Blues".