Welcome to the Arabic Jazz blog!

Ahlan wa sahlan!

Welcome to my blog. I've created this blog to share information and news about music that mixes elements of jazz and Arabic music. I'll also share scores and transcriptions etc. for musicians.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Ahmed Abdul-Malik Sheet Music

Here are some transcriptions of the tunes from Ahmed Abdul-Malik's 1958 record Jazz Sahara. My impression is that Abdul-Malik didn't really "write" these tunes, but arranged them from themes that he had heard in traditional Arabic pieces.
The charts are "lead sheet" style, with a simple version of the melody. Ornaments and rhythmic variations are open to interpretation.

The record featured a mix of musicians from the NY middle-eastern "cabaret" scene, with Naim Karacand (violin), Jack Ghanaim (qanun), and Mike Hamway (percussion) joined by hard-hitting jazz musicians Johnny Griffin (saxophone) and Al Harewood (drum set). I've mentioned this record before, as the first recorded meeting of jazz and Arabic music, it remains a sentimental favorite despite some flaws (Although a world-class bassist, Abdul-Malik is not a, shall we say, subtle oud player, and the post-recording edits are laughably inept).





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