Rabih Abou Khalil Sheet Music — Nightfall

Rabih Abou-Khalil was the first oud player I ever heard. The first year or so after I started playing the oud, I transcribed a ton of his tunes. I led a kind of "tribute" band for a while in New Orleans that focused on playing his music. I'm going to post some of them here occasionally. This one is “Nightfall” off his album Between Dusk and Dawn. It uses the Sama'i Thaqil rhythm, but doesn't adhere to the traditional Sama'i form.

You can get the mp3 album from Amazon:

Chaouki Smahi

Chaouki Smahi was born 1963 in Morocco and brought up in Algeria. He now lives in Switzerland. He is an accomplished oud player and violinist and percussionist. He has a few recordings, most of which involve jazz musicians.
Sadaka is my favorite of his recordings. Straightforward arrangements and recording, with the focus on oud, saxophone and percussion. Smahi plays in a fairly traditional Arabic style, but Mariano tastefully incorporates jazz ideas on the saxophone.

Chaouki Smahi: oud, violin, vocals, darbouka Charlie Mariano: alto saxophone

He is on another Charlie Mariano record called Nassim which is somewhat less succesful but still has some nice moments. It's definitely more of a deliberate "Arabic-Jazz" fusion, but overreaches at times.

It doesn't seem to be available in the U.S., but you might be able to find a download somewhere . . .

Rabih Abou-Khalil

Lebanese oud player, one of the first to work extensively with jazz musicians. A prolific composer, Abou-Khalil is known for his rhythmically intricate compositions that (unlike traditional Arabic music) frequently change meter in a free-flowing way, often several times within a phrase or section. He does not use any of the microtonal maqamat (modes, sing. maqam in his music. He generally performs with Western musicians, most of whom have jazz backgrounds. He occasionally works with Eastern musicians, such as on Roots & Sprouts and Tarab.

Selected discography:


Bukra (1988): with Sonny Fortune (alto sax), Glen Moore (bass), Glen Velez & Ramesh Shotham (percussion)



Roots & Sprouts (1990): Fairly traditional middle-eastern instrumentation:
Selim Kusur (nay), Yassin El-Achek (violin), Glen Moore (bass), Glen Velez (frame drums), Mohammad Al-Sous (darabukka)



Tarab (1992):
Selim Kusur (nay), Glen Moore (bass), Nabil Khaiat & Ramesh Shotham (percussion)



Blue Camel (1992): One of Abou-Khalil's jazziest records.
Charlie Mariano (alto sax), Kenny Wheeler (flugelhorn), Steve Swallow (bass)
Milton Cardona, Nabil Khaiat & Ramesh Shotham (percussion)