4.0 out of 5 stars
Overlooked, March 24, 2010
This review is from: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Audio CD)
"Watusa", "Music for Angela"...yes--fine: Yet no one talks about "Oriental Mood", which is by far the catchiest number on the album, and one of the top five releases on any/all Sun Ra albums. With parallels to "Ole" and "Take Five" it is a song which, at 4:44 could suffer an eleven or twelve-minute treatment without sacrificing its soaring intrigue. WILD!
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two Artists, Very Special Performances, September 1, 2008
This review is from: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Audio CD)
Bolstered by two previously unreleased numbers, this is truly a collaborative effort by a pair of artists who respect each other and were striving to achieve a special soundscape in their January 1984 performances at the Il Capo Jazz Club in Cairo, Egypt.
The CD chronicles the efforts of Sun Ra and Salah Ragab, with the latter playing percussion with the Arkestra, which has three numbers; Egypt Strut, Dawn, Watusa. Ragab is featured on four songs with the Cairo Jazz Band and Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble.
It is the unreleased numbers on the vinyl edition - Watusa, Music for Angels Davis (1971) - that are absolutely captivating and are the essence of what Sun Ra and Ragab were conveying to the audience; the power of music through timeless explorations of the soul.
This is two artists in very special performances that meant so much then, retain the beauty now and will only grow in stature in the future.
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