Customer Reviews

Roots & Sprouts

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Rabih takes an ensemble of largely Middle Eastern instruments and makes mad jazz with them. This disc is an often exhilirating experience, as the violist El-Achek and nay player Selim Kusur swap around the melody with Rabih, backed by bass and fabulous, insistent percussion. The first track is a great "can opener". The second track "Walking on Air" has a great solo from the bassist. The fourth track has all the air of a funeral march as the same dirge-like line is passed around and variated, and before it launches, Rabih's got a great sad solo. "Sweet Rain" is transcendent when El-Achek and Kusur weave in and out over Rabih's musing melody, and ends with thoughtful taps of the darbouka. The next track is jazzy (Glen Velez on snare) and develops into this drone, waiting for the nay to re-introduce the main theme.

If you have only one Rabih album, this is the one to get. I don't say that lightly, because "al-Jadida", "Tarab", and "Arabian Waltz" are compelling albums that never lose their snap. But if you like jazz on Middle Eastern instruments, this is a must-have.

This disc shimmers with Rabih Abou-Khalil's masterful oud playing, perfectly complemented by a soulful ensemble. Glen Moore's bass grounds this particular performance in some mythic land between Turkish and American music, as exemplified in their brilliant arrangement of Duke Ellington's "Caravan". How fittingly Ellington's tune could be a sufi devotional, or an exotic jazz number. The timeless quality of this music begs the question: What's the real difference, anyway?

Glen Velez and Mohammed Al-Sous stand out on this disc for their entrancing percussion, especially on the first cut "Remembering Machghara" and the final "Dreams of a Dying City".

At last, an album of spiritualized jazz-inflected music from a superb ensemble! The oud is displayed here in all its versatility, and in Abou-Khalil's artful hands.