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Sahib Shihab

Besides being one of the first jazz musicians to convert to Islam and change his name (1947), Sahib Shihab was also one of the earliest boppers to use the flute. But he was also a fluent soloist on the alto, as well as the baritone sax, the latter being the instrument with which he became most frequently associated. Shihab first worked professionally with the Luther Henderson band at the age of 13 while still studying with Elmer Snowden. At 16, he attended the Boston Conservatory (1941-1942) and later worked as the lead alto in the 1944-1945 Fletcher Henderson band, billed as Eddie Gregory. After his religious conversion, he fell in with the early bop movement, recording several now-famous sides on alto with Thelonious Monk for Blue Note in 1947 and 1951, and playing with Art Blakey in 1949-1950 and the Tadd Dameron band in 1949. Following some empty patches where he had to work odd jobs for a living, Shihab played with Dizzy Gillespie in 1951-1952, Illinois Jacquet in 1952-1955, and the Oscar Pettiford big band in 1957. After arriving in Europe with Quincy Jones' big band in 1959-1960, he remained there until 1986 (mostly in Copenhagen), except for a long Los Angeles interlude (1973-1976). While on the Continent, he played in the Clarke-Boland big band for nearly a decade (1963-1972); he can be heard applying advanced vocal effects to his attractive flute work on the superb Clarke-Boland Big Band LP (Atlantic, 1963). He recorded only a handful of albums as a leader over the decades for Savoy, Argo, Atlantic, and Chess; a 1963 live date in Copenhagen is available on Black Lion.

Source: Richard S. Ginell

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12
Reassessing

Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group

Read "Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group" reviewed by Joshua Weiner


Many jazz fans will know saxophonist and flautist Sahib Shihab primarily for his stint in the 1940s with Thelonious Monk, and his playing captured on Monk's Genius of Modern Music Blue Note sets. Keen-eyed perusers of liner notes, however, will know him as an able sideman on classic albums by John Coltrane, Quincy Jones, Art Blakey, Benny Golson, Milt Jackson and others. Shihab also recorded as a leader in the 1950s and 1960s with Savoy, Debut and Argo, before moving ...

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Liner Notes

Raul De Souza: Colors

Read "Raul De Souza: Colors" reviewed by Arnaldo DeSouteiro


Raul De Souza's life can be seen as a one-of-a-kind story. Indeed, it would make a perfect novel or film script. It may not be as big a tragedy as 'Round Midnight or Bird, but it has drama, love, adventure, and great music. Picture this: a poor child grows up in Brazil working as a weaver and practicing trombone in conversations with a buffalo in the jungle, dreaming of someday becoming an internationally famous jazzman. Suddenly, this dream ...

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Album Review

Miles Davis: Miles Davis With Tadd Dameron Revisited

Read "Miles Davis With Tadd Dameron Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


1949 was a year of massive change for Miles Davis, and not in a good way. It began, in January, with him fronting the first of the recording sessions, made with a nonet, that became generically known as The Birth Of The Cool and which, if he had achieved nothing else of note, would have secured him a lasting place in jazz history. It ended with him strung out on heroin, a habit that reversed his ascent and which took ...

3
Multiple Reviews

Classic vinyl remasterings from Storyville

Read "Classic vinyl remasterings from Storyville" reviewed by Chris Mosey


In time for the festive season, the Copenhagen label Storyville is reissuing three classic albums from its archives remastered on 180-gram vinyl: Charlie Parker In Sweden, 1950; Ben Webster Plays Ballads; and Sahib Shihab's “lost" minor masterpiece Sentiments. The Charlie Parker album was recorded on November 24, 1950 at a concert in the southern Swedish city of Helsingborg and a jam session afterwards. It was last made available in 1983 and comes with original sleeve art and ...

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Album Review

Clarke - Boland Sextet: Swing Im Bahnhof

Read "Swing Im Bahnhof" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Protagonista di questo disco da tempo introvabile, è un medio organico estratto dalla big band diretta da Kenny Clarke e Francy Boland, che dal 1961 al 1972 operò in Europa, caratterizzandosi tra le massime orchestre mainstream dell'epoca. Introdotto dal famoso attore e mimo francese Marcel Marceau, il sestetto inaugurava il 25 settembre 1965 un centro d'arte a Rolandseck, vicino Bonn, presentando un accattivante repertorio profumato di aromi centro e sudamericani, tra musiche caraibiche e bossa nova. Il percorso ...

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Album Review

Sahib Shihab: And the Danish Radio Jazz Group

Read "And the Danish Radio Jazz Group" reviewed by George Kanzler


Made in the mid-'60s, over a decade before Thad Jones led the Danish Radio Big Band, this gem of an album offers more evidence of the centrality of Denmark to the modern, post-World War II jazz scene. It's also a forceful reminder of the limitations of the “great names" approach to jazz history, where such worthy talents as the late Sahib Shihab (1925-89) are ignored or marginalized. Shihab, a pioneering bebop baritone saxophonist and flutist, continued to develop and innovate ...

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Album Review

Sahib Shihab: Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group

Read "Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group" reviewed by Douglas Payne


Sahib Shihab (1925-1989) played alongside such greats as Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Tadd Dameron, and Art Blakey in the 1940s and 50s. But in order to escape the racial problems in the United States and take advantage of the increased appreciation and opportunities for jazz abroad, he left for Europe and settled in Copenhagen in 1962. He became one of the featured soloists in the Clarke-Boland Big Band and joined the relatively young Danish Radio Jazz Group around the same ...

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Video / DVD

Sahib Shihab: Danish Group

Sahib Shihab: Danish Group

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

As a member of the Quincy Jones Big Band, saxophonist and flutist Sahib Shihab had a chance to travel extensively abroad. The band was in Paris for in 1959 and '60, where Sahib had an opportunity to experience Europe at length for the first time. He found Paris relaxed, racially tolerant, art-focused and beautiful during the day and late at night. I know, because Sahib told me this when I interviewed him at Rutgers University in the early 1980s, when ...

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Recording

Sahib Shihab and Bill Evans

Sahib Shihab and Bill Evans

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Sahib Shihab isn't as well known today as most other storied baritone saxophonists like Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams, Serge Chaloff and Harry Carney. As I recall from my not-yet-transcribed interview with Sahib back in the '80s, when he was a visiting professor at Rutgers University, part of the reason for his obscurity was his lengthy expatriate status. After a European tour in 1959 and '60 with the Quincy Jones big band, Sahib began spending a growing amount of time playing ...

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