Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab Plus The Cairo Jazz Band - 1983 - In Egypt

Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab Plus The Cairo Jazz Band

1983

In Egypt

01. The Sun Ra Arkestra– Egypt Strut 6:42

02. The Sun Ra Arkestra– Dawn 12:15

03. The Sun Ra Arkestra– Watusa 18:52

04. The Cairo Jazz Band– Ramadan 4:19

05. Salah Ragab– Oriental Mood 4:48

06. The Cairo Jazz Band– A Farewell Theme 10:02

07. The Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble– Music For Angela Davis 13:01

Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Percussion – Danny Thompson* (tracks: 1 to 3)

Alto Saxophone, Flute, Percussion, Kora – Marshall Allen (tracks: 1 to 3)

Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Percussion – Eloe Omoe (tracks: 1 to 3)

Bassoon, Percussion, Drums [Egyptian Infinity] – James Jacson (tracks: 1 to 3)

Congas, Drums – Salah Ragab (tracks: 1 to 3)

Drums – Chris Henderson (5) (tracks: 1, 2), Claude Broche (tracks: 1, 2), Eric Walker (tracks: 1, 2)

Keyboards, Organ, Melodica [Hohner] – Sun Ra (tracks: 1 to 3)

Tenor Saxophone, Percussion – John Gilmore (tracks: 1 to 3)

Trombone – Tyrone Hill (tracks: 1, 2)

Tracks 1 & 2 recorded at El Nahar Studio, Cairo/Heliopolis, May 1983.

Track 3 recorded at Il Capo Jazz Club, Cairo/Zamalek, January 13, 1984.

Tracks 4 & 6 recorded between 1972 and 1974. Track 5 recorded 1974/75.

Track 7 recorded at Nile Hall, Cairo, February 14, 1971.

Originally released in 1983 by the import Praxis label, album has 7 tracks featuring the Cairo Jazz Band & the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble, including two never before released bonus cuts.

The real gems of this prized reissue from Leo Records's Golden Years vault imprint are two previously unreleased tracks. The first features Sun Ra and his Arkestra on an 18-minute "Watusa" from 1984, and the second features a 13-minute piece by Saleh Ragab's Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble, "Music for Angela Davis," from 1971. It's no surprise Sun Ra loved going to Egypt, what with all the astro-mythology he used in the Arkestra. This love shows brightly on "Egypt Strut" and "Dawn," two Ragab tunes played by Ra's band with the Egyptian percussionist sitting in. The early 1980s were a creatively thriving time for Sun Ra, and the band sounds tight, with a weave of percussion backing their every move. "Watusa" sounds like a bootleg, thin in audio but thrilling in execution. It's an unvarnished beauty. As for "Music for Angela Davis," it departs from the other Ragab pieces (there are three others on the CD) in that it's furiously triggered, full of heavy percussion, voices rambling over the top in spots, and tearing horns. For Sun Ra fans, this is a must. --Andrew Bartlett

Sun Ra enthusiasts take note: there are 36 minutes of the Man from Saturn and his Arkestra on this disc - the length of a good LP in the old days. Plus, how can any Saturnian resist the lure of a Ra disc recorded in the shadow of the Sphinx herself, right in Cairo? Top it off with 33 more minutes of Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band, and you've got a real treat.

This is Ra in 1983 and 1984, sounding surprisingly close to the tight Ra band of the Fifties, rather than to the later, looser ensembles. To be sure, there isn't a lot of intricate ensemble work on these three Ra tracks, but the heads do have a bit of a throwback bop feel. Plus, "Egypt Strut" and "Dawn" both feature John Gilmore solos of terrific architectonic coherence and passion, and Marshall Allen chimes in on flute just as mellifluously. The Sun himself contributes a keyboard solo of ringing power on "Egypt Strut." "Watusa," meanwhile, is a feast of percussion in the grand Ra fashion.

The Cairo jazz ensembles, which range from 21 members ("Ramadan") to five ("Oriental Mood,") hold up their end of the disc wonderfully. This is energetic and deeply sincere jazz with a marvelous Middle Eastern feel, complete with chanting on "Ramadan." All the instrumentalists are first-rate, especially pianist Khamis El Khouly, especially on "A Farewell Theme."

A great one. A feast. Don't miss it.