Maulawi - 2015 - Orotunds

Maulawi 

2015

Orotunds

01. Maiden Voyage
02. Orotunds
03. People Make The World Go Round
04. Say A Little Prayer (For You)
05. Where Is The Place?
06. Unknown Track
07. Maulawi Spoke Outro Edit

Drums – Michael Fuller
Tenor Saxophone – Maulawi

Although there is an element of mystery to almost all jazz musicians, few are ever quite as enigmatic as Maulawi Nururdin. A legendary band leader and reedist to his disciples, information about Maulawi’s personal life and early years is so scarce that even his birth name remains unknown. What is known is that Maulawi was a tougher-than-nails Chicagoan by birth, inescapable mentor to others, and a virtuoso jazz musician unlike any other.

The earliest notes in Maulawi’s history begin on the south side of Chicago as a close associate of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians with AACM pioneers Muhal Richard Abrams, Fred Anderson, Billy Brimfield and Roscoe Mitchell. From the beginning, Maulawi was a self assured leader, unafraid to boot other musicians off stage, commandeer their instrument, and give them an impromptu lesson on how to play it right. An intimidating figure in his signature beret and goatee, Maulawi wasn’t a stranger to the streets, and often spent his free time driving around, hipping his protégés to real life on the Chicago south side. But it would be his reputation as a musician, and not a streetwise bandleader, that would bring Maulawi to the doors of Strata Records.

“Maulawi could really, really play,” says percussionist Adam Rudolph, who, at 16 years old, began practicing and playing with Maulawi in the early 1970s. It was Rudolph who would introduce Maulawi to Strata’s Charles Moore, a meeting which would lead to Maulawi’s selftitled 1973 debut, the first album recorded by Strata by an artist from outside of Detroit.

True to the mysterious nature of Maulawi, even the story behind the recording of Ortunds is in dispute. They were either part of the 1973 sessions for Maulawi, recorded in a single night in Chicago, or from an unmixed session that took place in the Streeterville neighborhood at a later date. History aside, Ortunds never fails to astonish. Composed by Maulawi himself, Ortunds is an album of mostly Pop and R&B songs, all elevated by tip-toe funk tempos and Maulawi’s wildly inventive soprano saxophone. Tracks include Thom Bell and Linda Creed’s

"People Make The World Go Round,” as well as the Burt Bacharach and Hal David-penned classic, “I Say A Little Prayer.” The title track is a drum and bass driven showcase, the perfect platform for Maulawi to strut his sublime expressionist style on the Saxophone. The album ends with a real find – a rarely heard spoken recording of Maulawi himself, introducing the players and defining the title Ortunds as “full, clearness, strength and smoothness.”

A real treasure from reedman Maulawi Nurudin – originally recorded as part of the Strata Records scene in Detroit, but done in Chicago in 1973 – and issued here for the first time ever! The vibe here is almost more Tribe Records than some of the other Strata sides – as Maulawi blows tenor and other reeds over these modal grooves with drums from Tani Tabbal, plus bass and keyboards from other unknown musicians – all in a laidback style that's rich and soulful – almost a spiritual jazz take on territory that would later be explored by Grover Washington Jr, especially given Maulawi's use of soprano sax!

For those of you not familiar with Maulawi, here’s a bit of background. Real name unknown to many who played with him, Maulawi Nururdin hailed from Chicago and was the brother in law of pianist Ahmad Jamal. With close ties to the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians’ Muhal Richard Abrams, Fred Anderson, Billy Brimfield and Roscoe Mitchell, Maulawi was also a mentor to many young musicians in the Windy City. It was his ties to his student Adam Rudolph that brought him together with Strata’s Contemporary Jazz Quartet and Charles Moore. This meeting would garnish the first non Detroit artist to drop a record on Strata, Maulawi’s self titled debut for the label, which would lead to this record with Maulawi as both musician and band leader. The session for Orotunds, most likely recorded in late 1973, has not seen the light of day until now. Running through his interpretations of Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage”, R & B classics “People Make The World Go Round” and “I Say A Little Prayer”, the aforementioned track, plus three other tracks, this gem of a record is deep. “Where Is The Place” is an airy, spiritual piece that has Maulawi and his saxophone exploring things we not yet know of. The remaining two, an unknown track that is an upbeat funky Jazz, bordering on hard Funk track and the “Maulawi Spoken Outro” round out the seven songs rescued by the 180 Proof team. This outro, one of the very few recordings of Maulawi’s voice, explains the meaning of the record’s title (“full, clearness, strength and smoothness”). This release is another important one for 180 Proof and Amir, who are preserving this music that would otherwise get lost in the shuffle. This kind of music and the musicians who made it is slowly fading away. Unfortunately, this record goes to pre-sale just as the co-producer of the record Bud Spangler passed on January 16th. His work will be preserved on this release. Once again, this label has done what they do best, document this music and its history by getting this record out to a whole new audience, old and new collectors alike. The record cover is an interpretation of what it may have looked like had it been released, and with a gatefold of liner notes by Ronnie Reese, it is beautifully packaged. Also included in some of the Collectors Bundles, are an unreleased 45 by Detroit artists The SoulMates. Again, not much is known about this track, as it features Strata artist Nengue and was also recorded sometime in 1973 as well. A two sider, the A side “I’m Really Gonna Miss You” is a slow jam of a love song with the lead vocals in Spanish and the background vocals in English, and the flip “People, We Gotta Better” is a Northern Soul stomper. A true bonus for this project.

A real treasure from reedman Maulawi Nurudin – originally recorded as part of the Strata Records scene in Detroit, but done in Chicago in 1973 – and issued here for the first time ever! The vibe here is almost more Tribe Records than some of the other Strata sides – as Maulawi blows tenor and other reeds over these modal grooves with drums from Tani Tabbal, plus bass and keyboards from other unknown musicians – all in a laidback style that's rich and soulful – almost a spiritual jazz take on territory that would later be explored by Grover Washington Jr, especially given Maulawi's use of soprano sax!