Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab In Egypt CD

This important reissue should be greeted joyfully by Sun Ra aficionados, as it fills a hole in his discography, but it is neither stellar Ra nor great jazz. The beautifully packaged CD collects less than forty minutes of the Archestra performing in Egypt with legendary percussionist Salah Ragab, and adds two selections from The Cairo Jazz Band, a short piece by an Egyptian sextet, and an interesting track from The Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble. The music from the Egyptians offers a fascinating peek at an attempt to integrate jazz improvisation with Arab culture. The CD leaflet documents some of the difficulties in bringing the concerts to fruition. On its own, the music should have relatively limited appeal, but as a novelty item, it should whet some appetites. The sound quality is slightly sub-par. ~ Steven A. Loewy

originally released in 1983 by the Praxis label, album has 7 tracks, feat. the Cairo Jazz Band & the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble, inc. 2 never before released bonus cuts

Contains 7 tracks.

Composers: Salah Ragab; Sun Ra.

Personnel: Sun Ra (melodica, organ, keyboards); Marshall Allen (kora, flute, alto saxophone, percussion); Zaky Osman (piccolo, oboe, trumpet); Toto Abdel Hamid (nay); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet, percussion); James Jacson (bassoon, drums, percussion); Wilfried Eichhorn (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, percussion); Danny Thompson (alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, percussion); Faith Abdel Salam, Farouk Abdel Rahman, John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, percussion); El Sayyed el Aydy, Sayyed Salama, Farouk Abdou (tenor saxophone); Abdel Hakim el Zamel (baritone saxophone, percussion); Khalifa Ismail, Sadeek Basyouni, Ronnie Brown, Ibrahim Wagdi (trumpet, percussion); Abdel Atey Farag, Mohammed Abdou, El Sayyed Dahrouk, Khalifa el Samman (trumpet); Herbert Joos (flugelhorn, percussion); Mahmound Ayoub (trombone, percussion); Tyrone Hill (trombone); Mohammed Abdel Rahman (tuba, percussion); Helmut Zimmer (piano, percussion); Khamis el Khouly (piano); Salah Ragab (drums, congas); Rudi Theilmann (drums, percussion); Clifford Jarvis, Claude Broche, Eric "Samarai Celestial" Walker, Chris "Chubby" Henderson (drums); Matthew Brown (congas); Sayyed Ramadan (bongos); Hartmut Geerken (percussion, gong); Claus Buehler, Moohy El Din Osman, Rollo Radford (percussion); Myriam Broche, Gregory P. Pratt (dancer).

Liner Note Author: Hartmut Geerken.

Recording information: El Nahar Studio, Cairo, Egypt (02/14/1971-01/13/1984); Heliopolis (02/14/1971-01/13/1984); II Capo Jazz Club, Ciro (02/14/1971-01/13/1984); Nile Hall, Ciro (02/14/1971-01/13/1984); Zamalek (02/14/1971-01/13/1984).

Photographer: Hartmut Geerken.

Translator: Isabel Seeberg.

Personnel includes: Sun Ra & His Arkestra, The Cairo Jazz Band, The Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble.

The Wire (1/00, p.91) - "...fascinating...[and] Schizophrenic....the soloists are as professionally invigorating as ever, and Ra's delightful incursions on melodica display a startlingly fractured melodic sense..."