Photo credit: Guy Bolongaro & Anne Tetzlaff for The WIRE
Picks
I’m not the only one shouting from the rooftops about أحمد [Ahmed], the international quartet of Pat Thomas, Seymour Wright, Antonin Gerbal, and Joel Grip. They are, without a doubt, one of the most innovative and exciting groups in and around the jazz world. You can take my word for it, or you can take the word of a number of critics, or you can (and should) go forth and listen for yourself.
Wood Blues (Astral Spirits) A set recorded two years ago at Counterflows in Glasgow, this release marks the first appearance of “Wood Blues,” the quartet’s prismed take on Ahmed Abdul-Malik’s “Oud Blues.”
Giant Beauty (fönstret) A beatiful box set, with photos of the legendary Golden Circle. Includes five straight nights, August 10–14, 2022, with the second performance of “Wood Blues,” new recordings of “Nights On Saturn” and “El Haris (Anxious),” and two debut recordings, “African Bossa Nova” and “Rooh (The Soul).”
This is very much أحمد [Ahmed]’s year, as these albums lead up to the group’s upcoming four-night run at CafeOTO.
Misc.
If we are friends elsewhere in the internet world, you may have seen me hype Stewart Smith’s أحمد [Ahmed] feature in issue 482 of The WIRE. It’s a must-read for fans of jazz and improvisation.
Likewise, highly recommend this 2022 Seymour Wright-penned feature for The Quietus, published just after the above recordings, in which he discusses Ahmed Abdul-Malik and the singular connection he finds playing with this quartet.