1.Introduction		00:03:54
2.Overture I		00:04:46
3.Overture II		00:03:33
4.Movement I		00:06:14
5.Movement II		00:07:26
6.Movement III		00:15:20
7.Movement IV		00:10:14

Ibrahim Maalouf (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Mark Turner (saxophone) 
Frank Woeste (piano) 
Larry Grenadier (double bass)
Clarence Penn (drums)

My first and only encounter with Ibrahim Maalouf in person took place some years ago on a snowy evening in Glasgow during the Celtic Connections festival. Helping out backstage for his gig we discovered that because of the snow he would only arrive from the airport minutes before the start of the gig. Then we discovered that only his guitarist was with him – the rest of the band was still snowed in at Amsterdam airport. When he finally arrived, he just took it all in his stride, and the two musicians went on stage and stormed through an hour of great improvised music – and seemed to enjoy it enormously.

What that that taught me was that despite some occasional forays into pop music and other genres, this is a musician with the very best of jazz skills and credentials.

Maalouf was born in Lebanon, but grew up in Paris. He comes from a musical family, and his father was the inventor of the micro-tonal four-valve trumpet. That’s what makes it possible to play Arab quarter-tones on the trumpet, and what gives all his music such a distinctive sound. He is a prolific performer and composer and has worked with a string of pop, electro, world and jazz musicians.

His own albums though are usually firmly in the “world jazz” tray, and these two are no exception. The two albums – both tributes in homage to women - are however subtly different.

Kalthoum is a suite dedicated to the Egyptian diva Oum Kalthoum, and built around one of her greatest songs Alf Leila Wa Leila (The thousand and one nights). --- Peter Slavid, londonjazznews.com

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1 Free Spirit 	00:07:02
2 Essentielles 		00:03:42
3 Goodnight Kiss 	00:06:49
4 Elephant's Tooth 	00:04:38
5 Red & Black Light	00:03:51
6 Escape 	00:06:15
7 Improbable 		00:05:59
8 Run the World (Girls) 		00:03:44

Ibrahim Maalouf – trumpet, keyboards
Eric Legnini - keyboards [Fender Rhodes], synth [Clavia Nord Bass G2 Modular]
François Delporte – guitar
Stéphane Galland – drums
+
Maîtrise De Radio France (Choir)
Sofi Jeannin – conductor [track 5]
Sylvain Dupuis – percussion (tapan) [track 7]

Ibrahim Maalouf isn’t one of those musicians where if you’ve heard one of their songs, you’ve heard them all. Apparently being the world’s best quarter tone trumpet player wasn’t enough for him, because he is a master composer, arranger, producer and cultural diplomat in addition to being highly versatile as an instrumentalist.

Red and Black Light is his “electro” album, released the same week as Kalthoum, his tribute to Oum Kalthoum, the Egyptian singer and feminist who used her voice to unite the Arab people, whether they be Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or atheist. (This is according to Maalouf; I had never heard of her. There is a good review of Kalthoum already posted if you are interested.) You can see another side of Maalouf in Illusions, which has more of an orchestral flavor to it, with a section of background trumpets and mostly acoustical instrumentation. The common thread in all his work is the Middle Eastern sound, which is why he needs a fourth valve on his trumpet. (If you aren’t familiar with that sound, there is a hint of it in the Sting song, Desert Rose.)

A couple of side notes: His stuff doesn’t contain lyrics, although he just produced and played on a record of Natacha Atlas, so if you have to have vocals, get that one. Also, Europeans have a much looser definition of jazz than North Americans, so if you’re expecting Wynton Marsalis you’re in for a shock. If you can’t stand synthesizers or the sound of hard rock electric guitar, get Illusions or Kalthoum rather than Red and Black Light, but if you don’t get something of his you will be missing out in a big way.

The songs from Red and Black Light that they are playing on the radio are the title track and Free Spirit. The CD cover also mentions his adaptation of the Beyoncé song, Run the World (Girls). My favorite, though, is Essentielles, because the focus is solidly on the trumpet. Although he normally titles his songs in English, he must have kept this one in French because the French adjective he used for “essential” is in the plural feminine form, which you can’t specify in English. He dedicated this album to all the women in the background whose contributions to society and families are critical but who don’t get the credit they deserve. If Amazon allowed it, I would give him a sixth star for that. --- Sandy Judd, amazon.com

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