Ahmed Abdul Malik - Spellbound [updated]

Ahmed Abdul Malik with Ray Nance and Seldon Powell - Spellbound - Prestige/Status ST 8303 - Original Prestige Pressing, Orange Label, Mono [additional sound and art restoration by JD]

Ahmed Abdul Malik - Bass
Ray Nance - Coronet & Violin
Seldon Powell - Tenor Sax & Flute
Paul Neves - Piano
Walter Perkins - Drums
Hamza Aldeen - Oud

Recorded - [not listed on sleeve, but according to major Prestige discographies - March 12, 1964, Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ]

Produced by Don Schlitten
Recording: Rudy Van Gelder [Van Gelder in deadwax]
Cover Design/Photo: Don Schilitten

Released - February 27, 1965

This is a monster crate digging find - and one of the true remaining Prestige rarities - Ahmed Abdul Malik's Spellbound!

Malik is perhaps best known as Thelonious Monk's bassist of the late 1950s. He was part of the famous Coltrane-Monk group of 1957, appearing on the famous Five Spot/Carnegie Hall concerts and recordings. He also contributed some interesting exotic instrumentation to Coltrane's live Village Vanguard recordings of 1961. Malik's personal biography is also quite mysterious and contradictory. According to recent research by Monk's biographer Robin Kelley, Malik was NOT of Sudanese origin (perhaps West Indian), which has been widely reported in the jazz biographical literature until now. Interestingly, and as cited by Kelley, he was born with the name Jonathan Timm Jr, then he was known as Sam Gill before changing his name to Ahmed Abdul Malik upon his conversion to Islam.

Picking up on this theme of Islam, much of his work as a leader was devoted to North African/Islam/Jazz fusion , i.e. 'Jazz Sahara' (Riverside, 1958), 'East Meets West' (RCA, 1959), "Jazz Sounds of Africa"/"Music of Ahmed Abdul Malik (Prestige/New Jazz, 1962). These earlier sides were interesting efforts at experimentation, but ultimately not sustainable beyond these one offs, as they sound a bit dated and frankly, gimmicky in my opinion.

This particular side, "Spellbound" (Prestige/Status, 1964) is Malik's final recording as a leader, and as Dan Morgenstern's informative and insightful liner notes points out, it's Malik's most traditional and straight ahead side. Malik, is supported by some skilled sidemen/jazz pros here, including the great Ray Nance and Seldon Powell. However, there are still some nice exotic/Oud instrumental touches , here and there, most notably during the introduction to track A2 'Never on Sunday', and during the bridge of track B1 'Song of Delilah', which does connect this side back to Malik's earlier fusion work.

This is an astoundingly difficult side to track down as I believe it only received one small pressing on Prestige's subsidiary budget label of Status in 1965. Since then it's remained largely unheard for some forty six years (!) , except in some very exclusive Jazz vinyl collector circles. It's a shame as this is some great music and it deserves to be heard! I post this side in this spirit, and in remembrance of a true, unjustifiably forgotten jazz great/pioneer, Ahmed Abdul Malik!