ahmed abdullah

(originally Leroy Bland, born 1946/05/10)

http://www.ahmedian.com

from ahmed abdullah's website:
"Ahmed Abdullah worked with Sun Ra, on and off, from 1975 until the latter's departure in 1993. Ahmed continued with the Arkestra until 1997, first under the direction of John Gilmore (93-95), then under Marshall Allen (95-97). His experiences with Sun Ra include participation in well over 25 recordings, extensive travel around the world, and numerous club engagements throughout the United States.

In 1998, Ahmed Abdullah formed the Sun Ra All-Star Project in an effort to feature many of Sun Ra's former collaborators, while also allowing more musicians opportunity to perform Sun Ra's music. In February 2000, the first Satellites of the Sun Festival was produced by Abdullah at Sistas' Place in Brooklyn. The Festival, an annual event corresponding to Black History Month, presents band leaders who worked with Sun Ra and who tend to include in their repertoire selections from Sun Ra's original compositions. The objective of the Festival is to showcase the fact that Sun Ra has indeed influenced many highly talented musicians.

Since February 2001, Ahmed began teaching a Sun Ra Ensemble class at New School University. This course has successfully introduced a number of young musicians to the music, philosophy, lyrics and poetry of Sun Ra."

In 2010 The New School University Sun Ra Ensemble was featured on WBAI radio.

concerts

Ahmed Abdullah's Solomonic Quintet feat. Charles Moffett

• 1993/10/25 - concert 'Topos, 14', "Leverkusener Jazztage", Leverkusen (Germany)

  • line-up

    • Ahmed Abdullah - trumpet, fluegelhorn, voice

    • Douglas Ewart - alto sax, flute, bass clarinet

    • Billy Bang - violin

    • Masujaa - guitar

    • Fred Hopkins - bass

    • Charles Moffett - drums

  • setlist

    • Intro AA, Mystery of Two (Sun Ra), ??, The Dance We Do, Hey, Man!, Allah's Blues, Deja's View, Lonely Woman (Ornette Coleman), ??, ??, ??

  • the recording got seeded at DimeADozen