Rare & Unique Jazz - East New York Ensemble de Music

$

570

Artist:  EAST NEW YORK ENSEMBLE DE MUSIC

Album:  AT THE HELM

Label:  FOLKWAYS

Catalogue # :  FTS 33876A

Vinyl/Cover:  VG++ / VG++

This is a very rare and sought after LP released in 1974 on the Folkways record label.  It is a very unique musical outing that deftly blends sounds from some of the world’s great musical traditions with strong creative jazz.  I’ve heard this attempted before and since with much less successful results.  It’s a great album!  I’ve wanted this album for many years and – ironically - now that I finally found a copy (and a nice one at that!), I am compelled to sell it (sigh).

Tunes: SIDE A - “Mavlana” (based on a Turkish religious melody); “Ti-Ti” (Ameen Nuraldeen)

             SIDE B – “Sun Flower” (Freddie Hubbard); “Bent-el-Jerusalem” (Ameen Nuraldeen)

Personnel: Bilal Abdurahman – soprano sax, Korean reed; Ameen Nuraldeen – vibraphone; Qasim Ubaindullah – drums; James Smith –bass; Jay Rose – Turkish drum; Bobby Harvey – conga drums; Rahkiah Abdurahman – African twin gong.

The vinyl is clean and shiny.  There a few minor marks that are of no significant sonic consequence.  There is a small anomaly (kind of a little depression) in the vinyl at the beginning of “Sunflower”.  It provides a very faint but noticeable bump.  Quieter than a “tick” and definitely NOT a skip, but if you are paying attention you can hear it.  I did not find it to be a big deal.  It lasts for approximately 20 rotations.  I only mention it in the interest of being thorough.  The rest of the LP plays quite well without any issues.  It appears to have been well cared for and only played a few times.

The cover (still in its original shrink!) and labels are in excellent condition and show very few signs of wear.  The price sticker you see in the photo is on the shrink wrap, NOT the actual record.

Ridiculously low starting price and no reserve!!

I mail on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Also, be sure to check out my other auctions.  We have some amazing stuff up now and I will continue to post items that will be of particular to anyone interested in rare, adventurous music and sounds like Strata-East, Black Jazz, ESP-Disk, Sun Ra, etc.  I will also be posting rare and excellent Brazilian LP’s, far out electronic stuff, Hip Hop classics, crazy sample fodder and more.  Of course, I’ll be glad to combine items to save you on shipping.

Please e-mail (xwel@aol.com) with any questions. 

Good luck!

More about At The Helm by Dave Wayne for AllAboutJazz.com:

Multi-reed player Bilal Abdurrahman was best known for his musical partnership with the trailblazing bassist/oudist (and sideman for Monk and Randy Weston) Abdul Ahmed Malik from the late '50s into the mid-'60s. Their music—which predated better-publicized fusions of ethnic musics and jazz by half a decade—was documented on five LPs for Riverside, RCA, and New Jazz ( East Meets West , Jazz Sahara , The Music of Ahmed Abdul Malik , Eastern Moods , Sounds of Africa ). Several of these have been reissued and are currently on my "must get" list. Unlike those LPs, I never knew this one existed! Released on the not-for-profit Folkways label in 1974, At The Helm is the only surviving document of Abdurahman's own Black Magical Music.

The puckish humor evident in the band's name doesn't so much come across in the music (a la Breuker, Carla Bley, et al.) as it does in their kitchen sink approach to musical eclecticism. The Ensemble is actually a collaboration between Abdurahman and vibraharpist and composer Ameen Nuraldeen. Nuraldeen's compositions deftly mix the somewhat loopy, exotica-derived sounds one might find on Sun Ra's early recordings with an authoritative, groove-oriented, early-'70s Afro-modal jazz sensibility. Prominently odd amongst the more subtly odd moments on At The Helm is the cover of Freddie Hubbard's "Little Sunflower"—a minor hit of sorts amongst '70s jazz fans which daringly opens with an extended improvisation on a bizarre-sounding non-tempered Korean reed instrument (possibly a senap—but I am just guessing). This is not done merely for exotic effect; Abdurahman plays the untamed, unnamed instrument with the same soul and passion he displays on his main axe.

Why he wasn't better known, I will never know—his technique, sound and intonation are distinctive and superb throughout. Nuraldeen is a forceful, percussive player who revels in the vibraphone's bright bell-like tones while eschewing the clanky, clangy sounds that many players of this ilk fall prey to.

The supporting players—all even more obscure than the leaders—provide an organic propulsive rhythmic base throughout. Another pleasant surprise is is the very crisp sound quality—unusual for Folkways recordings.

At The Helm presents us with a convincing fusion of jazz, African, Asian, and Middle Eastern ethnic musics in which the immediacy and power of jazz is never diluted by the ethnic influences, and vice versa.