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I am writing these words on September 11, five years after the events which have gained a terrible permanence in the world?s history. There is no way I can be unaware of these events while writing this music review, as the aftershocks of everything that has happened since the first plane crashed into the tower on that Manhattan morning still resonate in jagged waves on the collective souls of this nation. Music is not a panacea. Writing about it on this day seems futile.

Still: imagine a day without music. Still.

No. One must move forward with life. There is no choice. Move forward, do no harm and allow none, step to the rhythms of life and sing along with its melodies. Hope that every day can follow this pattern and know that it will not.

The serendipitous arrival of [tag]Sahaba[/tag] by the [tag]Mo?Rockin Project[/tag] could not have come at a better time for me. I have been listening to it during the past week; its musical treasures are an especially welcome balm for me today, just as they have from the first time I listened to this CD.

A brief description of this music, a synthesis of the sounds and instruments of [tag]Moroccan music[/tag] with the sounds and instruments of [tag]American jazz[/tag], is almost laughably inadequate. It sounds like so many attempts by decades of music with labels like ?fusion,? ?exotica,? and ?world,? attempts linked by banality, cliche, elitism, and a fast track to becoming The Next Big Thing and its accompanying cash flow by learning a few indigenous licks and working them into indifferent songs. I have contributed to the racks of used record stores with plenty of those recordings. Sahaba is not going to be one of them.

There is a strong sense of mutual respect between the players on this recording, respect and awareness of each person?s role in the making of this joyful music. The CD booklet?s liner notes confirm this sense of sharing: ?This music is handcrafted from traditional Moroccan melodies…North African and American musicians (are) exchanging culture and creativity in an effort to dispel inaccurate beliefs and create world community…It should also be noted that on more than one occasion this music has been directly responsible for the end of lower back pain in particular listeners.?

Some of the names of these musicians will be familiar to readers of these pages: Khalil Shaheed on trumpet and flugelhorn, Richard Howell on tenor and soprano saxes, Ron Belcher on bass, Glen Pearson on keyboards. All of them contributed in a huge way to the excellent music on the UpSurge! CD Chromatology (reviewed in L&BH?s Vol. 3, Issue 25). And then there are the Moroccan musicians: Yassir Chadly on oud and lead vocals; Bouchaib Abdelhadi on oud, violin, dembek, percussion, lead & background vocals. Both men combine their talents and years of playing music rooted in a different format, a different WORLD, with the techniques and forms found in America?s musical gumbo pot. The resulting sounds are a dazzling meld of the above-mentioned styles.

Economy in soloing is a key to this music?s success. Shaheed?s horn work is, as always, imaginative and well-measured. His flugelhorn solo in ?Mambo Sudani,? the CD?s second song, is a good example of his work on this recording. It is the type of playing that comes from the heart and not for the Billboard chart. It is the type of playing that truly deserves a wider audience, as does Howell?s sax work, Chadly?s oud playing. Really, when was the last time you heard someone playing oud in a jazz format? For that matter, when was the first time? And Abdelhadi?s violin work. Truly wonderful, all of it.

Keeping the music propelled is Deszon Claiborne on drums and a number of percussionists, among them Shaheed, Howell, and Abdelhadi. This CD is worth hearing for the percussion work alone; repeated listenings reveal deeper aspects of the interplay between the rhythm section, which is essential for any music. It all begins with the drum.

This CD was produced by Shaheed and co-produced by Howell. This particular listener wants to thank them and all of the musicians involved for ending some of my own lower back pain. Especially today.

To order and for additional information, visit www.remarkablecurrent.com.

[tags]CD review[/tags]

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