[Ahmed] - the quartet of Pat Thomas (piano), Antonin Gerbal (drums), Joel Grip (bass) and Seymour Wright (alto saxophone) - make music of heavy rhythm, repetition and syncopation set deep into an understanding of jazz and the obscure depths of its history. On 'Super Majnoon [East Meets West]' the group work and rework the music of the late musician Ahmed Abdul-Malik to create a stamping, swinging, propulsive record where profundity and physicality root right back to ecstatic feeling. [Ahmed] reimagine the notes of Malik as they push for the trajectory of free jazz to emerge from the clich?s and cloy neo-classicisms of current 'improvised music'. Melodies respirate, swell, escalate and combust in a driving jazz which yes is technical, yes is accomplished, but ultimately just foot-to-the-floor swings. 'Super Majnoon [East Meets West]' is a title fused from the leader of the Master Musicians of Jajouka Bechir Attar's description of [Ahmed] after hearing them in Switzerland last year (Majnoon is the arabic slang for 'crazy'), and Abdul-Malik's 1959 album East Meets West. The first LP comprises studio recordings of [Ahmed] at Hong Kong's Empty Gallery in 2018 and the second a scorched live recording at OTO from August 2018. The record features photos by Bert Glinn and Taku Unami and 'in and out' liner notes by James G. Spady.
