And All Those Cats

And, in fact, Shihab and Monk had a strong mutual affinity. They worked together in the late forties and early fifties and became good friends. Shihab admired Monk for his oblique approach to jazz and his resolute non-con- formity and he shared much of Monk's musical philosphy.

He joined Luther Henderson's band before he was 16 but left soon afterwards to enrol for a year at Boston Conservatory. He then had a two year spell with Fletcher Henderson and later worked with Roy Eldridge. It was after he heard Charlie Parker that Shihab's music became strongly bop orientated.

He did his first record date with Thelonious Monk in November 1947 and later he worked with Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Pettiford, John Coltrane and Illinois Jacquet. It was in 1951 that he added baritone saxophone to his range of instruments.

When the opportunity came, in 1959, to join the band of Quincy Jones for a tour of Europe with the musical Free And Easy, Shihab accepted it with alacrity because he had become disullusioned with the politics and racism of the United States. And when the tour ended, Shihab decided to remain in Europe, settling in Copenhagen, where he taught at the Polytechnic High School and also composed music for the cinema, television and the theatre.

Shihab joined the Clarke-Boland Big Band in 1961 and remained a regular member of the ensemble untii it broke up in April 1972. He returned to the United States for a three-year spell in 1973, basing himself in Los Angeles, then moved back to Europe for a further period. In 1986 he went back once ag ain to America. He died in Tennessee on October 24, 1989.

The small group dates here were recorded between 1964 and 1970 and showcase the delighyfully eccentric, unorthodox improvisational style of Shihab on baritone saxophone and flute.