Rabih Abou-Khalil - Selection

Lebonese born Rabih Abou-Khalil is an artist that straddles both the world and jazz genres seamlessly, forging a unique blend of styles with his unique brand of oriental jazz and he's been doing it for some time, with almost 20 album releases behind him.

It's hard to pick one album that represents the varied nature of his output, which is why this handy compilation "Selection " will prove essential for newcomers.

By and large Rabih's albums are led by the oud, his chosen instrument, which he is the master of and of course inevitably gives the music an instant middle eastern flavour and will usually be complemented by the backbone of bass, drums and percussion. What makes the sound of his recordings, which constantly range in tempo, so unique are the variations of other instrumentation that is present on the recordings. For example throughout his albums the ney makes a regular appearance on more oriental-based albums like "Taraab", "Roots and Sprouts" and "Nafas". Whilst more brass-based leanings with trumpet, clarinet, french horn, tuba, both alto and tenor sax dominating the sound on more jazz flavoured albums like "Cactus Of Knowledge", "Sultans Picnic" and "Blue Camel". The album "Arabian Waltz" featured a string quartet, whilst the duduk (an instrument associated with Armenia and with Djivan Gasparyan) is the focal point on the album "Songs for Sad Women". On the "Journey To the Centre Of An Egg" you will hear a more slow-paced mellow piano-based sound. While 2008's "Em Portugues" introduced a young Fado singer Ricardo Ribeiro to the fray with stunning results.


The vast majority of Rabih's recordings have come on the Enja label with some earlier works appearing on ECM. It's the former output that this compilation concentrates on and you get one track from twelve different albums including his genius solo set "Il Sospiro", so you get a good perspective of what Rabih Abou Khalil's musical vision is all about. He is also a fine live performer, having seen the man in action a couple of years ago.

It's worth pointing out that the artwork on Rabih's albums are more often than not quite beautiful. Take a look here.

To listen to sound samples from "Selection", this seems to be the best place.


To follow are two clips of tracks "Arabian Waltz" and "Blue Camel" both taken from "Selection",and for good measure they are followed by two tracks from the "Songs For Sad Women" album.

The Passing Of Yabby You

Some very sad news reached me yesterday that Vivian "Yabby You" Jackson had passed away at the age of 63.

For a lot of reggae fans like myself, Yabby You's music was the very embodiment of roots reggae, with his songs and rhythms yearning with soul, rawness and heaviness.

His output throughout the 1970's, as both singer and producer was some of the best reggae music ever recorded. Most of these recordings were mixed by dub master King Tubby who was more than partly responsible for the power and weight of Yabby's sound. For me Yabby You ranked alongside Augustus Pablo as one of my favourite reggae artists.

Tracks like "Love Thy Neighbour", "Conquering Lion", "Run Come Rally", Jah Vengeance", "Warn The Nation", "Walls Of Jerusalem", "Chant Down Babylon", "Deliver Me From My Enemy" and the stunning instrumental "Death Trap" have stood the test of time and I have never grown tired of them and doubt I ever will. His first two albums "Conquering Lion" and
"Chant Down Babylon Kingdom" [aka "King Tubby Meet Vivian Jackson") are perfect in every way.


Essential productions of other singers that come to mind are tracks like Michael Prophet's "Love and Unity", Tony Tuff's "No Warrior", Patrick Andy's "Living In Mount Zion", Charlie Morrison's "Selassie Memorial", Dicky Burton's "God Is Watching You", Wayne Wade's "Man Of The Living" and Errol Alphonso's "Chant Jah Victory". Really the list just goes on. He produced some fine work by the deejay's Big Youth and Trinity, but I have never been a huge fan of that style.

Jackson did resurface in the early 90s with a reissue programme and some new recordings appeared, which unsurprisingly never matched the higher heights of those early recordings.

Curiously, although visually a Rastaman, Jackson considered himself a Christian and by all accounts rejected Halie Selassie's divinity.

The man has left an amazing out-of-press back catalogue and I fear it won't be very long until it gets exploited for all the wrong reasons.

Note that nearly all of the tracks I listed above are available on Blood and Fire "Jesus Dread" 2CD set, if you can find it.

Some audio clips follow:

Pop Classics Part 9 - The Mighty Wah

Quite simply a great song from Pete Wylie's band The Mighty Wah! from 1982 and a song that gives me a warm glow and sends me spiralling back in time into my elasticated school trousers and plastic shoes.

A pop classic, you better believe it.

And "Come Back" is pretty good too.

Jah Shaka Presents The Positive Message

In the world of reggae some things move slow while some things just don't move at all. This set, compiled by legendary roots reggae sound system operator and producer Jah Shaka falls into both categories. This was supposed to have surfaced in 2007 but only saw the light of day towards to end of last year. Some things are worth waiting for.

The concept behind this release is straight forward. Shaka selects his favourite tracks that have appeared on the Greensleeves label over the past 30 years and ones that are truly representative of the much championed Shaka sound.

Although all the tracks are bonafide roots classics, some of which are predictable but I felt that was to be inevitable, so there are no real surprises, but it's great to hear the full length versions of Johnny Clarke's "Jah Love Is With I" and "Bad Days Are Going". Tracks like Black Uhuru's "I Love King Selassie" and Ras Michael's "None A Jah Jah Children No Cry", I have heard so many times I could frankly live without ever hearing them again. Some tracks I never tire of: Norris Reid "Protect Them". Barrington Levy's "Look Youthman", Wailing Souls' "Kingdom Rise Kingdom Fall", Johnny Osbourne's "Never Stop Fighting" and Dennis Brown's do-over of the Marley classic "Slave Driver".

Topped off with classics by Keith Hudson. Earl Sixteen, Eek-a-Mouse. Fred Locks and more, this is a crucial selection, even if you have these tracks, it's nice to have them all on one CD.

Twelve tracks are also available as a 7" box set, but I fear that it might already be difficult to get hold off.

Here are some clips of choice tracks culled from youtube: