Track Listing

1. Shrewd Woman
2. Little Camels
3. Die Br�cke
4. I'm Better Off Without You
5. Natwasheh and Kadwasheh
6. Mango
7. No Plastic Cups, Please
8. Sweet and Sour Milk

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1002567 in Music
• Released on: 2005-10-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .16 pounds

Album Description
Oud Master Rabih Abou-Khalil Continues To Break New Boundaries With His Latest Enja/Justin Time recording, Journey To The Centre Of An Egg.

For nearly a quarter century, Lebanese-born oud master Rabih Abou-Khalil has defied all of the artificial boundaries and labels to create a musical world entirely his own. With Journey To The Centre Of An Egg, his latest release on Justin-Time/Enja, Rabih once again proves that to the truly visionary artist, creativity offers a canvas of unlimited possibilities.

Even many of the most singular and iconoclastic musicians will establish a foundation niche upon which they construct their adventurous explorations. Rabih refuses to be bound even by his own previous designs. With Journey To The Centre Of An Egg – his 11th Enja production and the second to be licensed to Justin Time for North America (following up on the heavily acclaimed Morton’s Foot) – Abou-Khalil brings the piano into his unique musical world for the first time on record. Most appropriately, he has chosen the extraordinary German pianist/composer Joachim Kühn, one of Europe’s most accomplished and respected jazz musicians since he arrived on the scene in the early 1960s.

All About Jazz, John Kelman
New and daring territory...his freest album to date...another high point in a career that’s evidenced nary a misstep.

About the Artist
For many artists living in the present period of increasingly manifest global cultural change, the stimulating effect on communication exerted by various facets of multiculturalism, the allure of the exotic, has long since become a routine part of everyday "frontline experience". This, in turn, has taken the image of what is "typically" Oriental, French or American – black or white – to absurd lengths. The abrupt split from the traditional homogenous cultural unit does not necessarily incur deracination; it can also represent both the possibility of an encounter and an opportunity to assess one’s own powers of judgement.

Whereas most Arab instrumentalists are content to imitate human voice techniques, Abou-Khalil has set out to explore new ways of playing Arab instrumental music. Yet he does not fall into the trap of letting virtuosity become an end in itself: his desire to excel always takes second place to his innovative impulse and thirst to explore uncharted musical terrain. The audacious configuration of supposedly incongruous instruments and the apparently antagonistic clash of diverse musical styles might, on cursory inspection, seem quite arbitrary, but is in fact the result of a carefully considered concept on Abou-Khalil’s part. He brings together open-minded musicians from various cultural backgrounds who draw inspiration from their shared intuitive response to the challenge posed by interpreting Abou-Khalil’s music. In whatever line-up he chooses to perform his compositions, his works have been repeatedly fêted by rapturous audiences at festivals the world over, be it in Montreal! , New York, Paris, Damascus or Taiwan.

Customer Reviews

A suggested Journey for jazz and world music fans
The oud is a small, pear-shaped stringed instrument that dates back about 5,000 years. It is widely considered to be a precursor of the English lute. It is fretless and typically has 11 strings, 10 of which are paired in courses of two.
In the jazz world, the oud has had precious few full-time practitioners. For most listeners, exposure to the instrument in the genre has likely been when it is used for effect or coloration.
Rabih Abou-Khalil is noteworthy as a stylist who has straddled the instrument's indigenous Middle Eastern world music and jazz to create an exotic musical hybrid.
"Journey to the Centre of an Egg" is Abou-Khalil's 11th disc for Justin Time and the first to feature him in the company of a pianist- Joachim Kuhn.
Boasting a strong jazz pedigree, Kuhn proves to be an enlightened choice. Equally adept at playing Bach as he is at free-jazz, this combination of breadth in style and ability serves as a primary catalyst for Abou-Khalil's latest exploration of fresh terrain as he continues to be unencumbered by the confines of arbitrary boundaries.
The duo shares songwriting credits for the disc's eight tunes, the centerpiece of which is the mid-disc pair of "I'm Better of Without You" and "Notwasheh and Kadwasheh," which clock in at 11 and 13 minutes respectively.
The former opens with a flourish of vintage Kuhn before giving way to an extended passage that matches Abou-Khalil with just the accompaniment of drummer Jarrod Cagwin.
The latter tune ebbs and flows as it traverses a broad emotional and artistic expanse and includes the additional rhythmic pulse of a second drummer as well as alto saxophone solo from Kuhn.
These two pieces are bookended by a half-dozen performances that also spotlight the trio mining wonderfully fertile compositional and improvisational territory.
"Shrewd Woman" conjures up an earthy blues vibe, "No Plastic Cups, Please" is a stream-of-consciousness piece that features our two protagonists engaging one another in a spirited musical dialogue. The Spanish-tinged "Mango" is sculpted in the spirit of John Coltrane's "Ole," and includes some of the duo's most intense soloing and interaction.

Jouney of an excellent trio
What makes this album unique amongst Rabih Abou Khalil CDs is that this CD features a trio. Rabih's specialty is his ability to weave many instrumental parts into a beautiful Middle Eastern song. On most of Rabih's albums there are a fair 7-8 musicians and often Rabih's oud playing is not the focus. Here with just three musicians, Rabih's oud playing and improvisational skills take the forefront. I would not recommend this as someone's first Khalil CD, as your first experience of this master should be one where he uses his masterful arrangement skills (Blue Camel, Arabian Waltz, Sultan's Picnic). However, once you have acquired those CDs you will find another side of Rabih here. This album features some of the tightest improvisation of any Rabih CDs. The pianist, Kuhn, is masterful and pushes Rabih in new directions. As with all Rabih CDs there is masterful frame drum play to tie it all together.

Patchy
I'm a big Rabih Abou-Khalil fan and I'm always impressed with the musos he gets into the studio, and the amazing interaction that occurs. Pity I'm not a Joachim Kuhn fan, and I can't say this is one of Rabih's best. There are some good moments, like "Die Brucke" which chugs along nicely, but otherwise it sounds like two musicians having a jam one afternoon to pass the time, without getting especially inspired. Meandering and rather meaningless, which in my opinion could be Kuhn's fault. "Blue Camel", just to mention one better album that quickly springs to mind, walks all over this.