Sahib Shihab was one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time and there are far too few people who know about him. This may be due to the fact that he turned his back on his homeland relatively early, i.e. after touring Europe with Quincy Jones in the late 1950s. To compose so-called library music in Europe, which had as little to do with a library then as it does today, but which at least paid the rent. And not in a big, fast city like Paris, where jazz was as important as Sartre for breakfast, but in Sweden. Sure, something was going on… Perhaps Shihab had made the wrong career choice here. He is credited with the score for a ballet and an appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest. Whether that has something to do with his good jazz is debatable. It still sounds well nourished and makes everything a little more appealing (the e-cigarette, the baguette from the hot box) as on »Summer Dawn«. This is probably because Shihab didn’t fill twenty-six discography pages with records like his more prolific contemporaries. So the reissue on Rearward represents a great opportunity. At least for those who have read this far.
Kenny Cox
Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise
180 Proof/Strata Records