Fred Patterson, the archivist at the ARChive of Contemporary Music, is doing a essay/research project called “Jazz Messengers” for the Muslim World Music Day. The title is taken from a 1950’s group put together by Talib Dawood, a seventeen piece big band composed entirely of Muslim musicians called “The Messengers.” Members included Yusuf Lateef, Sahib Shihab, Ahmed Jamal and McCoy Tyner. Later one member, Art Blakey, kept a core together as his “Jazz Messengers.”
Here’s an informative passage from Muslim Voices in America: The Making of a Modern Music Scene by Hussein Rashid, Hofstra University, “In the mid-20th century, Islam was identified as much with a Black political identity as it was a religion. It was consciously part of the African-American experience once more, and had a deep impact on the jazz world. Dizzy Gilliespie’s biography, To Be or not to Bop, is littered with references to his musical peers who were Muslim, or admit to being influenced by Islam.”
So this is the starting point. Here is a link to a list of Muslim Names in Jazz compiled by Michael Fitzgerald (ended 2005). Below is a initial list of Muslim-American Jazz musicians we have identified and are building discographies for based on holding at the ARC. We hope other will correct our work and contribute to this list and the forthcoming discography. This data will later be rolled into the massive discography of Islamic music that will be at the core of Muslim World Music Day.
Artist’s professional name is in bold, and is usually a link to a source document.
Abrams, Muhal Richard
(birth name ?)
piano
Abdul-Malik, Ahmed
(Sudanese descent, no name change)
bass, oud
Barrymore, Alfonso
Talib Ahmed Dawud (Dawood)
trumpet
Was born in the West Indies but operated in U.S.
Bishop, Walter, Jr.
Ibrahim Ibn Ismail
piano
Blakey, Art
Abdullah Ibn Buhaina)
drums
Byard, John (Jaki)
Jamil Bashir
piano, trumpet, saxophone
Clarke, Kenny
Liaquat Ali Salaam
drums
Ted Curson
(Muslim name ?)
trumpet
Dixon, Ben
Qaadir Almubeen Muhammad
drums
Fournier, Vernel Anthony
Amir Rushdan
drums
Graham, Leonard
Idrees Sulieman
trumpet
Gregory, Edmund
Sahib Shihab
saxophone
also see…
Greenlee, Charles
Harneefan Mageed
trombone
also see…
Gryce Jr., George General (Gigi)
Basheer Qusim
saxophone
Omar Hakim
(only Muslim name)
drums
Billy Higgins
(Muslim name ?)
drums
also see…
Hope, Lynn
El Hajj Abdullah Rasheed
saxophone
Huddleston, William Emanuel
Yusef Lateef
saxophone, flute
Jones III, Charles
Olu Dara
trumpet, vocal
Jones, Frederick Russell (Fritz)
Ahmad Jamal
piano
McDaniel, Rudy
Jamaaladeen Tacuma
bass guitar
McIntyre, Maurice
Kalaparusha Ahra Difda
saxophone
Jackie McLean
Omar Ahmed Abdul Kariem
saxophone
Frank Morgan
(Muslim name?)
saxophone
see also…
Morris, Leo
Idris Muhammad
drums
Patterson, Robert
Rashied Ali
drums
Patterson, Raymond
Muhammad Ali
drums
Powell, Rudolph (Rudy)
Musheed Karween
saxophone
Smith, Leo
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith
trumpet
Staton, Dakota
Aliyah Rabia
vocal
Argonne Thornton
Sadik Hakim
piano
Tyner, Alfred Mcoy
Sulaimon Saud
piano
Ulmer, James Blood
Damu Mustafa Abdul Musawwir
guitar
Williams, Pinky
Aleem Kareem
Saxophone
Young, Larry
Khalid Yasin
organ
Some folks we’re looking into :
Ted Curson trumpet
Jimmy Heath saxophone
Further reading and sources :
Muslim Roots of the Blues by Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer, Sunday, August 15, 2004
Dizzy Gillespie on Muslim musicians
Malik, the Meccan Warrior, has also posted a list of Muslim musicians
—
American Jazz + Islam 