Sahib Shihab

Sahib Shihab (born Edmund Gregory; June 23, 1925 – October 24, 1989) was an American jazz and hard bop saxophonist (baritone, alto, and soprano) and flautist. He variously worked with Luther Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Tadd Dameron, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke, John Coltrane and Quincy Jones among others.

Biography
He was born in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Edmund Gregory first played alto saxophone professionally for Luther Henderson aged 13, and studied at the Boston Conservatory, and to perform with trumpeter Roy Eldridge. He played lead alto with Fletcher Henderson in the mid-1940s.

He was one of the first jazz musicians to convert to Islam and changed his name in 1947. He belonged to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam. During the late 1940s, Shihab played with Thelonious Monk, and on July 23, 1951 he recorded with Monk (later issued on the album Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2). During this period, he also appeared on recordings by Art Blakey, Kenny Dorham and Benny Golson. The invitation to play with Dizzy Gillespie's big band in the early 1950s was of particular significance, as it marked Shihab's switch to baritone.

On August 12, 1958, Shihab was one of the musicians photographed by Art Kane in his photograph known as "A Great Day in Harlem". In 1959, he toured Europe with Quincy Jones. Shihab, disillusioned with racial politics in United States, decided around this time to move to Europe. He settled in Scandinavia, first in Stockholm, Sweden, then moving in 1964 to Copenhagen, Denmark. He worked for Copenhagen Polytechnic and wrote scores for television, cinema and theatre. He wrote a ballet based on the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Red Shoes.

In Denmark, Shihab performed with local musicians such as the bass player Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen amongst others. Together with pianist Kenny Drew, he ran a publishing firm and record company.

In 1961, he joined the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band and remained a member of the band for the 12 years it existed. He married a Danish woman and raised a family in Europe.

In the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, Shihab accompanied Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson on stage for the Swedish entry "Nygammal Vals".

In 1973, Shihab returned to the United States for a three-year stay, working as a session musician for rock and pop artists and working as a copyist for local musicians. He spent his remaining years between New York and Copenhagen, and played in a partnership with Art Farmer. He also led his own jazz combo called Dues.

From 1986, Shihab was a visiting artist at Rutgers University.

Shihab died from liver cancer on October 24, 1989, in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, aged 64.

As leader

 * 1957: The Jazz We Heard Last Summer (Savoy) split album shared with Herbie Mann
 * 1957: Jazz Sahib (Savoy)
 * 1963: Sahib's Jazz Party (Debut) also released as Conversations
 * 1964: Summer Dawn (Argo)
 * 1965: Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group (Oktav)
 * 1968: Seeds (Vogue Schallplatten)
 * 1964-70: Companionship (Vogue Schallplatten)
 * 1972: Sentiments (Storyville)
 * 1972: La Marche dans le Désert - Sahib Shihab + Gilson Unit (Futura)
 * 1973: Flute Summit (Atlantic) with Jeremy Steig, James Moody and Chris Hinze
 * 1988: Soul Mates (Uptown) with Charlie Rouse
 * 1998: And All Those Cats (compilation)

As sideman
With Art Blakey
 * Theory of Art (1957)
 * Art Blakey Big Band (Bethlehem, 1957)

With Brass Fever
 * Time Is Running Out (Impulse!, 1976)

With Donald Byrd
 * Jazz Lab (Columbia, 1957) with Gigi Gryce
 * Modern Jazz Perspective (Columbia, 1957) with Gigi Gryce

With Betty Carter
 * Out There (1958)
 * I Can't Help It (1992)

With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band
 * Jazz Is Universal (Atlantic, 1962)
 * Handle with Care (Atlantic, 1963)
 * Now Hear Our Meanin' (Columbia, 1963 [1965])
 * Swing, Waltz, Swing (Philips, 1966)
 * Sax No End (SABA, 1967)
 * Out of the Folk Bag (Columbia, 1967)
 * 17 Men and Their Music (Campi, 1967)
 * All Smiles (MPS, 1968)
 * Faces (MPS, 1969)
 * Latin Kaleidoscope (MPS, 1968)
 * Fellini 712 (MPS, 1969)
 * All Blues (MPS, 1969)
 * More Smiles (MPS, 1969)
 * Clarke Boland Big Band en Concert avec Europe 1 (Tréma, 1969 [1992])
 * Off Limits (Polydor, 1970)
 * November Girl (Black Lion, 1970 [1975]) with Carmen McRae
 * Change of Scenes (Verve, 1971) with Stan Getz

With John Coltrane With Tadd Dameron With Art Farmer
 * Coltrane (1957)
 * Fontainebleau (1956)
 * Manhattan (Soul Note, 1981)

With Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes
 * Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes with French Horns (Status, 1957 [1962]) - also released as Baritones and French Horns (Prestige, 1957)

With Dizzy Gillespie With Benny Golson With Johnny Griffin With George Gruntz With Roy Haynes With Milt Jackson With Philly Joe Jones With Quincy Jones '''With Abbey Lincoln With Howard McGhee With Thelonious Monk With Mark Murphy
 * Jazz Recital (Norgran, 1955)
 * The Dizzy Gillespie Reunion Big Band (MPS, 1968)
 * Benny Golson's New York Scene (Contemporary, 1957)
 * Take a Number from 1 to 10 (Argo, 1961)
 * Lady Heavy Bottom's Waltz (1968)
 * Griff 'N Bags
 * Noon in Tunisia (1967)
 * Jazz Abroad (Emarcy, 1955)
 * Plenty, Plenty Soul (Atlantic, 1957)
 * Drums Around the World (Riverside, 1959)
 * The Birth of a Band! (Mercury, 1959)
 * The Great Wide World of Quincy Jones (Mercury, 1959)
 * I Dig Dancers (Mercury, 1960)
 * Quincy Plays for Pussycats (Mercury, 1959–65 [1965])
 * It's Magic (Riverside, 1958)
 * The Return of Howard McGhee (Bethlehem, 1955)
 * Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1 (Blue Note, 1947)
 * Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2 (Blue Note, 1951)


 * Midnight Mood (MPS, 1968)

With Phineas Newborn, Jr. With Oscar Pettiford With Specs Powell With A. K. Salim With Tony Scott With Mal Waldron With Julius Watkins and Charlie Rouse With Randy Weston With Gene Quill, Hal Stein and Phil Woods With Phil Woods With Idrees Sulieman
 * Phineas Newborn, Jr. Plays Harold Arlen's Music from Jamaica (RCA Victor, 1957)
 * The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi Volume Two (ABC-Paramount, 1957)
 * Movin' In (Roulette, 1957)
 * Blues Suite (Savoy, 1958)
 * The Modern Art of Jazz (1957, Seeco) - with Bill Evans, Paul Motian
 * Free Blown Jazz (1957, Carlton) - with Bill Evans, Paul Motian
 * Mal-2 (1957)
 * The Jazz Modes (Atlantic, 1959)
 * Uhuru Afrika (Roulette, 1960)
 * Four Altos (Prestige, 1957)]
 * Rights of Swing (Candid, 1961)
 * The Camel (Columbia, 1964)