[bhjazz]

On a whim, we ended up at a tiny club in Issaquah, Wa, called Vino Bella. We had no idea who would be playing, but knew a trio was performing. So we stayed, grabbed a few tapas and a glass of wine, and hung out to see what was up. We ended up with quite a treat: Kamal Abdul-Alim and Super Blue were performing and they were wired up! I had not heard of Kamal before, but after talking to him (the club holds just under 50) found out he had quite a long history of playing in NYC with the likes of Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach and Archie Shepp. Holy moly, this guy was sitting at our table having a drink with us! He was totally cool, as was the rest of his band. As it is with most bands (even trios) the music got better as the night wore on. Lots of Miles Davis tunes, trad jazz, and some blues. Seriously an amazing evening.

Kamal also has some other CDs released under the styles of world beat.

As he now lives in the area, he continues to gig up here. What a treat. If you're around the Seattle area, check out Kamal's website at intro. It's one thing to enjoy live jazz, but when the musicians are cool enough to sit down and chat...well, that made my evening.

 

[dantztiludrop]

That's very cool! It's the kind of thing (in addition to enjoying their music) that makes you want to support an artist. Makes me want to at least check him out.