For The Prague Post November 5th, 2008 issue Abou-Khalil has carved out a unique niche in jazz by focusing on the musicians rather than their instruments. “It’s like when you’re making love, you really don’t want to know anything about gynecology — you have other things in mind,” is how Lebanese-born composer and oud master Rabih Abou-Khalil explains his first encounters with jazz. “I had no idea what jazz was,” he continues. “Jazz, rock, pop were all one thing to me. The first record I bought was because I liked the name of the guy and it was cheap, about a dollar. It was Criss-Cross by Thelonius Monk, and it’s still one of my favorites. [At the time] I did not understand what was going on; I did not understand how they did the chord progressions or anything. I just liked the swing of it.” Since his appearance on the...
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