Alaadeen, The Complete Song Book - Softcover

Ahmad Alaadeen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 098890425X ISBN 13: 9780988904255

Publisher: Fandeen Publishing Company, 2013

Synopsis

This is the complete song book of Ahmad Alaadeen. It includes 31 of his original compositions with photos and commentary by Alaadeen and musicians who were influenced by him and his music. Alaadeen really was a player from Kansas City. He was an authority on the R&B-jazz style. He came from that position of improvisation of getting hot, where there weren't any chord changes and they just had the melody and they'd get hot on it. So he carried that forward. He was the go-to guy whenever we had a question or a dispute on the music. He was very soft-spoken, so when he talked everybody listened. He didn't raise his voice; he'd just watch. He was always quiet, well-dressed, stayed to himself, wouldn't put himself out there like a lot of musicians might. He knew he could put his stuff out there every week, but he had a price that he wanted when he came out to play. Whenever he came out and played, it was special. I know that he became one of my influences on the horn. I carry some of him around inside of me every time I play, and I know that every saxophonist in Kansas City would and will say the same thing. ...Bobby Watson, Professor of Jazz Studies, University of Missouri - Kansas City

About this title

About the Author

Born in Kansas City, on July 24, 1934, Alaadeen grew up around music. He loved Lester Young, liked T-Bone Walker and was crazy about Eddie Cleanhead Vinson. He began on the saxophone when he was in sixth grade, in time also mastering flute, clarinet and oboe. He studied at R.T. Coles High School under the tutelage of Leo H. Davis, a well respected music instructor reported to have taught Charlie Parker. The way he taught improvisation was to sing the melody in my ear when I soloed so I d always keep the melody in mind. Alaadeen debuted as a professional with Davis concert band playing e-flat horn when he was 14 and his first major job was playing baritone sax with the great pianist-bandleader Jay McShann. In later years he would rejoin McShann on tenor. Alaadeen studied at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music (studying flute since the educators did not think of the saxophone as a legitimate instrument), St. Mary s University (where he studied oboe) and DePaul University. He served in the military during 1957-59, being the Jazz saxophonist and principal oboist with the 4th Army Band. After his discharge, Alaadeen spent time in Chicago, playing in a program led by pianist-composer Richard Abrams that was the beginning of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians); other members included trumpeter Lester Bowie and bassist Malachi Favors. He picked up a lot of experience living and playing in such cities as New York, Chicago, Denver, Houston, San Antonio and St. Louis. In addition to McShann, he had opportunities to work in a countless number of settings including stints with Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, the Count Basie Orchestra, The Glen Miller ghost band under the direction of Tex Beneke, Della Reese, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, T-Bone Walker, Claude Fiddler Williams and with R&B stars, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Four Tops and Sam Cooke. After returning to Kansas City, Alaadeen not only played music locally but also became a very significant educator, teaching Jazz in both the school system and privately. His skills as a teacher were recognized when he was inducted into the R.T. Coles/Lincoln High School Outstanding Alumni Hall Of Fame. During 1990-91, he won songwriting competitions sponsored by Billboard for his songs Big Six, Wayne Himself and Blues For R.C. Along the way he recorded with Jay McShann, Crown Prince Waterford, the City Light Orchestra and countless others. He led the Deans of Swing in the 1990s, and the ensemble was picked in 1996 as Musician Magazine s Best Unsigned Band. To document his music, Alaadeen started the ASR label. Each of his CDs, which include Live Jazz On The Plaza, Blues For RC and Josephine Too, Time Through The Ages, New Africa Suite and And The Beauty Of It All, features him with some of Kansas City s top young Jazz players. He also prepared many of his original compositions for performance by large Jazz ensemble through his publishing company, Fandeen Publishing Company, Inc. In 2009, Alaadeen authored The Rest of the Story: Jazz Improvization and History, a method manual in which he shares the secrets of how he learned the music as handed down to him by the masters. Alaadeen was recognized as a master of the distinctive sound known as Kansas City Jazz with his receipt of numerous awards including Kansas City's Jazz Heritage Award, the Missouri Humanities Council's Community Heritage Award, the Missouri Arts Award and Kansas City s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, He was recognized in the United States House of Representatives for the contributions he has made to his community's understanding of its heritage and in 2002, Missouri Governor Bob Holden honored Alaadeen at an official dinner at the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City. Cancer claimed his life in 2010.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fandeen Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 098890425X
• ISBN 13: 9780988904255
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 91
• Editor: Victoria Alaadeen
• Illustrator: Colleen Carr