Ahmed Abdullah

Ahmed Abdullah (born Leroy Bland; May 10, 1947) is a jazz trumpeter who was a prominent member of Sun Ra's band.[1]

For the Egyptian swimmer, see Ahmed Abdullah (swimmer). For the Pakistani cricketer, see Ahmed Safi Abdullah.

Biography

Born Leroy Bland, he began playing the trumpet at age 13 in his native New York City. By the 1970s he was performing in New York's loft scene, and joined the Sun Ra Arkestra in 1976, working there on and off until 1993, when Sun Ra died. During that time Abdullah participated in more than 25 recordings and traveled extensively with Sun Ra.[2][3]

Abdullah, who has also used the names Solomon and Melchizedek, explored several religions early in life and attended a mosque for a short time, but then converted to and maintained a faith in Buddhism.[4]

Discography

As leader
  • WildFlower Compilation CD-Abdullah-Blue Phase with Charles Brackeen, 1976
  • Live at Ali's Alley (Cadence, recorded 1978) released 1980 with Chico Freeman
  • Life's Force (About Time, 1979) with Vincent Chancey, Jay Hoggard
  • Liquid Magic (Silkheart, 1987) with Charles Brackeen, Malachi Favors
  • Ahmed Abdullah and the Solomonic Quintet (Silkheart) with Charles Moffett, David S. Ware and Fred Hopkins
  • Dedication (CIMP, 1997) with Carlos Ward and Alex Blake
  • Actual Proof NAM (CIMP, 1999)
  • Song of Time, NAM, Live at the Vision Festival, 2001 (Clean Feed, 2004)
  • Traveling the Spaceways (Planet Arts, 2004)
  • Tara's Song (TUM, 2005) with Billy Bang and Alex Harding

As sideman

With Sun Ra

With Arthur Blythe

With Billy Bang

With Dennis González

References
  1. Profile Allmusic.com; accessed April 2, 2015.
  2. Ahmed Abdullah with Louis Reyes Rivera. "Excerpts from A Strange Celestial Road (Traveling the Spaceways)", ahmedian.com; accessed March 28, 2015.
  3. Kemp, Larry (14 September 2018). Current Jazz Trumpet Legends. Dorrance Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4809-7727-3 – via Google Books.
  4. Heller, Michael C. (2017). Loft Jazz: Improvising New York in the 1970s. Univ of California Press. pp. 73, 79. ISBN 978-0-520-28541-5 – via Google Books.
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