1973 Cairo Jazz Band “الجاز المصري Egyptian Jazz” on Arab Republic Of Egypt Ministry Of Culture.

This fantastic Salah Ragab outing was originally released in the generic black/prismatic Prism Music Unit cover, inside of which is a white Cairo Jazz Band sleeve. A year later, it was released as Salah Ragab “Egypt Strut” with a pic of Ragab hand-pasted over the Prism cover, and nine years after that, Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band appear on a split with Mr. Ra and the Arkestra called “In Egypt”. In any case, much like the split, the CJB stomps hard, with a totally unique North African spiced twist on big band ensemble boppish swing, with leader Ragab on drums, congas, and some very Ra-reminiscent piano.

In fact, if someone played this for you and told you it was a rare live Arkestra session from a mystery date in the favelas of Carthage, in which they were also the halftime marching band for the Anwar Sadat High School football squad, you’d be hard-pressed not to believe it. The music is so propulsive, ebullient, full of life and exuberance, groove and jazz and late nights and ultra-powerful coffee, muezzins and dancers and the distant gaze of the beguiling sphinx, that it makes you immediately want to snap up some tickets and grab a direct flight. Much like various Arkestra lineup, the CJB has about 30 dudes in it, none of whom I will list here, but all deserving of serious props in exactly the same way we revere Julian Priester and John Gilmore and The Disco Kid.

​Disque Massif.