Biography
Besides converting to Islam and adopting a new name in 1947—one of the first jazz musicians to do so—Sahib Shihab ranked among the initial bebop players to feature the flute. He also moved with ease as a soloist on alto and baritone saxophone, though the latter horn became his primary association. His professional start came at thirteen with the Luther Henderson band while he continued lessons under Elmer Snowden. Two years later he spent 1941–1942 at the Boston Conservatory, then served as lead alto, billed as Eddie Gregory, in the Fletcher Henderson orchestra of 1944–1945. After his religious change he joined the emerging bop scene, cutting now-famous alto sides with Thelonious Monk for Blue Note in 1947 and 1951 and spending time with Art Blakey in 1949–1950 and the Tadd Dameron band the same year. Periods of scarce work forced him into odd jobs, yet he returned to steady employment with Dizzy Gillespie in 1951–1952, Illinois Jacquet from 1952 to 1955, and the Oscar Pettiford big band in 1957. Traveling to Europe in 1959–1960 with Quincy Jones’s orchestra, he remained on the continent until 1986, living mainly in Copenhagen except for a lengthy Los Angeles stay between 1973 and 1976. During that European stretch he performed for nearly a decade with the Clarke-Boland big band (1963–1972) and can be heard applying advanced vocal effects to his lyrical flute on the ensemble’s 1963 Atlantic album. Across the years he led only a modest number of sessions for Savoy, Argo, Atlantic, and Chess; a 1963 Copenhagen concert later appeared on Black Lion.
Albums
