Morton's Foot

• Artist: Rabih Abou-Khalil
• Rating:
• Release Date: April 13, 2004
• Genre: Jazz

Review

The band on Morton's Foot is a truly international ensemble. Composer and master oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil has assembled a cast that includes accordionist Luciano Biondini and clarinetist Gabriele Mirabassi along with Michel Godard on tuba, Jarrod Cagwin on trap and frame drums, and exotic Italian vocalist Gavino Murgia. Abou-Khalil composed all the tracks here. He shares the front line with Biondini and Mirabassi as Godard adds a serious bottom-end punch to the rhythm section. Certainly there are precedents for a group like this: Richard Galliano's 1980s bands as well as Chris Speed and Brad Shepik's Pachora, for example. Abou-Khalil's compositions here, as on his other recordings, involve detailed, complex, and labyrinthine melodic structures, though rhythmic invention and harmonic counterpoint add balance and offer tight turns of phrase and dynamic shifts. The title track, "Lobotomie Mi Baba Lu," and "Hopping Jack" are standout tracks, yet it is the sum of everything here that makes this one of Abou-Khalil's very best outings. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Ma Muse M'Abuse	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(6:26)
Morton's Foot	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(8:16)
Il Ritorno del Languore	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(7:28)
Lobotomie Mi Baba Lu	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(7:16)
L' Histoire d'un Parapluie	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(6:08)
O Papaia Balerina	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(6:21)
Dr. Gieler's Wiener Schnitzel	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(7:19)
Il Sospiro	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(6:57)
Hopping Jack	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(7:39)
Waltz for Dubbya	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(4:08)
The Return of the Maltese Chicken	Rabih Abou-Khalil	Rabih Abou-Khalil	(0:11)

Credits

Rabih Abou-Khalil (Oud), Rabih Abou-Khalil (Producer), Rabih Abou-Khalil (Cover Design), Michel Godard (Tuba), Walter Quintus (Producer), Walter Quintus (Engineer), Matthias Winckelmann (Executive Producer), Jarrod Cagwin (Drums), Jarrod Cagwin (Frame Drum), Gabriele Mirabassi (Clarinet), Luciano Biondini (Accordion), Thomas Dorn (Photography), Gavino Murgia (Vocals), Ahmed Al Mufti (Cover Art), Ahmed Al Mufti (Calligraphy), Jean Luis Yaïch (Liner Notes)