[Cover photo credit to Alan Sukoenig]
Omnivore Recordings has announced a new album collection from the rediscovered Hasaan Ibn Ali, titled Reaching For The Stars: Trios / Duos / Solos, to be released November 10, 2023 on CD, Digital, and Double-LP. The album presents eleven previously unissued recordings produced for release by Grammy award-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski and ASCAP award-winning writer Alan Sukoenig, plus a new essay from pianist, composer, and writer, Ethan Iverson.
As with the previous Omnivore Hasaan Ibn Ali releases, this collection has been restored and mastered by Grammy award-winning engineer Michael Graves. This collection is another look into the previously unheard recordings of Hasaan Ibn Ali.
The Max Roach Trio Featuring The Legendary Hasaan, the only recording featuring Ibn Ali released during his lifetime, arrived in early 1965 and became a Jazz classic. Atlantic Records recorded Hasaan later that year, and the resulting album was shelved, and then thought lost, until it was restored from tape copies of acetates and issued nearly a half century later as Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album. Metaphysics furthered the legend and legacy of Hasaan’s innovative and inventive playing and songs.
Retrospect In Retirement Of Delay: The Solo Recordings, another collection of previously unissued performances, followed.
Now, Reaching For The Stars: Trios / Duos / Solos shows Hasaan Ibn Ali working further with other artists, for instance the Trios work features Henry Grimes (Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins) and Kalil Madi (Freddie McCoy, Mongo Santamaria, Hasaan’s Metaphysics). The collection also adds three songs with vocalist Muriel Gilliam, aka Muriel Winston, and a pair of solo works by Hasaan Ibn Ali.
