Intro
It seems that the only a few famous Jazz players to convert to Ahmadiyya, of which the most prominent was Yusuf Lateef. The true story is that many Jazz players who converted to Islam held deviant beliefs and continued to hold those beliefs, however, without being formal chanda paying Ahmadi’s. Even the off-spring of Yusuf Lateef aren’t Ahmadi and don’t care to pay any chanda.
Bowen made many errors in this regard, on page 252, he claimed that Sahib Shihab converted to Qadianism (which is also confirmed by Usman Barry, he saw in an Ahmadiyya temple in Denmark)(however, most likely he had Ahmadiyya beliefs, and was not a formal chanda paying Ahmadi). He then alleges that after Art Blakely converted to Islam and moved to New York (mid-to-late 1940’s), he formed in New York, “The Jazz Messengers”, a seventeen-piece band composed entirely of Qadiani converts (inaccurate). Dannin never mentioned any of this. Dannin briefly mentions Yusuf Lateef (aka Bill Evans) who converted to Ahmadiyya/Qadianism. Bowen then errs and says that Talib Dawud converted to Ahmadiyya (totally untrue) in Philadelphia under Sheikh Nasir Ahmad in Philadelphia (See Dannin, 58; Essien-Udom, 313). However, this is impossible since Sheikh Nasir Ahmad was fiercely anti-Qadiani and even started the Schism in Pittsburgh in 1934 and in Cleveland (via Wali Akram). Turner (see pages 138-140) made even a bigger mistake and alleged that even Talib Dawud, Art Blakely, Ford Daleel, Nuh Alahi (Turner alleges that he became a Vice President of the Ahmadiyya Community in the Los Angeles area), McCoy Tyner, Sahib Shihab and Dakota Stanton, Turner based this info on a video interview of Imam Warith Deen (see “A conversation with Imam Warith Deen Muhammad at Duke University, 1992). However, Imam Warith Deen shouldn’t be taken as a credible witness, since he has lied about the person of Master Fard Muhammad and spread lies about him being a Lahori-Ahmadi in 1931 and in the USA on an undercover assignment. Turner also quoted Simpkins and his academic work on Ahmadiyya and FBI files about Malclom X, Simpkins (via Turner) alleged that Art Blakely, Talib Dawud, Yusuf Lateef (aka Bill Evans), Ahmad Jamal and Sahib Shihab helped to raise money and bring more Ahmadiyya Maulvi’s to the USA. Turner also mentions Muhammad Sadiq, (A Jazz Trombone player)(we need more research on this), who seems to have been Ahmadi and even rose to be a President of Ahmadi communities in New York and New Jersey. Ahmad Jamal also seems to have had Ahmadi beliefs, however, his only child is openly non-Ahmadi and thus, Ahmadiyya has ended in that family.
Finally, John Coltrane alleges that some Ahmadi Jazz players helped raise money to bring Ahmadi missionaries to America. This seems to be dubious, since the Ahmadiyya Movement has never admitted to any of this (See “Coltrane: A Biography” by Simpkins and via Turner).
This photo is from 1950, Maulvi Ghulam Yasin is the Qadiani-Ahmadi Maulvi in the middle. allegedly Ahmad Jamal is also there and Abid Haneef.
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Pianist McCoy Tyner (Sulieman Daud), (top row third from the left) can be seen as well as Syed Jawad Ali. The year is unknown.
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Art Blakey
Buhaina
Born in Pittsburgh, PA in 1919 hard bop drummer Art Blakey played drums behind Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis and Bud Powell, among other giants of jazz. While on a visit to West Africa (where Ahmadi Islam was quite strong), Blakey converted to Islam. “I went over there to see what I could do about religion,” he once said. “When I was growing up I had no choice, I was just thrown into a church and told this is what I was going to be. I didn’t want to be their Christian. I didn’t like it. You could study politics in this country, but I didn’t have access to the religions of the world. That’s why I went to Africa. When I got back people got the idea I went there to learn about music.”
Though he changed his name to Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, he continued to perform and record as Art Blakey, though friends called him “Bu”. In 1947, Blakey formed an all-Muslim band called the Seventeen Messengers.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad’s Blues
A very groovy live recording from one of jazz music’s enduring maestros. Like Blakey, Jamal was born in Pittsburgh and converted to Islam by way of other musicians who found, in Jamal’s words, “brought me peace of mind” in navigating the painful racist world of Jim Crow America. Jamal continues to play around the world, including a visit to Bangalore earlier this year.
I have often wondered whether Ahmad Jamaal’s version of Nature Boy was his tribute to HMGA. If it was, he never openly stated that. You can hear the lyrics in that jazz version of Nature Boy at the link I provided, but here they are:
There was a boy, a very strange enchanting boy.
They say he wandered very far, very far over land and sea.
A little shy, and sad of eyes, but very wise was he.
And then one day, one magic day he passed my way.
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings, this he said to me:
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return.
I have often thought that the second line about Nature Boy “wandering” over land and see referred, in Jamaal’s mind, to HMGA’s teachings being spread “over land and sea.” The words “There was a boy” may have referred to HMGA’s name, Ghulam, which means boy or little boy. I think it also means slave, servant, etc., as I recall. The words, “sad of eyes” in the song always reminded me of this picture. “Just to love and beloved in return” is probably what Jamal felt after he became Ahmadi.
Back in the day, Islam was really a refuge for Black folks. And, at one time, Ahmadiyyat was the only Islam around in America. Blacks were rejected in American society. So the lines, “just to love and be loved in return” would have meant a lot to Jamal, as, I am sure, he felt love in the Jamaat and perhaps saw that line in Nature Boy as being reflective of the love he felt amongst Ahmadis.
Islam offered Black folks a sense of being connected to the wider world, not just despised “niggers” in white society. So, though there’s no way I can prove it, I feel very confident that Jamal created his jazz version of Nature Boy in tribute to HMGA. He was an artist; a musician. Artists often express themselves through their art, whether it’s painting, music, sculpture, etc.
Jamaal didn’t create those lyrics. He just did his own jazz version of Nature Boy. Nat King Cole, long before Jamaal, did a version of Nature Boy. But I still think that Jamal had HMGA in mind when he did his version. By the time I heard that he’d come back to The Movement, I had discontinued activity and discontinued going to Jalsa. The classism [CASTE-ISM, quite frankly] at Jalsa began to be overbearing, and, for me, that just destroyed the spirit of Jalsa.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________Ahmed Abdul Malik
Rooh (The Soul)
Though Malik claimed his origins were in Sudan most scholars suggest otherwise: his family were immigrants to New York from the Caribbean. Converting to Ahmaddiya Islam early in his life, he played bass for Monk, Randy Weston and others as well as branching out into north African music. He mastered the oud (Arabic lute) and made several albums that were either influenced by Islamic music or straight-ahead interpretations of Afro-Islamic music.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________McCoy Tyner
Inner Glimpse
Tyner adopted the name Sulaiman Saud at the age of 17 when he converted to Ahmaddiya Islam. A pianist from Philadelphia, he earned his chops playing with Coltrane before launching an influential and much acclaimed solo career. Tyner, like several other jazz men who adopted Islam, including Blakey, kept their personal life separate from their professional one. But in pieces such as this, Inner Glimpse, the spiritual dimension breaks through.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________Yusuf Lateef
India
Was Yusuf Lateef (William Emmanuel Huddleston) really a Qadiani-Ahmadi (1920 – 2013)? – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Yusuf Lateef’s passing earlier this year was greeted by great sadness and high praise for one of the giants of modern jazz. A woodwind specialist who played flute, sax, oboe and bassoon as well as several eastern wind instruments including, on this track, the shenai. A lifelong adherent to Ahmaddiya Islam, he complemented his jazz composing and performing with musical and spiritual instruction, keeping alive the flame of this supposedly heretical stream of Islam burning in a younger generation.
He can be seen in the below at the 1977 USA Jalsa Salana in St. Louis.
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https://www.npr.org/2023/04/16/846207919/ahmad-jamal-obituary
Ahmad Jamal, measured maestro of the jazz piano, dies at 92
Ahmad Jamal, pictured in 2016.
Rémy Gabalda/AFP via Getty Images
For most jazz performers, a song is part of a performance. For Ahmad Jamal, each song was a performance. Over the course of a remarkable eight-decade career, Jamal, who passed away Sunday at the age of 92, created stellar recordings both as an ambitious youth and a sagely veteran.
Jamal’s death was confirmed by his daughter, Sumayah Jamal. He died Sunday afternoon in Ashley Falls, Mass., after a battle with prostate cancer.
Jamal’s influence and admirers spread far and wide in jazz. For instance, Miles Davis found enormous inspiration in his work: In his 1989 autobiography, Miles, the legendary trumpeter said that Jamal “knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrases notes and chords and passages.” Miles went on to record Jamal’s “New Rhumba” on his classic 1957 recording Miles Ahead.
His contemporary admirers are just as fervent. Pianist Ethan Iverson, a founding member of the exceptionally popular trio The Bad Plus, said, “All of his pieces are theatrical and contained. In some ways the Bad Plus was an extension of his classic trio.”
Pianist Vijay Iyer was just as adamant. “His sense of time is that of a dancer, or a comedian. His left hand stays focused, and his right hand is always in motion, interacting with, leaning on, and shading the pulse.
“He bends any song to his will, always open to the moment and always pushing the boundaries, willing to override whatever old chestnut he’s playing in search of something profoundly alive.”
Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh on July 2, 1930. When he was 3 years old, his uncle challenged him to duplicate what he was playing on the piano, and the youngster actually could. He began formal studies of the piano at the age of 7 and quickly took on an advanced curriculum. He told Eugene Holley Jr. of Wax Poetics in a 2018 interview, “I studied Art Tatum, Bach, Beethoven, Count Basie, John Kirby, and Nat Cole. I was studying Liszt. I had to know European and American classical music. My mother was rich in spirit, and she led me to another rich person: my teacher, Mary Cardwell Dawson, who started the first African-American opera company in the country.”
Jamal grew up in a Pittsburgh community that was rich in jazz history. His neighbors included the legendary pianists Earl Hines, Erroll Garner and Mary Lou Williams. As a youth, Jamal delivered newspapers to the household of Billy Strayhorn. When Jamal began his professional career at the age of 14, Art Tatum, an early titan of the keyboard, proclaimed him “a coming great.” During a tour stop in Detroit, Jamal, who was born to Baptist parents, converted to Islam and changed his name.
His fluency in European classical music — Jamal disdained the term jazz, preferring American classical music as a descriptor for his work — was a highlight of his style. In a 2001 New York Times article, Ben Waltzer, a pianist and curriculum director at the University of Chicago, noted, “when we listen to his music, fragments from Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ and Falla’s ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ mingle with the blues, standard songs, melodic catch-phrases from bebop, and the ‘Marseillaise.'”
This may not seem remarkable today, when most jazz musicians are conservatory-trained and well versed in art music, from Louis Armstrong to Iannis Xenakis and from Laurie Anderson to John Zorn. But Jamal was a youth when there were significant barriers to African Americans entering the academy. “In Pittsburgh, we didn’t separate the two schools,” he told Waltzer.
Jamal’s style went well beyond a diverse range of source material; he expanded the borders and depth of improvisation. “Jazz improvisation is generally understood as a narrative melodic line composed spontaneously in relation to a song’s harmonic structure,” wrote Waltzer. “Jamal broadened this concept by using recurring riffs, vamps and ostinatos — tropes of big-band jazz that were employed as background accompaniment for featured instrumentalists — not just to frame solos, as many musicians did, but as the stuff of improvisation itself.”
In the early and mid-’50s, Jamal led various trios and quartets, before settling into a trio setting with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier. In 1958, they released the landmark jazz recording, At The Pershing: But Not For Me. It is one of the most popular and influential recordings in jazz history. It stayed on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for an astounding 108 weeks.
Iverson said of the title track, “The classic Jamal Trio with Crosby and Fournier is one of the greatest groups of all time. ‘But Not For Me’ is a perfect three minutes. Literally perfect. There’s nothing better.”
The trio’s version of “Poinciana” sparked the popularity of the recording, and it became a signature tune for Jamal. He told Wax Poetics, “It was a combination of things: Israel Crosby’s lines, what I was playing, and Vernel—if you listen to his work on “Poinciana,” you’d think it was two drummers!”
Jamal visited Africa in 1959. Upon his return to Chicago, he had a failed venture as a club owner, then took a hiatus from recording in the early ’60s. By the middle of the decade, he’d resumed recording and touring. His 1969 album, The Awakening, was widely hailed for its rendering of jazz standards and originals.
His music was found in the soundtracks of movies like M*A*S*H and The Bridges of Madison County. In a 1985 episode of NPR’s Piano Jazz, Jamal told host and fellow piano legend Marian McPartland that his favorite recording was “the next one.” Then he allowed that the Pershing “was close to perfection.” He also said that he continued to focus on ballads. “They are difficult to play,” he told her, “it takes years of living to read them properly.” In 1994, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowship.
He continued making stellar recordings into the past decade. His 2017 release, Marseille, was noted in the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.
The recording featured all of the hallmarks that made Jamal a great pianist and bandleader, and the drummer Herlin Riley, like Fournier, was from New Orleans. It prompted Iyer to note that Jamal’s lineage of New Orleanian drummers — Fournier, Idris Muhammad and Riley — suggests rhythm as a ritual or cultural cornerstone.
Jamal’s work continued to impress other pianists. In 2014 Matthew Shipp told NPR’s Karen Michel, “His imagination is so deep. One of the joys of listening to him is to see how his fertile imagination interacts with the material he does pick and recombines it into a musical entity that we’ve never heard. I mean, he is a musical architect of the highest order.”
Waltzer added, “innovation in jazz can be subtle. Rather than reaching outward to create an overtly revolutionary sound, Mr. Jamal explored the inner workings of the small ensemble to control, shape and dramatize his music.”
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Ahmadi Artists You’ve Never Heard of (rabwah.net)
Ahmadi Artists You’ve Never Heard of
2017 has turned out to be a good year for Ahmadi artists, and the oscar win of Mahershala was the cherry on the top. But there are many others who are still trying to make waves in the media and entertainment industry. Remember, this is but a handful ― of the many, many, many other artists who deserve your attention.
Dj – A A M R – Australia
A A M R born as Ammar Ahmed is a Sydney-based DJ and Music producer. Ammar started DJing at the age of 19 and since then been producing Electro house and Progressive house music. He has Dj’ed at over 30 events and has worked with big labels including BFAM Records and Alveda Music. Checkout his recent track ‘Icebergs’.
Didi Riyadi – Indonesia
Rahmat Riyadi known as Didi Riyadi is 35-year-old Indonesian actor and musician. Riyadi shot to fame for his role of Ridho in the Indonesian tv show ‘Kawin Gantung’. In 2013 he made his acting comeback with the movie ‘Wanita tetap wanita’.
Ali – Finland
Ali, originally from Rabwah is a songwriter, hip-hop artist and music producer who is focused on the using rap music as a way to communicate social messages. He is currently affiliated with U.S. underground label “United Beyond Family”.
They dont want you to win – Ali Muzik [Prod. By GHAURI]
They don’t want you to share this ! #major? #blessup ?Got so inspired by DJ Khaled’s motivational speech other day, had to do it to ’em. They don’t want you to make it viral.I appreciate you #blessup !✌☝HQ Audio : http://bit.ly/2bPt8cK
Posted by Ali on Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Mim Shaikh – UK
Multi-talented is a term that is thrown around all too casually these days, but is exceptionally fitting if we’re talking about Mim Shaikh. He’s a radio presenter, comedian, actor and burgeoning online personality with the charm, wit and conviction to back-up each pursuit.
Mim’s currently hosts his own radio show on BBC Asian Network and has a growing Youtube channel which showcases his visual comedic talents including pranks, sketches, interviews, spoken word and debates. Mim has also starred in a short film which was shortlisted at Sundance Film Festival.
Sir Aah – USA
Hailing From the US of A, Harris Ahmed who is better known as Sir Aah has already made big leaps in the music industry! He has worked with big names like Royce Da 5’9″ & Crooked. Sir Aah has also been featured on Indian Remixes with Dj Sanj. His two tracks; “I can Feel It (Club Mix)” & “Bump+Grind (Bass Mix)” were featured in Dj Sanj’s Most Wanted 3. He worked alongside Stereo Nation for 2005 hit track “Block Party”. What really got our attention was his 2011 track ‘I Wonder If The Lord Knows’ which he dedicated to the victims of May 28th Lahore Mosque attacks.
Raffi Ahmad – Indonesia
Although famous in Indonesia, 30-year-old Raffi Ahmad is little-known elsewhere. Raffi has acted in dozens of soap operas, movies, and feature films. In 2014 Raffi got married to fellow actress and childhood friend Nagita Slavina in a luxurious wedding ceremony. He is set to appear in the 2017 Indonesia movie ‘Rafathar’.
Special Mention – Yusef Lateef
Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an award-winning American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America, in 1950. In 1987 he won the Grammy for Best New Age Album.
Lateef also owned Fana Music, a music publishing company and also ran his own record label by the name of YAL Records. Peter Keepnews, in his New York Times obituary of Lateef, wrote that the musician “played world music before world music had a name.” Lateef also wrote and published a number of books including two novellas entitled A Night in the Garden of Love and Another Avenue.
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Links and Related Essay’s
Ahmadi Artists You’ve Never Heard of (rabwah.net)
https://newlinesmag.com/essays/how-islam-inspired-the-music-of-the-late-jazz-legend-ahmad-jamal/
Talib Ahmad Dawood (aka Alfonso Nelson Rainey) is an Ex-Ahmadi too – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Art Blakely was never a Qadiani-Ahmadi – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
The Ahmadiyya schism in the USA (in Pittsburgh in 1934 and Cleveland in 1934-36)
Usman Barry is an Ex-Qadiani too, he converted to Qadianism in Denmark – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Was Sahib Shihab a Qadiani-Ahmadi? – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Was Ahmad Jamal really a Qadiani-Ahmadi? – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
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#ahmadiyya #ahmadiyyafactcheckblog #messiahhascome #ahmadiyyat #trueislam #ahmadianswers #ahmadiyyamuslimcommunity #ahmadiyya_creatives #ahmadiyyatthetrueislam #ahmadiyyatzindabad #ahmadiyyatrueislam #ahmadiyyamuslim #mirzaghulamahmad #qadiani #qadianism
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