December 1998

Sahib Shihab
And All Those Cats
Rearward

By Jack Sohmer

On this muscular leader date, Shihab not only focuses on his burly horn, the baritone sax, in addition to maintaining his largely underappreciated flute, but, thanks to Francy Boland's charts he also incorporates two of his fellow C-BBB sidemen, trumpeter Benny Bailey and trombonist Ake Persson, both of whom add much to the interest of the disc. These 15 tracks recorded between 1964 and 1970, also place into hard-bop prominence Sadi's vibes and Boland's piano.