Music: Sahib Shihab - Om Mani Padme Um - rare version

Born June 23, 1925 in Savannah, GA, Died October 24, 1989 in Tennessee. In 1947 Sahib Shihab was the first in a wave of Jazz Musicians to embrace Islam; other artists that followed were Art Blakey, Yusef Lateef, McCoy Tyner, Idrees Suleiman.....and many more. Sahib Shihab was a master reedsman playing the Alto and Baritone Sax, but was more known for playing the flute and was one of the earliest boppers to use it. After his converting to Islam, he fell in with the early bop movement, recording several now-famous sides on alto with Thelonious Monk for Blue Note in 1947 and 1951, and playing with Art Blakey in 1949-1950 and the Tadd Dameron band in 1949. Following some empty patches where he had to work odd jobs for a living, Shihab played with Dizzy Gillespie in 1951-1952, Illinois Jacquet in 1952-1955, and the Oscar Pettiford big band in 1957. By 1959 he had moved to Europe whilst touring with the Quincy Jones Big Band and it is here that he created some of his most famous albums. From 1963 - 1972 he played with the Clarke Boland Big Band and it was with this outfit that he recorded his own albums.