Vocals and arrangement: Rabia Ali & Ammar Rashid
Bansuri: Aftab Ali Suraj
Guitar and bass: Ammar Rashid
Tabla: Ustad Irfan Khan
Poetry: Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Composition: Ghulam Mustafa Khan

Subh e Azadi

هالأسمر اللون  - مارينا برسوم

Atlas Maior’s “Hadal” provides listeners with a revealing glimpse at Atlas Maior’s new 2023 album by the same name (to be released on Friday 2/17/23). The title track “Hadal” is a brooding, yet demonstrative offering inspired by the Hadal Zone, the deepest and darkest ocean trench on earth. The name Hadal is Atlas Maior’s metaphor for post-pandemic artistic perseverance within a rapidly changing global context.


Josh Peters - oud
Tarik Hassan -bass
Aaron Parks - drums
Stefan Del Bosque - drums
Joshua Thomson - alto saxophone 

Engineered and mixed by Gary Calhoun James at Hen House Recording - Austin, TX
Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering- Chicago, IL

Photography by Benson A. Roberts IIII


Hadal is a diverse instrumental album that pivots between driving energy and moody introspection embodying the evolution of Atlas Maior from its inception into the full ensemble it has become. The album offers the 1st collection of compositions written by Josh Peters, & Joshua Thomson informed by the Arab maqamat modal system, Ghanaian Highlife, Brazilian samba, & gulf rhythms from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can be heard on songs “Basalt,” & “Hadal.” The band’s versatility within jazz experimental contexts can be witnessed within free flowing improvised compositions “Ignis Fatuus,” & “Fata Morgana.”

Atlas Maior, co-led by Thomson (alto saxophone) & Peters (Middle Eastern fretless lute; oud), have constructed an artistic throng of projects within the group from their full quintet to Tabla Trio, to the full improvised Atlas Maior: Palindrome project (inspired by Atlas Maior's double LP Palindrome), in addition to collaborations with guest vocalists (“Nazuk”, “Ya Ali” with Ali Pervez Mehdi).

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Hadal

Packed new episode with new music from Brazil, the USA, and Haiti. 90s hip-hop classics, a Stax Records medley, respect to WayneShorter & more!

OK Jazz Episode #156

Little Sign

Belleza Monocromática

Packed episode with a bunch of new jazz releases, the return of the MinyoCrusaders, more new music from Brazil, more guitar mastery from Madagascar, and tribute to some rock legends!

OK Jazz Episode #181

"Chale to kat hi jaye ga safar" ("if the journey starts, it will be completed") is a beautiful Urdu ghazal (a form of mystical verse common in Persian and Southwest Asian cultures the theme of which is usually about love) from the 1970s.

Lyric: Mustafa Zaidi
Music: Khalil Ahmad

Performed by 1001 Nights Orchestra featuring guest performers Rabia Ali and Erin Foster Ghanem

Anne Alexander: percussion
Rabia Ali: vocals, guitar
Erin Foster Ghanem: tabla
Kamran Hooshmand (director): rebab
Ken Maranian: clarinet
Don Weeda: accordion, keyboards

Performed live at Planet Music 2015, a City of Austin Parks & Recreation Department international music series on June 28, 2015 at the Asian American resource Center in Austin, Texas.

Audio engineer: Gary Luedecke
Audio mastered by: Peter Johnson

Produced by Kamran Hooshmand for 1001 Nights Cultural Productions

www.facebook.com/1001nightsorchestra

1001 Nights Orchestra's new release "Live from Austin, Texas" is available at CD Baby and all other major online retailers:

https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/1001nightsorchestra1


Chale to kat hi jaye ga safar - 1001 Nights Orchestra featuring Rabia Ali - Planet Music 2015

3atlasmaior

2atlasmaior

MarriageOfDays

Atlas Maior creates original music informed by Jazz, Free Improvisation, and the musical traditions of the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and India. Band members Joshua Thomson (alto saxophone, flutes), Josh Peters (oud, lutar), Josh Flowers (upright bass), and Gray Parsons (drums) often create cinematic soundscapes that balance intimate moments of sincerity with powerful melodies and incendiary rhythmic passages. The group writes original compositions that blend maqamat (Middle Eastern modal system) with harmonic progressions found in American jazz, resulting in a distinct evocative sound. Atlas Maior composes with a variety of instrumentation, including the oud, Chinese hulusi, saxophone, and lutar. The band often improvises within conceptual frameworks, or freely without form. Atlas Maior's approach often expands and contracts the group’s sound through a commitment to dynamics and textural accentuations. 

As an ensemble Atlas Maior has released 8 studio albums, most recently new vinyl LP Palindromlar (release date 10/11/25) which is a follow up to 2024's Hadal Deluxe Edition (released 6/7/24), and 2019's Riptide, voted a 2019 Top 100 release by The Austin Chronicle. During 2020-21 the group released 4 singles which featured Coke Studios artist Ali Pervez Mehdi (Nazuk, Ya Ali, & 2 studio remixes). 

The group has performed both internationally and nationally, including 2024’s 12-date tour throughout Morocco and Spain, as well as performances in France and Turkey. Atlas Maior has garnered positive reviews and media coverage from Jazziz Magazine, Medium, PRI’s The World, New York Daily Music, Jazz Journal, Afropop Worldwide, and Songlines, and in 2019 was named City of Austin Cultural Ambassadors. In 2023, Atlas Maior received the City of Austin’s Live Music Fund grant.

Belleza Monocromática

Atlas Maior

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