Shy Angels

The previous three artists whose work was revisited by Bill Laswell are Miles Davis, Bob Marley and Carlos Santana... we were therefore both honored & thrilled when the mighty Bill (whose credentials as a producer include names such as Laurie Anderson, Afrika Bambaataa, George Clinton, Yoko Ono, and most recently Herbie Hancock) accepted to create a new interpretation of Iranian diva Sussan Deyhim's "Madman Of God" album. The result is magnificent and provides a continuous, 45 minutes listening experience which includes re-arranged versions of all the album's songs, featuring new performances by musicians incl. Karsh Kale, renowned Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain and others, on top of the original album's line-up (Reggie Workman, Glen Velez, Reza Derakhshani etc). "Madman Of God", which came out in 2000, is Sussan Deyhim's uniquely personal reading of divine love poems by Rumi, Saadi and other Persian Sufi masters, set to a mixture of traditional Persian music and delicate electronics, her extraordinary vocals being the central focus. Deyhim's live performances in 2001 were few but memorable (including a steaming set at the Montreux Jazz Festival and an acclaimed appearance with Ornette Coleman's group in London). A series of not-to-be-missed festival dates in Europe are planned for this year.