The London based improvising supergroup أحمد [Ahmed] consists of pianist Pat Thomas, percussionist Antonin Gerbal, bassist Joel Grip and altoist Seymour Wright. Formed in order to explore the work of bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik, the band takes the four musicians outside of their own usual modes of playing and into one which has a deeper focus on composition, metre and rhythm. The title of their second album Super Majnoon [East Meets West] is “fused from the leader of the Master Musicians of Jajouka Bechir Attar’s description of أحمد[Ahmed] after hearing them in Switzerland last year (Majnoon is the Arabic slang for ‘crazy’), and Abdul-Malik’s 1959 album East Meets West”, says أحمد [Ahmed]’s record label Otoroku.

Wright answered some questions about the record over email:

How did you come to settle on the name of the quartet?

Choosing the name was part of an ongoing discussion. There were lots of reasons, some more, some less complex. One of these was that the project is about us learning about, reflecting (or even meditating) on, (re)imagining and drawing attention to the ideas, work and approach of Ahmed Abdul-Malik. The etymology of the name Ahmed – or Ahmad – is something like to thank or praise. So to us it felt an appropriate appreciation and acknowledgement, given the way we work with our ideas and imaginations of his work and ideas, imaginations and influence, to name what we do in this way. Part of the many things we are trying to do is encourage people to listen to him and think about what he was doing. We use the name in Arabic with English in square brackets [Ahmed].

How do the studio and live recordings differ? Did the different locations affect your performances?

Day and night. Hong Kong and London. The studio recordings on disc 1 were recorded in daytime at the wonderful and hugely supportive Empty Gallery, Hong Kong. In afternoon daylight, a few listeners – us in the round, all recorded meticulously by the remarkable engineer David Sum. The live recordings are from cafe Oto. Recorded in night time dark, us in a line facing a room full of people. Mixed, profoundly, by Pat.

What themes or intentions thread the different performances together?

Us improvising with, moving through, and (together) growing versions of ideas at different scales and proportions, at different speeds. One key thread is the content: textually, two different readings or reflections or embodiments of the same piece, “El Lail [The Night]” from Abdul-Malik's (1959) East Meets West album; and cerebrally a more abstract reflection on a prospect, or possible ways of doing this and thinking through a set of ideas as they open out (or fold closed). But also the body – dance, memory and habit (hexis). But so too our different relationships with all sorts of other ideas like jazz and systems and tradition and influence. And perhaps all of this fits and combines through what Antonin spoke of in The Wire 405 interview as a certain plasticity.

أحمد [Ahmed] are interviewed by Francis Gooding in The Wire 405. Wire subscribers can read the full article by logging into the digital archive.

Super Majnoon [East Meets West] double LP is released by Otoroku on 2 December. أحمد [Ahmed] perform at Cafe Oto on 5 December.