Sam Shalabi - Lonely Woman

This is a solo oud version of “Lonely Woman” by Ornette Coleman. I’ve loved this melody ever since I first heard it over 30 years ago. A while back, I had the idea of playing and recording it on oud – the melody has always struck me as very Arabic/Middle Eastern sounding – it has a sobbing/emotional feeling that you hear in certain kinds of Arabic vocal music and modes. It’s only recently though that it has made sense to attempt a version of it. I’ve been exploring the idea of covering Free Jazz ‘standards’ that could work on oud and would have an emotional resonance on the instrument (I’ve recently recorded versions of “Ghosts” by Albert Ayler and “India” by John Coltrane ). This is what led me back to this piece… I recorded it at home in Montreal with one microphone and one take 

- Sam Shalabi