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The jazz world is no stranger to the tribute, quote, riff or, in modern parlance, the sample. Throwing in a famous tune, or an in-the-know segment from a rival or mentor's music, is standard improvisation practice. Here Elie Afif, the Dubai-based Lebanese double bassist who has been flying the flag for jazz in the UAE for a good few years now, has taken the idea to an extreme. The title song from Giant Steps to Heaven also happens to be a piece he played with Kamal Musallam on the jazz oud player's 2008 album Out of My City; the song's title is a play on two seminal bebop albums, John Coltrane's Giant Steps and Miles Davis's Seven Steps to Heaven; and the music itself is a neat little mash-up of the two title songs of those albums. Wheels within wheels, and that's just how jazz aficionados like it - with an insider's nod and a wink. (Read more at The National)
