Sabir Mateen - Biography
By Marcus Kagler
Avant-garde tenor saxophonist Sabir Mateen is best known for his New York City subway performances with the free jazz quartet TEST, but Mateen also has also made recorded collaboration with other avant-garde titans like Sunny Murray, Hamid Drake and Ben Karetnick. Mateen grew up in Philadelphia but made his recording debut for the West Coast ensemble Pan African People’s Arkestra in 1980. He relocated to New York City in 1989 and after a few years playing in the jazz trenches, released his debut album, Getting Away With Murder (Eremite) in 1995. In 1997 he formed a trio with Daniel Carter and David Nuss called Tenor Rising, Drums Expanding. After releasing a series of TEST recordings from 1998-99, Mateen recorded the album Brothers Together (2002-Eremite) with Hamid Drake then a live album called Sun Xing (2002-JMZ) with Ben Karetnick. Aside from being an excellent alto saxophone player Mateen is also proficient with the clarinet, alto sax, and flute.