Jazz Articles about Kahil El'Zabar

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble at The Center for New Music

by Harry S. Pariser
February 18, 2016

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble Center for New Music San Francisco, CA February 15, 2016 San Francisco's Tenderloin District is a down-and-out area which wags have christened “Twitterloin," (owing to the proximity of Twitter and other tax companies given tax subsidies to erect their palatial edifices in this culturally diverse neighborhood). And the Center for New Music, on Taylor Street, is a gem in its heart. While the arrival of the tech industry, and ...

Kahil El’Zabar's Ritual Trio: Follow the Sun

by Alberto Bazzurro
August 26, 2014

I tempi dell'Etnic Heritage Ensemble, col suo polistrumentismo spinto e colorato, la sua ricerca delle radici attraverso una chiave comunque sperimentale, sono ormai per Kahil El'Zabar un ricordo. Quest'ultimo lavoro del suo Ritual Trio (gruppo peraltro a sua volta decisamente attempato, di cui nello specifico Payne e Trible risultano ospiti), inciso a Chicago nell'aprile 2013, ce lo dice con una certa chiarezza. Se infatti vi sopravvive la tendenza a immettere comunque nella musica elementi esotizzanti (per esempio ...

Kahil El'Zabar Ritual Trio: Follow The Sun

by Hrayr Attarian
May 5, 2014

It is safe to state that the percussionist Kahil El'Zabar has never made a mediocre or a mundane album and Follow the Sun is no exception. On this intriguing and provocative disc El'Zabar leads his group through five originals and four covers that he interprets with his signature, fluid touch.Oscar Hammerstein II's heartsick standard “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" gets a raw yet sophisticated makeover as El'Zabar and bassist Junius Paul lay down rumbling, intricate vamps. Over ...

Kahil El'Zabar Quartet: What It Is!

by Troy Collins
March 12, 2013

Since the early 1980s percussionist Kahil El'Zabar has led numerous dates as a leader, with much of his work issued by Chicago's Delmark Records. Some of his most impressive efforts for the label have featured collaborations with renowned artists, including New Thing-era luminaries such as Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre, Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, as well as peers like Ernest Dawkins, David Murray and the late Billy Bang. What It Is! covers relatively new territory though, with the AACM veteran serving ...

Kahil El'Zabar/ Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Mama's House Live

by Mark Corroto
February 26, 2009

To say that Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (EHE), now in its 35th year, is an institution is technically correct. The sounds created, however, are anything but conservatively labeled as establishment."

The EHE has had many combinations, including the original 1973 lineup of Edward Wilkerson and Light Henry Huff. Later versions included trombonist Joseph Bowie, percussionist “Atu" Harold Murray and, more recently, guitarist Fareed Haque, who is featured EHE's previous CD/DVD Live At Ascension Loft (Delmark, 2007).

Recorded live in ...

Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio featuring Pharoah Sanders: Ooh Live!

by Jeff Stockton
December 10, 2008

Kahil El'Zabar, a product of Chicago's South Side African-American community, is a true musical renaissance man. By trade, a percussionist who is fluent on conventional Western drums, he has mastered the esoteric and exotic instruments of his ancestors as well. He is a member of Chicago's famed AACM, has played with Dizzy Gillespie and Stevie Wonder, scored for film, arranged for the theater and taught at the university level. Along with the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, his Ritual ...

Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio: Ooh Live!

by John Barron
June 5, 2008

Ooh! is the artistic conception of veteran percussionist Kahil El'Zabar and an acronym for Operative Oracles for Humanity. To jumpstart his newly founded creative endeavor, the famed Chicago improviser has released Ooh! Live, a recording of his Ritual Trio from a 2000 concert at The Hot House in Chicago. El'Zabar's fellow oracles for this date were the late bassist Malachi Favors, legendary Chicago musician Ari Brown--perhaps best known as a saxophonist but featured here mainly on piano--and special guest Pharoah ...