Jazz Articles about Kahil El'Zabar

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Hot'n'Heavy - Live at the Ascension Loft [CD - DVD]

by AAJ Italy Staff
September 5, 2007

La visione delle immagini e l'ascolto della musica di questo DVD raccontano la sincerità, la bellezza e la forza espressiva della musica afroamericana più di ogni parola o analisi. Protagonista è il percussionista Kahil El’Zabar con il suo Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, catturato nella insostituibile dimensione dell'Ascension Loft, spazio in cui El’Zabar raduna periodicamente - lo racconta lui stesso nel commento alle immagini - musicisti e amici per una condivisione artistica e umana più stretta. Formazione di essenziale incisività sulla scena ...

Kahil El'Zabar's Infinity Orchestra: Transmigration

by Jerry D'Souza
July 30, 2007

Kahil El'Zabar is a man of many inventions. His music has a pure passion that transcends the mundane. He lifts compositions with imagination into realms that are at once startling and captivating. He manifests those traits on this splendid recording where his compositions are zapped into a three-dimensional impact by Ernest Dawkins (alto saxophone and percussion), Joseph Bowie (trombone and percussion) and the 39-piece Infinity Orchestra from France which has some exciting and innovative musicians.

El'Zabar leads the ...

Kahil El: Transmigration

by John Barron
July 14, 2007

Over the years, master percussionist, composer and bandleader Kahil El'Zabar has become something of an adopted son to the Aquitaine region of France. For two months each year El'Zabar teaches, conducts workshops and leads concerts throughout the region. In the spring of 2005, the Chicago resident traveled to Bordeaux, the capital of Aquitaine, to record his 39-piece Infinity Orchestra during a series of concerts at the National Theater of Bordeaux. The resulting disc, Transmigration, is a monumental musical celebration of ...

Kahil El'Zabar's Infinity Orchestra: Transmigration

by Nic Jones
July 13, 2007

To date, drummer/bandleader Kahil El'Zabar has had his music and ensembles extensively documented. That endeavor culminates in this title and it's nothing short of revelatory in as much as it's nothing less than notification of his art moving to another level.

This impression is underscored by the fact that Transmigration marks a fundamental break with the precedent on record for El'Zabar's music. No less than thirty nine musicians, rappers and vocalists are listed in addition to the leader, trombonist Joseph ...

Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio: Big M: A Tribute to Malachi Favors

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 10, 2007

Kahil El’Zabar è un batterista di Chicago da moltissimi anni attivo nella città del vento, spesso sulle orme dell’Art Ensemble of Chicago e comunque sotto l’egida dell’AACM, l’associazione benemerita che tanto ha fatto negli ultimi decenni per promuovere la cultura afro-americana in quella città e conseguentemente in giro per il mondo. Con due membri dell’Art Ensemble of Chicago Kahil El’Zabar aveva costituito il Ritual Trio sin dal lontano 1986. Erano con lui in quell’occasione Lester Bowie (che passò la mano ...

Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio featuring Billy Bang: Big M: A Tribute to Malachi Favors

by Troy Collins
October 21, 2006

Malachi Favors Maghostut was more than simply the bassist for the AACM's seminal Art Ensemble of Chicago, he was a musical force whose influence ranged far across the creative music spectrum. An estimable collaborator, Favors held down sideman duties in other ensembles, including percussionist Kahil El'Zabar's long-running Ritual Trio. Since Favors' passing in 2004, Yosef Ben Israel fills his role in the trio, alongside tenor saxophonist/pianist Ari Brown.

Big M was recorded the same week as the Ritual ...

Kahil El'Zabar: Urban Bushman

by Kurt Gottschalk
March 16, 2006

When Chicago percussionist Kahil El'Zabar rolls into town this month—a nicely more common occurrence in recent years—it will be with one of his longest-standing bands. And it will occur at an unusual, but highly appropriate, venue. Rather than the usual jazz club date he ordinarily plays, El'Zabar will appear at S.O.B's, the city's largest and best known club for so-called 'world music.' It's a ridiculous name for a genre, but an apt one for El'Zabar's blend of African ...