Jazz Articles

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 ...

Dwight Trible: Living Water

by Rex Butters
May 10, 2004

Dwight Trible is a preacher, turning any material into a song of praise. Trible taps into the tradition of assigning lyrics to existing jazz standards, aligning himself with King Pleasure, Jon Hendricks, and Eddie Jefferson. He stands firmly in the jazz singer’s domain of delivering a song true to its story while composing variations on the tune as he goes.

On Trible’s new collection he arranges, produces, and writes lyrics to melodically and rhythmically challenging compositions. Take for instance the ...